4 ms·
Many, many years ago, when I was thinking of moving, I was looking for salary ranges for a particular American city. It was pre-Glassdoor so there wasn't a webs
by colmvp 10y ago
Many, many years ago, when I was thinking of moving, I was looking for salary ranges for a particular American city. It was pre-Glassdoor so there wasn't a website that aggregated that information.
I decided to go the HackerNews of that particular industry, except instead of using my own account, I decided to make a fake one with an avatar of an attractive but non-famous female. Basically it looked like it was a genuine personal photograph rather than a professionally shot photo you would've found in a magazine. I basically posted one post, introducing myself and asked if anyone had an idea of salary ranges for that city given a specific job position.
Holy. Crap. The number of replies I got was unbelievable. I think on average threads on that news site had double digit responses but this one had over 100. I even had people private message me to say they wanted to interview me despite not including any links to a personal website or resume.
- YCode 10y agoWhen I sign up for services where the goal is to get tech support (i.e. StackExchange, Discord, Slack) I use a female persona. I've had to explain to a few people (including my wife) that it's not a gender confusion thing at all, it's purely for the perks. It's ridiculous how far people will go to help a "woman" online.
- chipperyman573 10y agoDoes this actually work on SO? You don't see the avatar until after you read both the title AND the problem (since it's at the bottom of the page instead of alongside it). Plus, the avatar is very tiny. I feel like most people would either have a solution by the time they finish reading or they won't, but a female picture wouldn't change that. (Serious question by the way, this is an interesting idea)
- stouset 10y agoThey might have an answer to the question in their heads, but whether or not they choose to type it up and submit is a different question.
- YCode 10y agoWhile I haven't done any formal research on the topic anecdotally it totally works on SO and abroad. People seem to start from a more eager position of "How can I help this person?" rather than the more typical "Does this person deserve help?" attitude support channels tend to have. The nature of the discussion is more clarifying than patronizing. I suspect the idea of a female disarms the typical competitive "Which of us knows more?" attitude discussions tend to take in IT circles and without that in the way things are more productive for both parties.
- taneq 10y agoBut this can't be true, everyone knows STEM fields and IT in particular discriminate against women. >.>