Women In Computer Science

What Has Driven Women Out Of Computer Science

(I found this article on Slashdot today)

I think these researchers have it wrong. It's not games.

When I was in high school, they made us take all these aptitude tests to find out what kind of job we would be suited for. I thought it was kind of fascinating and probably sparked my interest in personality tests.

Anyway, the test came back and said I was well-suited to be an engineer. My dad really wanted me to go to Tech, and it was the most-viable out-of-state solution I could have gone with (since Dad said even if I was accepted to MIT I couldn't go because we couldn't afford it). He wanted me to go into environmental engineering, which I just wasn't into. But they had software engineering as a major and I thought, "Hey, I took a programming class in high school and that was fun, let's do that."

I was bored in that programming class in high school because I could get a week-long assignment done in an hour. But it was something that I was good at and it was fun to see immediately if your idea worked or not.

I never said to myself, "Gee, I played with Barbie dolls as a child, I shouldn't go into a math or science field."

If you want to know why women get scared out of computer science, just read the comments in the Slashdot article. I don't think it's as simple as socially-undeveloped men scaring women, because engineers and scientists are just as socially-undeveloped. Plus, the women I saw majoring in engineering and science tend to not be like the women who majored in, say, nursing.

You want to know what really intimidated me in college re: my major? I had a bad professor who made everyone feel like an idiot. I know a lot of people in my class dropped out or transferred after his Discrete Structures class. Granted, a lot of people probably would have dropped out after Discrete Structures anyway (it's hard and brain-hurting at times), but there was a girl who was doing the best out of the entire class who transferred to Bozeman to study something else. Going through a couple of classes with that guy wasn't really conducive to learning.

Obviously this was just a case of one, but I would bet there are assholes everywhere.

Computer science is a hard enough field to study, the people teaching it (and sometimes the people learning it) don't need to make it harder.

I Love Colbert

Aha!

A couple years ago, when I was lonelier than I am now, I went to a website. . . .

I found the URL on a yard sign in the median of a city street. I went to the website, filled out the form, and a couple days later got a phone call. A woman asked me some questions and set up an appointment to meet with them (and get videotaped? WTF?) in Westwood.

I flaked on the interview.

Today, on Slashdot, someone has figured out who runs that operation.

I thought it was fascinating.

While We Breathe, We Hope

I did not vote for Barack Obama. I penciled-in Ron Paul's name, knowing that no matter how I voted, Obama would win California's electoral votes. There were other things vastly more important to me that I was voting on last night.

I just finished watching his speech, which was well-written and well-delivered. I am confidant that he will bring people together, and not force them further apart. In that, I am very excited.

He used to teach Constitutional Law. I hope he uses that experience to bring our government more in alignment with that.

Someday, there will be a bullet train between Orange County and the San Francisco Bay Area. Someday, there will be a better Metro system in Los Angeles County. Someday, I hope that marriage will not be something that government or religion feels free to decide on; that people will feel it's not OK to tell someone else how to define their committed relationships.

Obama said last night, "While we breathe, we hope." And that is a beautiful concept.

Michael Crichton Dies

Michael Crichton, million-selling science fiction writer, dies at 66

I remember a time in high school, when I was inconsolably lonely, where I tried to read every single novel Crichton wrote. Some I cared more for than others (Sphere and Terminal Man stick out, don't read anything after Airframe), but I enjoyed them all for the most part.

The summer before I moved to LA I read Crichton's Travels. It was his account of climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro that inspires me to go there someday myself.

While I did not always get on board with his writing, I can say that he wrote well and that he possessed a great imagination.

The world has lost a star. I hope his writing has inspired at least a few to write, to direct, to act, and to imagine.

I'm Heartbroken

It appears 52% or so of Californians are homophobic bigots. Boo on that! Shame on each and every one of them!

If you voted for Proposition 8 and are reading this now, ask yourself this: Would you be satisfied being in a "domestic partnership" with your spouse? Would it be OK for you to not be able to be at his or her bedside when he or she is at the hospital? Would it be OK for you to not receive tax benefits from being in a committed relationship? (Maybe we should change the tax code?) Would it be OK for you to not have automatic parental rights?

If you are concerned about your children, they will not be children forever. Homosexual marriage would not have been formally taught in schools had Proposition 8 failed. Your children aren't stupid. They know more about sex, drugs, homosexuality, and general trouble-making than they let on. You cannot control when your kids learn anything, unless you keep them in a hole somewhere. And that is considered abuse.

To those who had a personal stake in how this all turned out, I'm deeply sorry. This is not at all fair to you, and I hope the fight in court goes our way.

Fortune

I ate at a Chinese fast-food place for lunch a few days ago.

My fortune said, "You will make a name for yourself."

I sure hope so.