[Banzaaaai]

From my experience:

1. It is a pipeline problem (I never got as much women applications as I wanted, even with targeting a women audience)

2. It is a problem of not enough role models for women (so women do not see themselves in tech and do not aspire for tech careers or for becoming CTOs - women CTOs go a long way here).

3. It is a problem of the vile and toxicity of the tech community in general (just see all the fights over programming languages, about being right vs. understanding each other). And the bro culture in some places.

4. It is a problem of women in general being more risk averse (so they gamble less with salaries or risk to push for promotion)

5. It is a problem of job ads (male focused, where males might say 'Ah I can do all those things' and women might say 'I don't know all the things they want') and the recruiting process in general.

[tracker1]

Wrt the pipeline, I have to agree to a large extent. I admit it, I'm biased on a lot of levels, not really against gender, but I will admit I prefer to work with men. That said, doing pre-screening of applications at a job a few years ago opened my eyes a lot.

To be honest, I no longer hold much of any value to a resume... I've seen too many people with higher degrees and years of experience that can't seem to do what it says they can on said resume. Me, I'm particularly bad at white board coding... but I understand the need. That said, I'd rather have a laptop connected to a projector.

I've probably sat in on a couple hundred interviews of other people over the years, and only a handful were of women... For the most part, I appreciate that women tend to be much more accurate on their resumes and in responses as to their skill level. I've never really liked excessive arrogance, and prefer someone more honest. This is just me though.

I also think that efforts to make language and interactions politically correct are a disservice to the goal of letting anyone that wants to work in IT do so. A few months back I witnessed someone pretty much accosted because he dared to ask, "...can any of you guys help me with this?". My extended family is over 80% female... my step father was an only child, but my mom was one of 4 sisters, her mom one of three, and half of the women in my family only had daughters (including my sister). hearing things like "I miss you guys." was said by women, to women, without any gender bias, as a generic phrasing.

There's a difference between being overtly sensitive and issues of bias/discrimination worth bringing up. We're at a point where awareness is increasing, but as a society we've also been heading down a path of so much excessive sensitivity that it's downright abusive towards people who aren't ill-meaning. I hope that a balance is found sooner than later.

[Banzaaaai]

I also do not hold much of an resume. Around 30% of developers I've questioned could not code a bit even when their resume said years of developer experience. I currently do only 10sec screening of resumes to find interesting things.

"[..] that it's downright abusive towards people who aren't ill-meaning. I hope that a balance is found sooner than later."

I'm totally against any (slightly) sexist words, and have always stopped people from using them - inside or outside of my teams/departments. That said:

Sometimes gender activists focus on the 'easy' things, like language, where it is easy to call someone out, and where it is an easy to understand world view with evil sexists on one side blocking female progress and good gender activists on the other side.

That way of living is easier than accept that there are many things women must do themselves (push for higher salaries, aspire for careers, fight for promotions, help other women with role models) and what activists could do: hire more women, become a tech (manager) role model, ...

[DanBC]

> I admit it, I'm biased on a lot of levels,

> not really against gender,

> but I will admit I prefer to work with men.

You don't see the contradictions here?

[tracker1]

Not really... When I was younger I worked in several offices where I was the only man there... I'd rather not have that experience again. A workplace is a very different environment when the majority of people are of a single gender. I don't think that this is inherently a bad thing though.

When I work with women, I find I have to edit myself more in general conversation, which I don't like doing and would simply rather not.

My preference has nothing to do with a negative opinion on women, their skill or ability to do a job. I also don't have a problem interacting with them in the workplace on a regular basis (one of the best project experiences I've ever had was with a woman who was the PM on a project). I just prefer to work on a team where the people I interact with the most are men.

TBH I actually prefer when I can do an Army of One project where at least the piece I am working on can go for days without having to interact with others except for lunch. I tend to make it a point to get away from the desk and be more social during lunch break.

[thiht]

>It is a problem of the vile and toxicity of the tech community in general (just see all the fights over programming languages, about being right vs. understanding each other).

I don't want that to change, I like it. Is that really something only dudes can like? It's an entire part of the IT field really, it's not gonna change. Like, ever.