Since posting the link to Computerworld’s article on why women drop out of IT, I’ve read most of the 300+ comments that accompany the article.
Besides commenting on the article itself, the common theme seems to be that IT is a lousy profession, and those who escape it are lucky.
Well, well, well and well.
I’ve read a lot of nonsense through the years about why more women don’t enter the field, and agree with the person who said that this article comes closest to an explanation that makes sense to me.
What the article doesn’t do is propose a solution that makes sense.
The tired suggestion of mentoring, which relegates “older” developers to a ridiculous in loco parentis role is appropriately denegrated in the comments section.
Some one states the obvious, that when you get critical mass, the problems will go away on their own.
Based on my experience, you need a very strong, savvy COO type who has been empowered to crack some senior management heads.
In other words, someone who will take a swing at their peers. Because that’s where the problem is.
Of course, I – and everyone else who has ever worked in an American office – have yet to meet such a person.