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"No, the problem is these women are not by the time get to 23… Like Mark Zuckerberg starts programming, starts messing about with computers when he’s like 10 or

by ojbyrne 13y ago

"No, the problem is these women are not by the time get to 23… Like Mark Zuckerberg starts programming, starts messing about with computers when he’s like 10 or whatever" Let's concentrate on the slight against twenty-something women, because of course there's no such thing as hackers in their 30s, 40s or 50s, of either sex.

brianmcdonough 13y ago
There is an age bias, but it's a natural result of young founders having more disposable time and energy. They can also keep trying to be successful for more years as they have more years to work with. If you look at the most successful startup companies' founders, many of them are kids who were already wealthy via their parents and had more resources to begin with. Not all, but many. Who goes to Harvard and Stanford after all?
- ojbyrne 13y ago
  Except that shows a bias for typical family values, by assuming that older people may have wife (or husband), kids, mortgages, etc, when they may not. If you're going to screen for "disposable time" then screen for "disposable time." And "energy" is just straight up bias.
  - brianmcdonough 13y ago
    From Yale News: "the neural networks in the brains of the middle-aged and elderly have weaker connections and fire less robustly than in youthful ones." http://news.yale.edu/2011/07/27/yale-researchers-show-how-memory-lost-and-found-0 http://news.yale.edu/2011/07/27/yale-researchers-show-how-me... It's hard to argue with science...
    - ojbyrne 13y ago
      http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1174 http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1174 In fact, science is all about argument.
wvenable 13y ago
You are under the mistaken impression that the people for which pg is in the business of spending very small amounts of money on in the slim hope that a few of them will be wildly successful and return hundreds of times on that original investment in a relatively short time frame are "hackers". They are not. They might be a very small subset. I don't know how old you are but if you're willing to rent a room with a bunch of other people and hack on code for peanuts and ramen then I wouldn't be so sure pg that would automatically reject you because of your age or gender.
- ojbyrne 13y ago
  This is a reasonable rebuttal, other than the fact I have savings, so I can probably sit in a room for 3 months and eat a little better.

by ojbyrne 13y ago

brianmcdonough 13y ago

There is an age bias, but it's a natural result of young founders having more disposable time and energy. They can also keep trying to be successful for more years as they have more years to work with. If you look at the most successful startup companies' founders, many of them are kids who were already wealthy via their parents and had more resources to begin with. Not all, but many. Who goes to Harvard and Stanford after all?

ojbyrne 13y ago
Except that shows a bias for typical family values, by assuming that older people may have wife (or husband), kids, mortgages, etc, when they may not. If you're going to screen for "disposable time" then screen for "disposable time." And "energy" is just straight up bias.
- brianmcdonough 13y ago
  From Yale News: "the neural networks in the brains of the middle-aged and elderly have weaker connections and fire less robustly than in youthful ones." http://news.yale.edu/2011/07/27/yale-researchers-show-how-memory-lost-and-found-0 http://news.yale.edu/2011/07/27/yale-researchers-show-how-me... It's hard to argue with science...
  - ojbyrne 13y ago
    http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1174 http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1174 In fact, science is all about argument.

wvenable 13y ago

You are under the mistaken impression that the people for which pg is in the business of spending very small amounts of money on in the slim hope that a few of them will be wildly successful and return hundreds of times on that original investment in a relatively short time frame are "hackers". They are not. They might be a very small subset. I don't know how old you are but if you're willing to rent a room with a bunch of other people and hack on code for peanuts and ramen then I wouldn't be so sure pg that would automatically reject you because of your age or gender.

ojbyrne 13y ago
This is a reasonable rebuttal, other than the fact I have savings, so I can probably sit in a room for 3 months and eat a little better.