Some people are better at systematizing, some are better at empathising, and some are reasonably good at both. Male technologists, which make up the majority o

Some people are better at systematizing, some are better at empathising, and some are reasonably good at both. Male technologists, which make up the majority of the SW development community, tend to be particularly good at the first and bad at the second: http://www.syntagm.co.uk/design/articles/note1271-hudson.pdf http://www.syntagm.co.uk/design/articles/note1271-hudson.pdf This research looked at the relationship between empathy and technical work among IT workers. For both women and men, less technical work (i.e. public oriented) tended to have those people with more capacity for empathy. For women, there was a small decline in empathy as the researchers moved towards purely technical work. However, this drop in empathy was far, far sharper for men. Take your own conclusions about this, including its relation to the presence (or lack thereof) of women in IT.