[Jun8]

Let me tell you a story:

The FIRST Robotics Competition high school team (Mechanicats, from Chicago) and I were testing our robot late one night this February. While we were munching pizza, exhausted, a girl from the team came to me and asked if I enjoyed what I do (I'm the software mentor for the team). The reason for the question, she said, was that she was torn about what to study in college. She told me that her grandmother, who lived in California, told her that she should learn programming! The grandma said she heard that, since there are so few women in tech, her chances would be much greater in getting a good job. I was flabbergasted (this is a South Side school and she's not coming from a well-off family, how the grandma came with this info is anybody's guess). I told her that's absolutely true and she should go for it. She's now enrolled in the rPi based python class I'll start next week.

So there you go, there's the solution to the "too few women in tech". Show young women that this is an huge opportunity, they should seize it. Tell them about the $5k for women in Hacker School. Tell them to participate in hackathons. Unfortunately, many of people focus on negative aspects of this situation. They have a lot to learn from my student's grandmother.

Please teach this to as many girls you can influence.

[stmchn]

I'm still not sure how I feel to be getting these advantages though. I feel like, the more advantages like this are offered, the more it dilutes my actual accomplishments. I feel like there's a subtext of resentment and doubt saying "Well, she only accomplished that because she received certain privileges."

I recently won a competition, which is great and all, but I always wonder in the back of my mind if I won it because I was the only woman in the competition.

And I know that's probably crazy but judging some of the HN comments about these kind of things, people clearly do think that way. I just want to be recognized solely for what I accomplish and not "Good for you, you're a FEMALE software developer!"

[pizza]

> the more advantages like this are offered, the more it dilutes my actual accomplishments

plight of all assisted minorities, gender-wise or racial

[guylhem]

> plight of all assisted minorities, gender-wise or racial

Is that supposed to be ironic????

What's worse in your opinion, a competition that's hard to enter, or a competition that hard to enter AND where, in rare the case you succeed, you will be denied having won on your own, by your talent alone?

That's the reason I'm somehow against all the "levelling the field" initiatives and outreach programs. I don't care about losers, the one who can't get in the competition.

I care about the winners, and making sure they get the glory they deserve.

[mnicole]

This is an issue regardless of these incentives. It's the same as being told your brother must have gotten you into gaming; just being a woman isn't enough for you to be an individual with your own brain.

[roguecoder]

By the statistics, every man should feel that way every single day.

I think the key is to stop focusing on individuals, and start focusing on the systems. It isn't about the one woman who wins, it is about the other however-many who get to have a glorious disaster and learn valuable lessons about time management. It is about the men who see those women as peers instead of oddities.

We don't need heroes: we need a better normal.

[jbackus]

If you are in a better position then others then I'd argue that an accomplishment may very well deserve less recognition than a less privileged counterpart of yours may deserve. That's fine though! Achievement is limitless and a better starting point is a scaffold for achieving greater things.

[cheez]

This is the problem I have with the recent women-in-tech affirmative action as well. I have a female friend who is exceptionally good at what she does and I would hate to see her accomplishments diminished just because she is a woman.

[guylhem]

Don't listen to the dummies who love to hate.

This is a slick idea, something I personally felt I would need - I watch WWE RAW with a delay, and sometimes they post news to their facebook feed, which unfortunately spoils part of the fun.

However, I haven't implemented it. I didn't know of anything like it. You did it, great hack. It's something that I would personally use.

Let the naysayers saying you got an award just because of some characteristic that does not define a "hacker" prove you wrong by creating stuff instead of posting stuff that only prove they are the dummies.

Creating stuff is what really defines a hacker.

[derleth]

> I recently won a competition, which is great and all, but I always wonder in the back of my mind if I won it because I was the only woman in the competition.

And you suffer this now, in your generation, so maybe the next generation will have so many women succeeding that this idea will no longer make sense. Having examples to strive towards is always cited as an important part of deciding who you become in life.

You didn't ask to do this. Your post makes that much clear. Very rarely to we really ask for the roles society casts us into. It is simply how it happens.

Reminds me of an old quote, from the film Zulu about the defense of Rorke's Drift during the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879:

Private Cole: [After Mr. Witt's carriage rides off, Mr. Witt screaming the British soldiers are all doomed] He's right. Why does it have to be us? Why us?

Colour Sgt. Bourne: Because we're here, lad. Nobody else. Just us.

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Zulu_(film)

[ahoyhere]

Nobody's opinion matters but yours. If you doubt you won on merit, you need to decide whether you would have granted yourself the prize, all things being equal. If you are unable to accurately assess your work, you'll always be at the whims of other people's opinions. On the other hand, know your own worth -- even if it means admitting to yourself "this was a gimme, I need more work" -- and you will always be the one in power of your destiny. Which will put you way, way, ahead of just about every other person, including 99% of men.

Aside from that, this is why contests are stupid. And most things in life are contests. What's great about selling products, instead of being employed or consulting, is that you win if you solve the customer's problems, not if they think they should give you a break.

[helen842000]

It's great you encouraged her, however I don't think "better odds at getting a good job" is a decent enough reason to hand out to girls. It just doesn't feel...enough.

When she does go on to get a job, does she tell herself "I got this because I was the only girl" or because she has confidence in her abilities to be the best overall candidate? We need to remind girls they have the potential to be the best, not just the best female.

We need to hear what kind of life learning a technical skill will open up to us. Seeing someone else have the passion for their work in tech is the biggest inspiration. This is shown by how the father of the hackathon winner told stories of his latest hack and made his enthusiasm contagious. This is how I was influenced in my childhood.

Focusing on the 'huge opportunity' is akin to saying "Quick! There's a gap, get in now while you're a unicorn, you'll regret it once ratios are more equal & you actually have to be talented to get hired".

Also by getting girls into tech on the sole basis of the advantages of being the 'token female' could develop a dynamic a few years down the line where women feel their worth within a team deminish with every further female hire. This is why I feel talent and enjoyment should be emphasised from the start.

Please emphasise WHY you love what you do, ask where her interests lie. Don't recommend it to every girl. Yes there is a gap but surely we should be saying to girls, gap or no gap - if you feel a sense of connection to creativity & technology & see your future in it, go for it regardless!

[ahoyhere]

This is not a success story unless she loves it. It's far too early to celebrate… she's just enrolled in a class.