Women in Computing
Tonight I attended Google Kirkland’s TechTalk, “Unlocking the Clubhouse: Women in Computing” (based around an excellent book). To get past the obvious, yes, I wanted to see their offices; yes, they were comfy; yes, the Googleites were great hosts and I picked up some cool schwag. But beyond the geek novelty, I geniuinely wanted to hear the talk. And even more than that, I wanted to see who showed up.
Here’s the thing: I’m a decent geek; not a rockstar prodigy but also not a myopic procedural adherent. After years, I’m finding contentment with my limitations, or, rather, my personal sanity limit on the hours I can spend in front of a computer. But that has been extremely hard won, for many reasons. Without subjecting anyone (most of all me) to a play-by-play, my first six or seven years in the industry, well, sucked. Not the whole time, but it has been decently heartbreaking, even compared to horror stories over beers. My somatic therapist and I talk a lot about the industry, women, femininity, expectations, disappointment, competency, exceptionalism, etc. Ad nauseum, sometimes, with some interesting conclusions-in-progress.
The women (and a few men) at the talk came from all walks: age, tech involvement, interest, background and interest in the topic. The professors—authors of the book of the same name—covered their research at Carnegie Mellon and observations since. At the end, the Q&A opened up into near-confessions about assumptions, confidence and inequality, as well as the even more daunting issues of race and class inequality. What wasn’t really discussed is the current shape of computer science undergraduate/graduate programs (v. web programs) and the massive opportunity (wasted?) in introducing basic web coding with the rise of online social networking. (Thought to occupy the restless night: What if MySpace had debuted with a short, easy, accessible HTML+CSS lesson for profile customization?)
Let me end—early, and on the concise side—with a warning: expect a lot more from me on this topic. I think about it every day at work and there is *endless* room for more discussion.
