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Here we go again...
Feb. 8th, 2005 11:25 amYet another article wailing about the dearth of women in IT on ZDNET. But there is a lack. And I even think there are fewer women in IT than when I started 7 years ago. They keep going on about how there is a lack of girls doing mathematics in school, and who can blame them, since it's not cool. It's still not groovy to be a geek girl, unless you've managed to "reclaim" that as an identity, with attitood.
But WHY is every computer science student expected to do maths, including calculus? The only time I have ever used mathematics is to convert between KB/MB/GB (multiply by 1024, just too hard) and to calculate subnet masks (using base two, which takes all of a couple of days to read up about - and if you really want to calculate a subnet mask, you use a damn tool anyway). Oh, then there's Boolean logic, which I gained a MUCH better understanding of by taking a level 100 philosophy class in propositional logic.
The only time I can imagine you'd need higher-level maths is if you're doing system architecture or reasonably low-level programming. Since the majority of people in IT are doing neither of those things (we're in some kind of support role), I don't see the relevance.
So, why is more work not being done on positioning IT as support-orientated, which requires a lot of the so-called female-oriented "soft skills", as well as technical and problem-solving skills? Basically because it's always - with a few notable exceptions - been a boys' club, and there was no need for the geek typing away in the back room to have any social skills whatsoever. Most guys in IT these days are great, but there is that core group of absolute dweebs who I have problems dealing with (and I am most certainly not your normal female). If they drive me insane when I have to interact with them, you can see why your average chick who wants to have a "friendly" working environment is reluctant to put herself into it. It can as testosterone-laden an atmosphere as any building site, without such good jokes.
My main skills, other than liking to "fix" things, is that I communicate well and I pick up things fast. I don't have a comp sci degree. I might contemplate a degree in "information technology", which seems to have more of an appropriate focus (no pre-requisite maths), and is certainly more relevant to the bulk of IT jobs these days. I'm sure there are plenty more females with similar attributes who would love working in this business, if given the opportunity.
One of the best schemes I saw was when a whole bunch of secretaries in a law firm were retrained as desktop support staff. They were great. They knew the software and environment. By taking on that kind of change in role, they were evidently the flexible type. After been shown the hows and whys of the underlying stuff (eg. networks, domains, group policies etc), and despite the reluctance of some of "the boys" to part with their mystical knowledge, they were off and running. What about call centre drones? A bit of good training, and they could be excellent 1st-level helpdesk staff. Especially if it was made clear that they could progress into more varied roles (2nd level software support, desktop support) if they learned their stuff.
So, despite all the crap about female brain differences from some of the apologists for the lack of women in IT, I think it really is a matter of image, communication and accessibility. It's not just for dweebs. There are plenty of roles to support lots of different personality types, and it's constructive (as opposed to pointless and soul-destroying) work. You shouldn't have to get a degree in computer science or advanced maths, or any such thing. It's also a hell of a lot easier work than the "sacred priesthood of IT" like to make out.
But WHY is every computer science student expected to do maths, including calculus? The only time I have ever used mathematics is to convert between KB/MB/GB (multiply by 1024, just too hard) and to calculate subnet masks (using base two, which takes all of a couple of days to read up about - and if you really want to calculate a subnet mask, you use a damn tool anyway). Oh, then there's Boolean logic, which I gained a MUCH better understanding of by taking a level 100 philosophy class in propositional logic.
The only time I can imagine you'd need higher-level maths is if you're doing system architecture or reasonably low-level programming. Since the majority of people in IT are doing neither of those things (we're in some kind of support role), I don't see the relevance.
So, why is more work not being done on positioning IT as support-orientated, which requires a lot of the so-called female-oriented "soft skills", as well as technical and problem-solving skills? Basically because it's always - with a few notable exceptions - been a boys' club, and there was no need for the geek typing away in the back room to have any social skills whatsoever. Most guys in IT these days are great, but there is that core group of absolute dweebs who I have problems dealing with (and I am most certainly not your normal female). If they drive me insane when I have to interact with them, you can see why your average chick who wants to have a "friendly" working environment is reluctant to put herself into it. It can as testosterone-laden an atmosphere as any building site, without such good jokes.
My main skills, other than liking to "fix" things, is that I communicate well and I pick up things fast. I don't have a comp sci degree. I might contemplate a degree in "information technology", which seems to have more of an appropriate focus (no pre-requisite maths), and is certainly more relevant to the bulk of IT jobs these days. I'm sure there are plenty more females with similar attributes who would love working in this business, if given the opportunity.
One of the best schemes I saw was when a whole bunch of secretaries in a law firm were retrained as desktop support staff. They were great. They knew the software and environment. By taking on that kind of change in role, they were evidently the flexible type. After been shown the hows and whys of the underlying stuff (eg. networks, domains, group policies etc), and despite the reluctance of some of "the boys" to part with their mystical knowledge, they were off and running. What about call centre drones? A bit of good training, and they could be excellent 1st-level helpdesk staff. Especially if it was made clear that they could progress into more varied roles (2nd level software support, desktop support) if they learned their stuff.
So, despite all the crap about female brain differences from some of the apologists for the lack of women in IT, I think it really is a matter of image, communication and accessibility. It's not just for dweebs. There are plenty of roles to support lots of different personality types, and it's constructive (as opposed to pointless and soul-destroying) work. You shouldn't have to get a degree in computer science or advanced maths, or any such thing. It's also a hell of a lot easier work than the "sacred priesthood of IT" like to make out.
