Comment by GhotiFish | Hacker News Reader

Comment by GhotiFish | Hacker News Reader

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but that's what I always do! Whenever I read these problems, this is what I think! The only problem is, every time I think "damn, that's not cool someone feels that way, I wonder what I can do to make life better for the people around me?" I can not think of anything. There is nothing I could do! Absolutely nothing. I wrack my brain every time, but I can't do a damn thing.

How about this: I'll gather every single programmer in my office. I'll stand there infront of 30 software engineers and I'll tell them:

   "The reason women arn't successful in technology is because you are implicitly 
    denying them the chance! You need to re-evaluate on what criteria you are 
    using to judge someones actions or opinions."

   "But Fish, there are NO female programmers in this office. All 30 of us are male. 
    We have no one to discriminate against."

   "uhh... and ITS YOUR FAULT!"

That's why these posts are frustrating. I've met three women in my life who actually typed code into a computer. 2 sucked at it, 1 was pretty good but didn't enjoy doing it (hey for the record that's better than the males, who come in 80% bad to 20% good).

You know what's weird? Regarding the skill of that one good girl programmer? No one doubted it. No one patronized her, everyone knew she was good.

I can't possibly wake any more up! I'm awake! I swear!

Well, one thing you could do is attend conferences and decide that you personally are the one responsible for upholding the code of conduct.

I think it's interesting that in the Adria Richards fiasco, almost everybody focused on the reaction of one person who heard the off-color jokes. But there were probably 5 other people who heard them as well. Adria reacted because she had been sensitized to that sort of thing. But any one of those other guys could have said, "Dude, that's not cool. You're at a conference." And that would have been the end of it, because Adria wouldn't have felt like the burden of enforcement fell on her.

Another thing you could do: carefully examine your recruiting pipeline. 30 male engineers in one company is statistically odd. Last I was recruiting, I was very careful to put the word out in ways that were likely to increase the number of female applicants. We also made sure we had decent benefits and sane working hours. Eventually we also moved our office to a better neighborhood, partly because some women expressed safety concerns there.

Or you could do something like Etsy did: http://allthingsd.com/20120612/inside-etsys-gambit-to-hire-m...

Or you could start volunteering at events designed to get more women into tech. Or just supporting them with cash. I give regularly to the Ada Initiative and Black Girls Code.

You're right, it's a bit off. Remember that good programmer I mentioned? She actually did get interviewed (for the same job I'm in), but she didn't get selected.

This is exactly how I feel, for what it's worth. I'm certainly not perfect - I've probably alienated people before - but I want to consciously avoid doing so, and to try to make a difference. What to do though? Just listen?

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