Comments on: Stop talking, start coding http://www.hilarymason.com/blog/stop-talking-start-coding/ Data scientist and hacker. I <3 data and cheeseburgers. Sun, 29 Jan 2012 11:21:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Robert http://www.hilarymason.com/blog/stop-talking-start-coding/#comment-555 Robert Thu, 12 May 2011 16:55:00 +0000 http://www.hilarymason.com/?p=442#comment-555 Hilary, I absolutely loved your " canned food drives of the women in technology movement " statement. Myself, I have: - hired women - promoted women - worked with women - worked for womenI am male, 52, Computer Engineer. 30+ years ago there were about 15% girls in engineering. Today, around the same figure. There are movements to promote a 50:50 split which I find them morally wrong & technically incorrect. The field is open to all, we do not need "social engineering types" interfering with reality. I have a son & a daughter. I support both of my children's choices & dissuade them from involvement with ideologies (Religious, Feminism, Political). It is high time to set boundaries with strangers telling anyone how to live & think. Thanks for the post. Hilary, I absolutely loved your ”

canned food drives of the women in technology movement
” statement. Myself, I have:

- hired women
- promoted women
- worked with women
- worked for womenI am male, 52, Computer Engineer. 30+ years ago there were about 15% girls in engineering. Today, around the same figure. There are movements to promote a 50:50 split which I find them morally wrong & technically incorrect. The field is open to all, we do not need “social engineering types” interfering with reality. I have a son & a daughter. I support both of my children’s choices & dissuade them from involvement with ideologies (Religious, Feminism, Political). It is high time to set boundaries with strangers telling anyone how to live & think. Thanks for the post.

]]> By: Robert http://www.hilarymason.com/blog/stop-talking-start-coding/#comment-384 Robert Tue, 08 Mar 2011 15:02:43 +0000 http://www.hilarymason.com/?p=442#comment-384 Computer Engineer, Male, have a son & daughter. I am so absolutely sick of the feminist victim mentality oozing across our society. I have worked with & for women, & promoted some in my field. A woman (singular) who chooses the field has to work as hard as a man. This gender war feminist bullshit talking about women (plural) as some kind of entity is garbage. I will not put up with or pander to this nonsense at all. I will only promote (& put up with) a woman (singular) who has the personal drive (genderless concept) to apply herself. If someone starts this affirmative action crap around me, they are marked for the big delete. Whining & herd victim mentality has done great harm to our society. In a field dominated by logic & rational thinking, the underrepresentation by weak minded individuals should come as no surprise. Do not try to change the nature of our field to try to attract or appease "women". The individual "woman" with the right stuff are already working in the field. Computer Engineer, Male, have a son & daughter. I am so absolutely sick of the feminist victim mentality oozing across our society. I have worked with & for women, & promoted some in my field. A woman (singular) who chooses the field has to work as hard as a man.

This gender war feminist bullshit talking about women (plural) as some kind of entity is garbage. I will not put up with or pander to this nonsense at all. I will only promote (& put up with) a woman (singular) who has the personal drive (genderless concept) to apply herself.

If someone starts this affirmative action crap around me, they are marked for the big delete. Whining & herd victim mentality has done great harm to our society. In a field dominated by logic & rational thinking, the underrepresentation by weak minded individuals should come as no surprise.

Do not try to change the nature of our field to try to attract or appease “women”. The individual “woman” with the right stuff are already working in the field.

]]> By: Janeds http://www.hilarymason.com/blog/stop-talking-start-coding/#comment-383 Janeds Thu, 27 Jan 2011 14:18:26 +0000 http://www.hilarymason.com/?p=442#comment-383 Charles: That's true, most women programmers I know find guys don't have the mind for technical work. So perhaps the women are biased also from experience. Charles: That’s true, most women programmers I know find guys don’t have the mind for technical work. So perhaps the women are biased also from experience.

]]> By: A rant about humans | space http://www.hilarymason.com/blog/stop-talking-start-coding/#comment-382 A rant about humans | space Sun, 12 Dec 2010 21:37:31 +0000 http://www.hilarymason.com/?p=442#comment-382 [...] idea of “women in tech” organizations. Today, while reading Hillary Mason’s post Stop talking, start coding I started to get an idea of why I have a problem with them: Many groups have popped up that support [...] [...] idea of “women in tech” organizations. Today, while reading Hillary Mason’s post Stop talking, start coding I started to get an idea of why I have a problem with them: Many groups have popped up that support [...]

]]> By: Sue http://www.hilarymason.com/blog/stop-talking-start-coding/#comment-381 Sue Sat, 13 Nov 2010 15:37:53 +0000 http://www.hilarymason.com/?p=442#comment-381 Well Glenn, for the two women you know who took desk jobs, I know four women who want to get into I.T. but are overlooked for the positions even though they are very good at what they do. Well Glenn, for the two women you know who took desk jobs, I know four women who want to get into I.T. but are overlooked for the positions even though they are very good at what they do.

]]> By: rachelle http://www.hilarymason.com/blog/stop-talking-start-coding/#comment-380 rachelle Mon, 11 Oct 2010 02:30:17 +0000 http://www.hilarymason.com/?p=442#comment-380 i've just been reading up on you ever since i saw that whole thing where you used script to autoreply to emails(which is wicked btw), and i'm just really impressed girl. i wanna be that smart hot chick that works with computers and programming too :) i’ve just been reading up on you ever since i saw that whole thing where you used script to autoreply to emails(which is wicked btw), and i’m just really impressed girl. i wanna be that smart hot chick that works with computers and programming too :)

]]> By: Charles Merriam http://www.hilarymason.com/blog/stop-talking-start-coding/#comment-379 Charles Merriam Mon, 04 Oct 2010 04:04:46 +0000 http://www.hilarymason.com/?p=442#comment-379 Finally, a well written post on the subject! Thank you. My wife and I are both in Silicon Valley, both trained as engineers, and have a continuing debate over women and minorities in the set of fields. I have always believed the "discrimination is bad" line of argument is too simplistic and inaccurate, and that a more complete understanding works better. The most common is the prejudice of small sample size, ala http://xkcd.com/385/, which I think we all use in reasoning. For example, I know I have a prejudice against people named Jeff (2 of 3 I knew well stole my previous girlfriends), against female MIT engineering graduates (3 of 3 I know well are mediocre), and for female MIT engineering dropouts (2 of 3 I know are Ubertechs). I also know these prejudices are subject to change with experience. Just getting together to code adjusts or reinforces the web of prejudice that makes up our thinking. Finally, a well written post on the subject! Thank you.

My wife and I are both in Silicon Valley, both trained as engineers, and have a continuing debate over women and minorities in the set of fields. I have always believed the “discrimination is bad” line of argument is too simplistic and inaccurate, and that a more complete understanding works better. The most common is the prejudice of small sample size, ala http://xkcd.com/385/, which I think we all use in reasoning. For example, I know I have a prejudice against people named Jeff (2 of 3 I knew well stole my previous girlfriends), against female MIT engineering graduates (3 of 3 I know well are mediocre), and for female MIT engineering dropouts (2 of 3 I know are Ubertechs). I also know these prejudices are subject to change with experience.

Just getting together to code adjusts or reinforces the web of prejudice that makes up our thinking.

]]> By: Glenn Snead http://www.hilarymason.com/blog/stop-talking-start-coding/#comment-378 Glenn Snead Sat, 11 Sep 2010 18:54:37 +0000 http://www.hilarymason.com/?p=442#comment-378 That matches with my own experience. My sister-in-law has a science background and initially worked in the field doing environmental sampling and testing. Today she works a desk job at the EPA. Tara, a woman I work with, is always running a jeep rebuild project, rock crawler, etc. and she does serach and rescue on the side. But she isn't a mechanic, she's a federal employee working in IT. I don't claim to know why these two women choose desk jobs vs active, physical, scientific, or creative careers. Yet there they are. That matches with my own experience. My sister-in-law has a science background and initially worked in the field doing environmental sampling and testing. Today she works a desk job at the EPA. Tara, a woman I work with, is always running a jeep rebuild project, rock crawler, etc. and she does serach and rescue on the side. But she isn’t a mechanic, she’s a federal employee working in IT.
I don’t claim to know why these two women choose desk jobs vs active, physical, scientific, or creative careers. Yet there they are.

]]> By: Sue http://www.hilarymason.com/blog/stop-talking-start-coding/#comment-377 Sue Tue, 17 Aug 2010 21:30:35 +0000 http://www.hilarymason.com/?p=442#comment-377 Don't know where the smiley face came from. Don’t know where the smiley face came from.

]]> By: Sue http://www.hilarymason.com/blog/stop-talking-start-coding/#comment-376 Sue Mon, 16 Aug 2010 03:01:25 +0000 http://www.hilarymason.com/?p=442#comment-376 Years ago the class ratios were about 35% and many women did not find C.S. to be difficult. It was just like any other field. But in the workforce they were pushed out by discrimination...and now we are seeing ridiculous statements like it is the 'hard' sciences. Sorry, men will do anything to push women out of an area and then say it is too hard for them. :) I mean really, when did we start to differentiate between science and hard science? Years ago the class ratios were about 35% and many women did not find C.S. to be difficult. It was just like any other field. But in the workforce they were pushed out by discrimination…and now we are seeing ridiculous statements like it is the ‘hard’ sciences. Sorry, men will do anything to push women out of an area and then say it is too hard for them. :)

I mean really, when did we start to differentiate between science and hard science?

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