Comments on: Women in Technology – tell your story!

By: AllisuneLearns

AllisuneLearns — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 19:37:00 +0000

Thanks for starting this Gina! You motivated me to share my story here : )

http://www.allisunelearns.com/node/57

By: gminks

gminks — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 17:21:32 +0000

Janet – I wish I was going, hopefully the big ED classes will be on the east coast next year! I think your hypotheses are probably correct, so the answer is why and how to we change it. Sunshine sounds like we have very similar interests!

By: Sunshine Mugrabi

Sunshine Mugrabi — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 16:34:00 +0000

This post (and the conversation you had with ‘Zilla on FB) made me stop and think. I’m relatively new to storage but truth be told I almost always end up in male-dominated arenas–even in my social life. I grew up surrounded by electronics. My grandfather was an IBM Fellow who taught me how to build a crystal radio, helped me get my HAM license, and encouraged me in all and any “inventing” that I wanted to do. When kids at school called me a “brain” he reassured me that not only was there nothing wrong with having a “good mind” as he called it, but that it in the long-run I’d have a more fulfilling life as a result of it. Perhaps because it was the 70s and 80s, no one ever told me to be more “ladylike” or any other head trips along those lines. I spent hours studying spiders and snails in our Silicon Valley backyard. Looking back on it, I was a pretty happy kid. And then adolescence hit, and somehow all that good stuff got shoved aside for, I dunno, at least 20 years. But eventually I found my way back, and in high tech (esp. storage!) I feel I’ve found a home. Wow, I didn’t realize I’d have so much to say. Thanks for making room for this, Gina. I hope there are many more such stories posted here.

By: Janet Clarey

Janet Clarey — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 00:19:01 +0000

You could actually have three conversations here – the first about the hiring situation (qualified women for jobs), the second about how you became interested in technology and finally, a conversation about the (real or perceived) lack of women speakers at conferences. My comment is about that last one – diversity among speakers at learning conferences.

I don’t know if you’re going to DevLearn09 but if you are, I volunteered to lead a breakfast byte session on that very issue.

I have several ideas of why more women don’t speak at learning conferences. I don’t believe there’s a lack of women in the L&D field. I believe some women:
* don’t self-promote enough
* don’t submit proposals to speak
* do not wish to travel
* are subject to bias on the part of selection committees
* don’t feel confident enough to speak
* lack online presence (won’t show up on a search for speakers)

I’ll share a quick story…
I was sitting in on a call about selecting speakers for a conference. When proposals from men were reviewed, the focus was on accomplishments and background. When proposals for women were reviewed there was more discussion about appearance. It wasn’t intentional (I don’t think).

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Wed, 14 Oct 2009 07:48:19 +0000

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By: Sue Taylor

Sue Taylor — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:27:32 +0000

Much like you, I loved to take things apart when I was a kid. I was always intrigued about how those little electronic devices were capable of doing such amazing things. I was also interested in the fact that I was able (through programming) to control a machine. Little ole me could make a machine do what I wanted just by typing in some words? AWESOME! Then I got sucked into the internet around 1995, I have no idea why it appealed to me. I guess since I was involved in MOOs and MUDs it may have went back to the fact that I was able to control interactions by typing in words. I fell in love with the internet and all parts of it. At the same time I was teaching myself how to build and rebuild computers. There was a sort of glamor being a girl who knew more than the guys around me when it came to technology. The guys always thought it was cool and that just encouraged me. Then when my sister (whom I’ve always looked up to and envied) started coming to me to help her with fixing her online courses and I actually enjoyed helping her my desire to become an Instructional Designer was born. The fact that it pays decent probably helped too.

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Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:05:07 +0000

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