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>It was seeming proof that even within the happy-go-lucky world of tech start-ups, there are winners and losers, and more often than not, the losers in situatio
by mblack68 13y ago
>It was seeming proof that even within the happy-go-lucky world of tech start-ups, there are winners and losers, and more often than not, the losers in situations like these are the designers, who are more likely to be female than their engineer counterparts, and whose "soft" skills are seen as less valuable than coding chops.
If a field is dominated by women, the pay tends to be less. Anecdotal, no proof. But this rule of thumb has worked for me. I am often asked to do UI and design stuff. I could be good at it, but I refuse to do it because it shunts me into a lower paid position. I stick to programming and don't allow my male counterparts to make the assumption that I will do their prettifying.
Design work is necessary, and I enjoy my attempts at it on personal projects. If it were my dream job, maybe I would feel differently? I don't know. I just know that as someone who is viewed as "creative", my personal experience is that the stereotype is stunting.
- badman_ting 13y agoAgreed, and that is shrewd thinking, though I'm not sure if it is related to gender. It may be part of it, but I think also design is a more attractive job than coding which is gross and technical, so there are more people who want to do it -> more labor supply -> lower pay. Same thing with games, tons of people grow up playing them and want to make them -> more supply of workers -> get paid & treated like crap.
- theorique 13y agoIt is definitely a supply demand thing. Lots of people go to art/design school, and jobs are scarcer. Also, look at your average consumer/business startup - by the time you get to 10-20 coders, you might have one full-time designer. Maybe. Or a freelancer whom you bring in for a project when you need them.
- disbelief 13y agoI have to disagree. Designers who can actually write serious code are rare unicorns and can typically demand a higher salary because of it. I wouldn't downplay my design skills (if I had any). I'm not sure what your pay grade is at the moment, but an engineer that can design is worth more than someone who is solely a designer or engineer in my books. Maybe it depends on the size/type of company? A small-ish company or startup would be more likely to value someone with multiple toolsets, whereas larger companies look more for specialists.
- mblack68 13y agoThe problem is, once you demonstrate skills in creative, if you are female, that's now your label. Period. At least, that's my personal, anecdotal experience.