Women Are Leaving The Tech Industry In Droves

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Wait, I thought the problem was that there were no women in tech? How can they be leaving in droves if there are no women in the first place?

According to the industry group Code.org, computing jobs will more than double by 2020, to 1.4 million. If women continue to leave the field, an already dire shortage of qualified tech workers will grow worse. Last summer, Google, Facebook, Apple and other big tech companies released figures showing that men outnumbered women 4 to 1 or more in their technical sectors.
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First one mentioned said they left after 15 years with no advancement to upper management... so pretty much she was a statistic like about 99% of other workers out there who simply do their job without being promoted to a managerial position. My pop worked 30+ years without being promoted, he got raises along the way, but did the same job. My mom same thing. Me, 10 years in as a teacher and I haven't gotten the nod to become a vice president of the university yet? OUTRAGEOUS! I'm giving my 2 weeks first thing tomorrow morning.
 
Maybe they are leaving Silicon Valley to take on careers in the coal mining industry, concrete and steel workers union, diesel mechanics, construction workers or work as a manual laborer. All those careers have less than one percent of female workers...where's the outrage?
 
Reading the article, it sounds like the female examples described are women falling off the horse and then crying about it and going home. Do women think men just have smooth sailing the whole way up the corporate ladder?
 
I've been in the tech industry since '97 while i've had some manager duties i've never been a manager. There are a lot of reasons people don't get promoted to management, Sex and Race usually not one of them

SOME people are also just too good at their current job to get promoted to a manager as well.
 
sfsuphysics said:
First one mentioned said they left after 15 years with no advancement to upper management... so pretty much she was a statistic like about 99% of other workers out there who simply do their job without being promoted to a managerial position. My pop worked 30+ years without being promoted, he got raises along the way, but did the same job. My mom same thing. Me, 10 years in as a teacher and I haven't gotten the nod to become a vice president of the university yet? OUTRAGEOUS! I'm giving my 2 weeks first thing tomorrow morning.
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The most frustrating part of not being promoted is often watching those that are under qualified get the job only to fizzle out in short order. Then they get replaced by someone who is even worse. The entire time, there you are, plugging away, getting shit done, while your application never gets more than the rectangular file treatment.

I still think it is an unrealistic expectation to have 50% women in any given field's workforce. The assumptions that go into an expectation like that are often not possible. First, you must assume that 50% of the general workforce is women, which as far as I have seen, has not yet been the case. This is based on another false assumption that in any given area, 50% of the working age population is female. Industry specific workers would then need to fall perfectly down that 50/50 line, which would only be possible in theory if 50% of the population were female and exactly half of all applicants for study in a field (think STEM education) were female.

Trying to root out discrimination in a field is a noble cause. Forcing mandates with artificial goals is simply counter-productive. Also, encouraging anyone to either study or work in a particular field based arbitrarily on their gender is asinine. Imagine how much time, money and energy could be saved if we stopped pursuing these fools' errands.

If women are leaving the tech industry because of sexism, misogyny, etc, then it is a real issue. Otherwise, as is the case with most of the articles I have read recently on the subject, it is a non-issue being blown out of proportion because sensational headlines attract readers.
 
I don't wanna be a manager.

I fucking hate people enough as it is. Let me manage them and
I'll show you what the entrance to hell looks like.

I managed people for many years, and enjoyed it, but age has caused
me to be so cynical and sarcastic, maybe I need to stop drinking before
10am
 
MrCaffeineX said:
The most frustrating part of not being promoted is often watching those that are under qualified get the job only to fizzle out in short order. Then they get replaced by someone who is even worse. The entire time, there you are, plugging away, getting shit done, while your application never gets more than the rectangular file treatment.

I still think it is an unrealistic expectation to have 50% women in any given field's workforce. The assumptions that go into an expectation like that are often not possible. First, you must assume that 50% of the general workforce is women, which as far as I have seen, has not yet been the case. This is based on another false assumption that in any given area, 50% of the working age population is female. Industry specific workers would then need to fall perfectly down that 50/50 line, which would only be possible in theory if 50% of the population were female and exactly half of all applicants for study in a field (think STEM education) were female.

Trying to root out discrimination in a field is a noble cause. Forcing mandates with artificial goals is simply counter-productive. Also, encouraging anyone to either study or work in a particular field based arbitrarily on their gender is asinine. Imagine how much time, money and energy could be saved if we stopped pursuing these fools' errands.

If women are leaving the tech industry because of sexism, misogyny, etc, then it is a real issue. Otherwise, as is the case with most of the articles I have read recently on the subject, it is a non-issue being blown out of proportion because sensational headlines attract readers.
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They're not even targeting 50%, they're targetting how many women exist in the field. So if 20% of an engineering field is women, a company wants 20% female engineers. I say this makes no sense still, since if a company has 15% female engineers this would mean that another company has to have 25% female engineers which would be "too many" (pretending there's only 2 companies in the world).
 
Why the shit does it matter that women are leaving?

Race/gender only matters because we have artificially made it an issue so companies can promote it to share holders saying how wonderfully diverse they are.

Bottom line is, it doesnt matter if you are white, black, brown, yellow, purple, green, male, female, or a freaking antelope, just as long as you do good work.
 
Steve said:
Maybe they are leaving Silicon Valley to take on careers in the coal mining industry, concrete and steel workers union, diesel mechanics, construction workers or work as a manual laborer. All those careers have less than one percent of female workers...where's the outrage?
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We own a quarry , 0 female as machinery operator.
 
virtualheretic said:
Why the shit does it matter that women are leaving?

Race/gender only matters because we have artificially made it an issue so companies can promote it to share holders saying how wonderfully diverse they are.

Bottom line is, it doesnt matter if you are white, black, brown, yellow, purple, green, male, female, or a freaking antelope, just as long as you do good work.
Click to expand...

The workplace looks a lot nicer with more females around. Not even joking seeing a hot female walking around where I work is like seeing the sun in Seattle.
 
Here's my theory on "management" hiring practices. First, if you want to be considered for management you've got to be willing to agree with everything that current management says. If you're the type of person that sticks to your guns no matter what they generally don't want you to be in management. They want people who'll carry out the orders of the corporation, not just someone that is good at their current job. Second, if you're really good at your job they really don't want you to move into management.

IMO, management is often filled with the mediocre worker that they can afford to lose from the production ranks. Those people are also more agreeable to the corporation's goals. So, if you're particularly head-strong and really good at your job then they want to keep you in the production ranks to keep producing quality work. The last thing they want is for all the best workers to move into management thus diluting the pool of production workers.
 
great.... Im choosing to be a professional sausage partyer(ier? i dont know lol)...
 
sfsuphysics said:
First one mentioned said they left after 15 years with no advancement to upper management... so pretty much she was a statistic like about 99% of other workers out there who simply do their job without being promoted to a managerial position. My pop worked 30+ years without being promoted, he got raises along the way, but did the same job. My mom same thing. Me, 10 years in as a teacher and I haven't gotten the nod to become a vice president of the university yet? OUTRAGEOUS! I'm giving my 2 weeks first thing tomorrow morning.
Click to expand...
I bet you'd be president though if you were an african-american outgoing little-person lesbian and let everyone know you were part of Black Business Women of America. We've seen a lot of REALLY half-ass employees get fast-tracked to advancement if they are "golden eggs" to diversity (filling multiple quotas with one person).
 
If women are leaving tech, it could be because "atrocity propaganda".

Women in the field (as well as in school, etc) are constantly being bombarded by the media about how "bad for women" the tech field is and either avoid the field because of it, or feel it is not welcoming (even if their own experience has been fine).

That is not to say there are not issues to be addressed, there are, but this media fear-mongering is a huge reason women are diverting away from STEM fields.

Sure lets find and discuss real problems (such as seeing if there is bias in the scholarships, or hiring process) but to claim "since 51% of the STEM workforce is not female, there is an issue" patently absurd as someone else mentioned above, no one is complaining about female participation in coal mining.
 
I know a woman who is a really good .net developer, but her team (all guys) talks constantly about how bad she is (behind her back). The kicker is the team is managed by a female. I 100% think team dynamics is what comes into play. If a Manager can't manage a team effectively so everyone feels they free/open to say/suggest/code ideas and stop harassing talk then that is the problem. Bad managers, not bad employees.
 
dr/owned said:
The workplace looks a lot nicer with more females around. Not even joking seeing a hot female walking around where I work is like seeing the sun in Seattle.
Click to expand...

Except that you're not allowed to look because if you do there will be a mandatory sexual harassment training session in your future :D I love how every place I've worked has had to trot out that 30 year old VHS tape to meet some compliance guideline somewhere...
 
Ducman69 said:
I bet you'd be president though if you were an african-american outgoing little-person lesbian and let everyone know you were part of Black Business Women of America. We've seen a lot of REALLY half-ass employees get fast-tracked to advancement if they are "golden eggs" to diversity (filling multiple quotas with one person).
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This. Crippled lesbian african american transgender retard would get 999999 starting bonus at my company.
 
gossipninja1 said:
If women are leaving tech, it could be because "atrocity propaganda".

Women in the field (as well as in school, etc) are constantly being bombarded by the media about how "bad for women" the tech field is and either avoid the field because of it, or feel it is not welcoming (even if their own experience has been fine).

That is not to say there are not issues to be addressed, there are, but this media fear-mongering is a huge reason women are diverting away from STEM fields.

Sure lets find and discuss real problems (such as seeing if there is bias in the scholarships, or hiring process) but to claim "since 51% of the STEM workforce is not female, there is an issue" patently absurd as someone else mentioned above, no one is complaining about female participation in coal mining.
Click to expand...

50/50 is completely unrealistic. I totally agree with that and I also think that even setting a number or percentage that's okay for any career field is silly. However, there genuinely are problems in the tech field for female employees (which is a prominent thing in any field in which men are the vast majority so I'm not singling out male techies as being overtly evil compared to men elsewhere). Women in those situations tend to have to act unnaturally, become abrasive, defensive, and generally put on a facade of "maleness." Women are also subjected to things men don't have to deal with like the talking to boobs thing or the question of sexual orientation that constantly comes up. A lot of it is just guys trying to be cute and it really can't be helped because men are just wired to be that way, but it does have a lot to do with it. If a woman can pay her bills by working in a field where her coworkers don't constantly make jokes about sandwiches and never manage to make eye contact, why would she stick around?
 
MrCaffeineX said:
The most frustrating part of not being promoted is often watching those that are under qualified get the job only to fizzle out in short order. Then they get replaced by someone who is even worse. The entire time, there you are, plugging away, getting shit done, while your application never gets more than the rectangular file treatment.

I still think it is an unrealistic expectation to have 50% women in any given field's workforce. The assumptions that go into an expectation like that are often not possible. First, you must assume that 50% of the general workforce is women, which as far as I have seen, has not yet been the case. This is based on another false assumption that in any given area, 50% of the working age population is female. Industry specific workers would then need to fall perfectly down that 50/50 line, which would only be possible in theory if 50% of the population were female and exactly half of all applicants for study in a field (think STEM education) were female.

Trying to root out discrimination in a field is a noble cause. Forcing mandates with artificial goals is simply counter-productive. Also, encouraging anyone to either study or work in a particular field based arbitrarily on their gender is asinine. Imagine how much time, money and energy could be saved if we stopped pursuing these fools' errands.

If women are leaving the tech industry because of sexism, misogyny, etc, then it is a real issue. Otherwise, as is the case with most of the articles I have read recently on the subject, it is a non-issue being blown out of proportion because sensational headlines attract readers.
Click to expand...


http://dpeaflcio.org/professionals/...n-the-professional-and-technical-labor-force/

According to this study, women make up 51% of the "Professional and technical workforce." Though it does state they only provide 47% of the total workforce.

I just wanted you to know that your "general assumption" in which you based your entire argument was false.
 
Ducman69 said:
I bet you'd be president though if you were an african-american outgoing little-person lesbian and let everyone know you were part of Black Business Women of America. We've seen a lot of REALLY half-ass employees get fast-tracked to advancement if they are "golden eggs" to diversity (filling multiple quotas with one person).
Click to expand...

I'd have to say your borderline bigotry, anecdotal evidence is totally destroyed by the statistics that most management roles are filled by white, affluent males. Though I apologize that you had to witness the only two black males in the country being promoted.
 
VladDracule said:
except its less than 20% in engineering. In other words your entire counter argument is false
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It appears to be about 25% according to the previously quoted picture. Regardless, his argument was some seriously fuzzy logic on the fact that the entire workforce isn't even split up between 50% female... but it is (plus some).
 
S3th13 said:
http://dpeaflcio.org/professionals/...n-the-professional-and-technical-labor-force/

According to this study, women make up 51% of the "Professional and technical workforce." Though it does state they only provide 47% of the total workforce.

I just wanted you to know that your "general assumption" in which you based your entire argument was false.
Click to expand...

Someone has to make the sandwiches.

Today is the first day of our new supervisor, its a 50 something woman.

This will be entertaining.
 
S3th13 said:
It appears to be about 25% according to the previously quoted picture. Regardless, his argument was some seriously fuzzy logic on the fact that the entire workforce isn't even split up between 50% female... but it is (plus some).
Click to expand...

Architecture and Engineering...below 20%
 
Tell her to make you a sandwich... See how that goes
 
Why the hell cant I edit any of my posts?
 
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