[cheatsheet]

It is sexism, and it's unfortunate. I'm a woman, and I pretend to be a man online so my comments and understandings of computer science, code, programming, and mathematics are treated with the same respect, and given the same kind of responses and feedback.

I've tried numerous times to out myself as female and it's clear that there is consistently a difference in the way I'm spoken to as a woman and as a man.

I will probably move onto another alias as I typically do, but I think it is necessary to point out that both genders suffer due to any kind of discrimination. I feel like people hold me back by judging my abilities by my gender. I get angry thinking about how much more I might have been able to learn if I was a man, and I resolve that with studying independently, and fighting in whatever way I can to make sure I can gain the same knowledge base as anyone else should be able to.

One of the few things I am proud of is that I have managed to cultivate an online personality image that is often mistaken for an older man. I don't know when I will stop believing that I am inferior at the things I've spent my entire life studying, but I hope I will soon, because it is extremely depressing. I don't know what my experiences are the definition of, because I know they are biased by an extremely limited set of data.

The point is, I guess - keep your eyes on what really matters to you, and always keep that goal in sight. It's very easy to turn a superficial cultural assumption that actually doesn't happen that often, into a self defeatist attitude, and all that attitude does is get in your way of achieving.

[dijit]

Forgive me, but I don't think you'd have gained much more understanding of systems.

this industry, if you're not born in the right geographical location is a complete impossibility unless you are an autodidact.

Personally growing up where I was there was 0 incentive to work in computers- no courses, even anything bearing on technical was cut due to lack of interest. So I taught myself. I find that this is probably the best way to learn.

You might have been held back due to gender- I can't possibly know. But I wouldn't consider it a bad thing, probably the extra fight taught you to appreciate what you were learning in the first place.

on the flip side, I resonate with the top commenter- had I been born a woman I do feel I'd have more chances of getting a job in some hard to access companies (whether that's true or not is completely debatable of course). Even though I'm sure there are people who condescend [you] outside of [your] career.. at least online you can mask [your] gender (sad that you'd have to but bigots be bigots), but I cannot become a woman for a job interview.

[cheatsheet]

You don't have to become a woman unless you want to become a woman. I don't have to work for idiots, and neither do you.

I think any form of prejudice hinders your ability to think regardless. They can't see existence the same because they've already molded a language, a way of reasoning, and a way of thinking around an axiom of absolute certainty (that they pretend doesn't exist, because it's a bias they do not consciously act on, but it exists as an invariant in the mind regardless). It is ridiculous, counter intuitive, cognitively dissonant logic.

> in this industry, if you're not born in the right geographical location is a complete impossibility unless you are an autodidact.

Most of what is fundamentally mentally shaping and necessarily important for your ability to think as a human being is not dependent on education, but on everything, and I don't know whether I have control over it or not, but I don't begin with the premise assuming that I already know everything I am going to know.

[hamax]

> But I wouldn't consider it a bad thing

You wouldn't consider gender discrimination against women a bad thing?

Why don't you apply the same logic to the parent's comment, and consider it a good thing that he has to work harder to get the job he wants? Probably the extra fight will teach him to appreciate the job even more. Or something.

[dijit]

excuse me.. from what did I say that made it sound like I said gender discrimination is "not a bad thing".

that's quite inflammatory and it's quite upsetting.

What I actually said was; "it's good that you educated yourself because self education is much better than formal education in this industry"

I received the same amount of encouragement as the Parent. Zero, none, my mother thought it was stupid- no father, and no education system for 25 miles that would educate me on this.

And from what I've learned in nearly 10 years in industry; Self education beats formal education when formal education doesn't work hard to learn.

k? now, please, in future read the comment properly, parse what is actually being said instead of throwing accusations and insults at people.

[kaybe]

You might not have intended or meant to say that, but I parse

"You might have been held back due to gender- I can't possibly know. But I wouldn't consider it a bad thing, probably the extra fight taught you to appreciate what you were learning in the first place."

the same way as your parent comment. Just a heads-up.

[Guthur]

The web is a poor reflection of how you well you will be treated by people in general, the relative anonymity has a profoundly negative effect on peoples behaviour.

I can understand how negativity or strong criticism whether warranted or not can have a measurable effect on ones well being away from the internet; I have felt it too with a very limited online presence.

I actually find myself more often than not shying away from interaction on the internet in at least partly because of that possible negativity, while some may disagree I believe it is better for me personally and professionally; I would hazard a guess that online discussions bring limited return in terms of career development.

I do believe in the power of networking, the door opened to my two most recent opportunities via associations, but none of those were cultivated online.

[dijit]

Hey, I noticed you got downvoted and I'm not particularly sure why.

Could people respond when they downvote?

Have we woken a feminist movement or is there something in his comment that I'm missing?

[malandrew]

    how much more I might have been able to learn if I was a 
    man, and I resolve that with studying independently

I find this such a strange statement because your solution ("studying independently") is exactly what every engineer (male or female) including myself does. I don't know a single accomplished engineer that is excellent at computer science, software engineering and programming for any reason than independent study.

Yes, there is occasional mentorship and asking questions, but those merely help with orientation corrections that help improve the efficacy of independent study. The journey to success in our field is essentially a solitary one. Hours of independent study relative greatly dwarves learning from others by several orders of magnitude.

I've had two mentors and mentored many others. The way I attracted mentorship had nothing to do with my gender and everything to do with my actions and how I asked questions. The first mentor I had came by way of noticing the book I was reading "The Little Schemer". The second mentor (and a current co-worker of mine) came from reading lots of his source code and submitting pull requests. Those I've mentored has been the result of their gumption. They just asked for help and advice and I gave it to them. My continued mentorship was dependent on two criteria: (1) the person needs to demonstrate that they will help themselves (including asking questions the smart way); and (2) be committed to independent self-study and practice.

    fighting in whatever way I can to make sure I can gain the 
    same knowledge base as anyone else should be able to.

What knowledge base exists out there that is in anyway exclusive to one demographic? I started learning to program in the mid-90s. Back then an argument could be made that knowledge was locked away and privvy to only a few. Mostly it was a problem of discoverability. You didn't know what resources were good ones to learn from so if you were lucky you'd know one enlightened engineer who could recommend the resources they considered to be effective instead of whatever "Learn X in 24 hours" crap on the shelf at the local Barnes and Noble.

There days there is no shortage of suggested self study lists and reviews from Amazon, blogs and sites like HN. There's IRC. There's oodles and oodles of code on Github to read. There's koans. There's Project Euler. There are interactive language tutorials like the official one for Golang of 4clojure. There are interactive books like Marijn Haverbeke's Eloquent JavaScript. There's the whole series of "Learn X the Hard Way" started by Zed Shaw. There has never in history been such an abundance of accessible content to learn programming and there are no filters out there on any of this knowledge that prevents a self-directed learner from acquiring any knowledge they might desire. I'm actually jealous of the 10-12 year olds growing up today. Insofar as knowledge is concerned, any kid today with a computer and internet has a level of privilege relative to my 10-12 year self in the mid-90s that dwarves many times over any kind of privilege people complain about today.

Seriously, in 2015 and beyond the only thing that can keep anyone away from all this knowledge is not having internet access and a computer. That's a poverty issue that I would love to see solved because I think Internet access and access to computers should be a basic human right since it's essential for participation in much of the economy today.