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  3. Why are there so few girls in programming?

Why are there so few girls in programming?

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  • L led mike

    That is an interesting question. I propose that we get you, me and as many of the other female CPians that are interested in this topic to meet in person, for about 5 days to discuss the issue.

    "Just about every question you've asked over the last 3-4 days has been "urgent". Perhaps a little planning would be helpful?"
    Colin Angus Mackay in the C# forum

    led mike

    J Offline
    J Offline
    Jeremy Falcon
    wrote on last edited by
    #45

    led mike wrote:

    I propose that we get you, me and as many of the other female CPians that are interested in this topic to meet in person

    And yet in your profile you keep on referring to yourself as "He". Yeah, women do that all the time. :doh: Jeremy Falcon

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    • L leckey 0

      Okay, I'm a girl and I like programming. I'm not very good at it yet, but I do like it. I've done research on women in science and the number of girls going into "computer" (whether programming, IT, etc.) keeps dropping significantly every year. For those of you with a formal education I'm curious how many girls you had in classes, how they acted (shy? open for discussion?), ethnic diversity (we had a few foreign girls but i was the only "white" girl in most of my classes.) But why do you think so few girls go into programming/computers? Other girls please give your feedback!

      R Offline
      R Offline
      Rocky Moore
      wrote on last edited by
      #46

      Try of the places I have worked had females. The first place had a few and they seemed to well, but where not aggressive in their work, much more willing to listen and produce what they were assigned. Many of the males where more likely to enhance the designs and push more. The other place I worked that had females, had only one but that was 1/5 the developers :) She was much like the females at the other shop that had them, in that she would build to spec and not go outside that spec usually. She was a really good and fast developer, she could crank out the code and do repetitious work that most of us did not like. The only battles there on design came from the male developers :) So far, my view of female developers have been a positive one! Rocky <>< Latest Post: Visual Studio 2005 Standard, whats missing? Blog: www.RockyMoore.com/TheCoder/[^]

      1 Reply Last reply
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      • L leckey 0

        Okay, I'm a girl and I like programming. I'm not very good at it yet, but I do like it. I've done research on women in science and the number of girls going into "computer" (whether programming, IT, etc.) keeps dropping significantly every year. For those of you with a formal education I'm curious how many girls you had in classes, how they acted (shy? open for discussion?), ethnic diversity (we had a few foreign girls but i was the only "white" girl in most of my classes.) But why do you think so few girls go into programming/computers? Other girls please give your feedback!

        H Offline
        H Offline
        HakunaMatada
        wrote on last edited by
        #47

        leckey wrote:

        But why do you think so few girls go into programming/computers?

        Coz most of them don't like programming? :rolleyes: --- With best regards, A Manchester United Fan The Genius of a true fool is that he can mess up a foolproof plan!

        C 1 Reply Last reply
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        • L leckey 0

          Okay, I'm a girl and I like programming. I'm not very good at it yet, but I do like it. I've done research on women in science and the number of girls going into "computer" (whether programming, IT, etc.) keeps dropping significantly every year. For those of you with a formal education I'm curious how many girls you had in classes, how they acted (shy? open for discussion?), ethnic diversity (we had a few foreign girls but i was the only "white" girl in most of my classes.) But why do you think so few girls go into programming/computers? Other girls please give your feedback!

          C Offline
          C Offline
          Corinna John
          wrote on last edited by
          #48

          leckey wrote:

          how many girls you had in classes

          A while back, when I learned the profession Fachinformatiker[^] (German word for somebody who learned an IT job for three years in a company an a school), we were five girls in my class, and about 20 or 25 boys. Two of the girls didn't get it and don't work in IT anymore. Today I'm just about to finish the next part of german IT education, in a few days I'm going to be Techniker für Informatik[^]. When the class started four years ago, we were five girls, two of them left the school during the first year, the third one left in her second year. So we are only two girls (and six boys) who'll leave the school with the full certification. One of the boys wants to go to university. All others are happy to be finished with that stuff. Seven years of IT school seem short, now, when looking back ... but it must have been hard enough to reduce the size of our class from 28 (first day) down to 8 (people you actually did the final exams).

          leckey wrote:

          why do you think so few girls go into programming

          Most of the girls I know have more social and less technical interests, and they have strange ideas about the IT business. They say they want to work with people, or that they don't understand all that tech stuff. Well, an IT worker has a lot to do with people, software is only there to be used by people - anyway, the image of the pale hacker in front of the screen seems to be programmed into girl's minds. Another point is that most of the girls I kno think that programming would be complicated and hard to understand. They are afraid of the "challenge" ... lazy and badly informed are those ladies... Anyway, we cannot force girls to do programming. If they don't like computer, well, let them do the low paid "women's

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          • _ _AK_

            But still the number is pretty less if you think about programming. Best Regards, Apurva Kaushal

            V Offline
            V Offline
            Vasudevan Deepak Kumar
            wrote on last edited by
            #49

            In a way yes. Perhaps, it is by law of nature too. Even after joining work, females shoulder a lot of family responsibilities, which reduces thier contribution on par with thier male counterparts. Vasudevan Deepak Kumar Personal Homepage namespace LavanyaDeepak
            Personal Weblog
            The World of Deepak and Lavanya
            ViewPoint 24x7

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            • H HakunaMatada

              leckey wrote:

              But why do you think so few girls go into programming/computers?

              Coz most of them don't like programming? :rolleyes: --- With best regards, A Manchester United Fan The Genius of a true fool is that he can mess up a foolproof plan!

              C Offline
              C Offline
              Corinna John
              wrote on last edited by
              #50

              Yes, that's a fact. But why don't they like programming? _____________________________________________________________________________ I don't expect too much, all I want is your vote for Halbsichtigkeit.

              H L 2 Replies Last reply
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              • J Jeremy Falcon

                led mike wrote:

                I propose that we get you, me and as many of the other female CPians that are interested in this topic to meet in person

                And yet in your profile you keep on referring to yourself as "He". Yeah, women do that all the time. :doh: Jeremy Falcon

                L Offline
                L Offline
                led mike
                wrote on last edited by
                #51

                That is not meant to suggest I am a girl ;)

                "Just about every question you've asked over the last 3-4 days has been "urgent". Perhaps a little planning would be helpful?"
                Colin Angus Mackay in the C# forum

                led mike

                J 1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • V Vasudevan Deepak Kumar

                  In a way yes. Perhaps, it is by law of nature too. Even after joining work, females shoulder a lot of family responsibilities, which reduces thier contribution on par with thier male counterparts. Vasudevan Deepak Kumar Personal Homepage namespace LavanyaDeepak
                  Personal Weblog
                  The World of Deepak and Lavanya
                  ViewPoint 24x7

                  _ Offline
                  _ Offline
                  _AK_
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #52

                  ya that is true but the things are changing rapidly. Best Regards, Apurva Kaushal

                  V 1 Reply Last reply
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                  • _ _AK_

                    ya that is true but the things are changing rapidly. Best Regards, Apurva Kaushal

                    V Offline
                    V Offline
                    Vasudevan Deepak Kumar
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #53

                    apurva kaushal wrote:

                    but the things are changing rapidly

                    Yes... In 'Leaps and Bounds' :rose: Vasudevan Deepak Kumar Personal Homepage namespace LavanyaDeepak
                    Personal Weblog
                    The World of Deepak and Lavanya
                    ViewPoint 24x7

                    _ 1 Reply Last reply
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                    • L leckey 0

                      Okay, I'm a girl and I like programming. I'm not very good at it yet, but I do like it. I've done research on women in science and the number of girls going into "computer" (whether programming, IT, etc.) keeps dropping significantly every year. For those of you with a formal education I'm curious how many girls you had in classes, how they acted (shy? open for discussion?), ethnic diversity (we had a few foreign girls but i was the only "white" girl in most of my classes.) But why do you think so few girls go into programming/computers? Other girls please give your feedback!

                      P Offline
                      P Offline
                      Peter Wone
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #54

                      Because nature and nurture conspire against them. Just this week I read a med sci piece on some bit of the brain that lights up like a christmas tree in autistic idiots savant and not at all in women, with blokes in the middle and nerdy engineers lighting up more than usual. That said, of the two (count them, two of forty) women in my computing course fifteen years ago, one was an oxygen thief and the other was so good it was scary. And she was a natural blonde with a radiant smile and a body to die for, with nice perky, oh wait wrong type of website. But you get the gist. I feel that we let down engineers everywhere when we failed to capture and clone her. Imagine, if you will, a world of hot chicks who like pizza, video games, programming computers and building gadgets, rode around on a trailbike... man, she even brewed her own beer! -- modified at 2:04 Thursday 22nd June, 2006

                      C L 2 Replies Last reply
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                      • S Shog9 0

                        leckey wrote:

                        Okay, I'm a girl and I like programming.

                        Sorry, i don't buy it. Hardly any girls like programming, everyone knows that - but plenty of programmers like to play fast and lose with the sex of their online personas. I suspect you are merely one of the latter... :suss:

                        ---- Scripts i’ve known... CPhog 1.0.0.0 - make CP better. Forum Bookmark 0.2.5 - bookmark forum posts on Pensieve Print forum 0.1.2 - printer-friendly forums Expand all 1.0 - Expand all messages In-place Delete 1.0 - AJAX-style post delete Syntax 0.1 - Syntax highlighting for code blocks in the forums

                        E Offline
                        E Offline
                        Edbert P
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #55

                        Hardly. But I personally know one who prefers programming to any other stuff. She's a bit tomboyish though, very independent, doesn't like make-ups and likes to wear her pants jeans. (No, she's not lesbian). "Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner" - Ross Edbert Sydney, Australia

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                        • J Jeremy Falcon

                          led mike wrote:

                          I propose that we get you, me and as many of the other female CPians that are interested in this topic to meet in person

                          And yet in your profile you keep on referring to yourself as "He". Yeah, women do that all the time. :doh: Jeremy Falcon

                          C Offline
                          C Offline
                          code frog 0
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #56

                          Dude. Your SLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWW.:-D He wants to hook up with all the programming chicks and hand pick the hotties for 5 days of fun and sun.


                          "You have an arrow in your butt!" - Fiona:cool:
                          Welcome to CP in your language. Post the unicode version in My CP Blog [ ^ ] now.

                          People who don't understand how awesome Firefox is have never used CPhog[^]CPhog. The act of using CPhog (Firefox)[^] alone doesn't make Firefox cool. It opens your eyes to the possibilities and then you start looking for other things like CPhog (Firefox)[^] and your eyes are suddenly open to all sorts of useful things all through Firefox. - (Self Quote)

                          J A 2 Replies Last reply
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                          • L led mike

                            That is not meant to suggest I am a girl ;)

                            "Just about every question you've asked over the last 3-4 days has been "urgent". Perhaps a little planning would be helpful?"
                            Colin Angus Mackay in the C# forum

                            led mike

                            J Offline
                            J Offline
                            Jeremy Falcon
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #57

                            led mike wrote:

                            That is not meant to suggest I am a girl

                            Well I feel releived. :-D Jeremy Falcon

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • C code frog 0

                              Dude. Your SLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWW.:-D He wants to hook up with all the programming chicks and hand pick the hotties for 5 days of fun and sun.


                              "You have an arrow in your butt!" - Fiona:cool:
                              Welcome to CP in your language. Post the unicode version in My CP Blog [ ^ ] now.

                              People who don't understand how awesome Firefox is have never used CPhog[^]CPhog. The act of using CPhog (Firefox)[^] alone doesn't make Firefox cool. It opens your eyes to the possibilities and then you start looking for other things like CPhog (Firefox)[^] and your eyes are suddenly open to all sorts of useful things all through Firefox. - (Self Quote)

                              J Offline
                              J Offline
                              Jeremy Falcon
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #58

                              :doh::laugh: Oops. Jeremy Falcon

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • V Vasudevan Deepak Kumar

                                apurva kaushal wrote:

                                but the things are changing rapidly

                                Yes... In 'Leaps and Bounds' :rose: Vasudevan Deepak Kumar Personal Homepage namespace LavanyaDeepak
                                Personal Weblog
                                The World of Deepak and Lavanya
                                ViewPoint 24x7

                                _ Offline
                                _ Offline
                                _AK_
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #59

                                Vasudevan Deepak Kumar wrote:

                                In 'Leaps and Bounds'

                                what is that Leaps and bounds :( Best Regards, Apurva Kaushal

                                1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • L leckey 0

                                  Okay, I'm a girl and I like programming. I'm not very good at it yet, but I do like it. I've done research on women in science and the number of girls going into "computer" (whether programming, IT, etc.) keeps dropping significantly every year. For those of you with a formal education I'm curious how many girls you had in classes, how they acted (shy? open for discussion?), ethnic diversity (we had a few foreign girls but i was the only "white" girl in most of my classes.) But why do you think so few girls go into programming/computers? Other girls please give your feedback!

                                  P Offline
                                  P Offline
                                  peterchen
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #60

                                  I haven't seen many classes, but I remember one girl that was struggling desparately, I always felt she'll never make it, and I was torn between "tell her my opinion so she tries to find something else", and "not telling her because how should I know?" OTOH, a long term acquaintance turned out to be a real code geek after years 'knowing' her (gosh, a girl arguing about C code - I never thought I'd ever meet one, and there she was all the time). At least now I understand some of her personality quirks better. Being from east germany, ethnic diversity in tech jobs is still close to zero.


                                  Some of us walk the memory lane, others plummet into a rabbit hole
                                  Tree in C# || Fold With Us! || sighist

                                  1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • C Corinna John

                                    Yes, that's a fact. But why don't they like programming? _____________________________________________________________________________ I don't expect too much, all I want is your vote for Halbsichtigkeit.

                                    H Offline
                                    H Offline
                                    HakunaMatada
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #61

                                    Corinna John wrote:

                                    why don't they like programming?

                                    Dunno... :doh: You tell me. :rolleyes: --- With best regards, A Manchester United Fan The Genius of a true fool is that he can mess up a foolproof plan!

                                    C 1 Reply Last reply
                                    0
                                    • L leckey 0

                                      Okay, I'm a girl and I like programming. I'm not very good at it yet, but I do like it. I've done research on women in science and the number of girls going into "computer" (whether programming, IT, etc.) keeps dropping significantly every year. For those of you with a formal education I'm curious how many girls you had in classes, how they acted (shy? open for discussion?), ethnic diversity (we had a few foreign girls but i was the only "white" girl in most of my classes.) But why do you think so few girls go into programming/computers? Other girls please give your feedback!

                                      L Offline
                                      L Offline
                                      leppie
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #62

                                      leckey wrote:

                                      I've done research on women in science and the number of girls going into "computer" (whether programming, IT, etc.) keeps dropping significantly every year.

                                      Maybe if you all didnt spend time researching the stats and doing some programming the numbers would increase ;P PS: joke, not generalizing :)**

                                      How xacc.ide transforms text to colored words on the screen
                                      Intel PentuimM (aka Centrino) undervolting

                                      **

                                      1 Reply Last reply
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                                      • C Corinna John

                                        leckey wrote:

                                        how many girls you had in classes

                                        A while back, when I learned the profession Fachinformatiker[^] (German word for somebody who learned an IT job for three years in a company an a school), we were five girls in my class, and about 20 or 25 boys. Two of the girls didn't get it and don't work in IT anymore. Today I'm just about to finish the next part of german IT education, in a few days I'm going to be Techniker für Informatik[^]. When the class started four years ago, we were five girls, two of them left the school during the first year, the third one left in her second year. So we are only two girls (and six boys) who'll leave the school with the full certification. One of the boys wants to go to university. All others are happy to be finished with that stuff. Seven years of IT school seem short, now, when looking back ... but it must have been hard enough to reduce the size of our class from 28 (first day) down to 8 (people you actually did the final exams).

                                        leckey wrote:

                                        why do you think so few girls go into programming

                                        Most of the girls I know have more social and less technical interests, and they have strange ideas about the IT business. They say they want to work with people, or that they don't understand all that tech stuff. Well, an IT worker has a lot to do with people, software is only there to be used by people - anyway, the image of the pale hacker in front of the screen seems to be programmed into girl's minds. Another point is that most of the girls I kno think that programming would be complicated and hard to understand. They are afraid of the "challenge" ... lazy and badly informed are those ladies... Anyway, we cannot force girls to do programming. If they don't like computer, well, let them do the low paid "women's

                                        C Offline
                                        C Offline
                                        Colin Angus Mackay
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #63

                                        Corinna John wrote:

                                        Diversity, where???

                                        My class was similar - there was more ethnic diversity in the lecturers than in the students. As I recall the class make up was 90% Scots, 5% English, 5% miscellaneous other English speaking countries.

                                        Corinna John wrote:

                                        Seven years of IT school finally done

                                        Congratulations - I stopped after 4 years of school.


                                        Scottish Developers events: * .NET debugging, tracing and instrumentation by Duncan Edwards Jones and Code Coverage in .NET by Craig Murphy * Developer Day Scotland: are you interested in speaking or attending? My: Website | Blog

                                        C 1 Reply Last reply
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                                        • P Peter Wone

                                          Because nature and nurture conspire against them. Just this week I read a med sci piece on some bit of the brain that lights up like a christmas tree in autistic idiots savant and not at all in women, with blokes in the middle and nerdy engineers lighting up more than usual. That said, of the two (count them, two of forty) women in my computing course fifteen years ago, one was an oxygen thief and the other was so good it was scary. And she was a natural blonde with a radiant smile and a body to die for, with nice perky, oh wait wrong type of website. But you get the gist. I feel that we let down engineers everywhere when we failed to capture and clone her. Imagine, if you will, a world of hot chicks who like pizza, video games, programming computers and building gadgets, rode around on a trailbike... man, she even brewed her own beer! -- modified at 2:04 Thursday 22nd June, 2006

                                          C Offline
                                          C Offline
                                          Colin Angus Mackay
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #64

                                          Peter Wone wrote:

                                          one was an oxygen thief

                                          I'm not familiar with that expression - Care to explain?


                                          Scottish Developers events: * .NET debugging, tracing and instrumentation by Duncan Edwards Jones and Code Coverage in .NET by Craig Murphy * Developer Day Scotland: are you interested in speaking or attending? My: Website | Blog

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