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> While I fully get the the “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” thing, I just have to say there’s really not much here to be pissed about. The "'hell hath

> While I fully get the the “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” thing, I just have to say there’s really not much here to be pissed about. The "'hell hath no fury like a woman scored' thing"? That's an offensive thing to say in this context. From PG's interview: >Does YC discriminate against female founders? >I'm almost certain that we don't discriminate against female founders because I would know from looking at the ones we missed. [...] That's not evidence, because YC boosts the success rate of those who get in. That said, I agree with the idea that hacker culture is not something a CS major can impart, and that it helps to have an early start.

tptacek 13y ago
It's not evidence that YC isn't discriminatory, that's true, but it's also not evidence that YC is. I think Graham would have been better off saying "I don't think we discriminate, here's why, and I don't know why the gender imbalance exists". Instead, he overexplained.
- crassus 13y ago
  "Prove that you're not a witch"
  - tptacek 13y ago
    That's not all that's happening here.
- klipt 13y ago
  > I don't know why the gender imbalance exists Well it depends what age group you're talking about. He says the gender imbalance in 20 somethings is due to a gender imbalance in teens (which just assumes that time spent in your teens is predictive of career choice and skill level), and he doesn't know why the teen imbalance exists, but it needs to be fixed. I don't see how that's over explaining. If you didn't study math or science in highschool, you probably won't be a physicist either.
  - tptacek 13y ago
    It is simply not true that you need to study computer programming in high school in order to be an effective professional programmer.
    - klipt 13y ago
      Didn't say it was strictly necessary. But you're less likely to even choose CS as a career path if you had no interest in it earlier. You can also become a physicist later in life, but it's rare.
michaelochurch 13y ago
That said, I agree with the idea that hacker culture is not something a CS major can impart, and that it helps to have an early start. Hacker culture isn't ageist. Hacker culture doesn't give a shit whether you're male, female, 86 or 15. Technology didn't develop an ageism problem on its own. It inherited the narcissism and chickenhawking of the old-style MBA culture that colonized it. I get into it in this blog post: https://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2013/12/14/vc-istan-6-the-isms-of-venture-funded-technology/ https://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2013/12/14/vc-istan-6-t... Age discrimination didn't come from us, not originally. It was imposed on us by a bunch of clueless, uncultured moneymen who somehow decided it shouldn't be socially acceptable to be old and a full-time programmer. That age discrimination works immensely to the benefit of the leading VCs, as well, because of the time pressure that an artificially shortened career imposes.
- tptacek 13y ago
  Hacker culture doesn't give a shit whether you're male, female, 86 or 15 STRONG DISAGREE.

tptacek 13y ago

It's not evidence that YC isn't discriminatory, that's true, but it's also not evidence that YC is. I think Graham would have been better off saying "I don't think we discriminate, here's why, and I don't know why the gender imbalance exists". Instead, he overexplained.

crassus 13y ago
"Prove that you're not a witch"
- tptacek 13y ago
  That's not all that's happening here.
klipt 13y ago
> I don't know why the gender imbalance exists Well it depends what age group you're talking about. He says the gender imbalance in 20 somethings is due to a gender imbalance in teens (which just assumes that time spent in your teens is predictive of career choice and skill level), and he doesn't know why the teen imbalance exists, but it needs to be fixed. I don't see how that's over explaining. If you didn't study math or science in highschool, you probably won't be a physicist either.
- tptacek 13y ago
  It is simply not true that you need to study computer programming in high school in order to be an effective professional programmer.
  - klipt 13y ago
    Didn't say it was strictly necessary. But you're less likely to even choose CS as a career path if you had no interest in it earlier. You can also become a physicist later in life, but it's rare.

michaelochurch 13y ago

That said, I agree with the idea that hacker culture is not something a CS major can impart, and that it helps to have an early start. Hacker culture isn't ageist. Hacker culture doesn't give a shit whether you're male, female, 86 or 15. Technology didn't develop an ageism problem on its own. It inherited the narcissism and chickenhawking of the old-style MBA culture that colonized it. I get into it in this blog post: https://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2013/12/14/vc-istan-6-the-isms-of-venture-funded-technology/ https://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2013/12/14/vc-istan-6-t... Age discrimination didn't come from us, not originally. It was imposed on us by a bunch of clueless, uncultured moneymen who somehow decided it shouldn't be socially acceptable to be old and a full-time programmer. That age discrimination works immensely to the benefit of the leading VCs, as well, because of the time pressure that an artificially shortened career imposes.

tptacek 13y ago
Hacker culture doesn't give a shit whether you're male, female, 86 or 15 STRONG DISAGREE.