Could a Grace Hopper Get Hired In Today's Silicon Valley? 608
theodp writes "There has been lots of heated discussion on the topic of where-the-girls-aren't, both in the tech and larger business world. Dave Winer broached the subject of 'Why are there so few women programmers?', prompting a mix of flame, venom and insight. Over at Valleywag, Nitasha Tiku pegs 'Culture Fit' as an insidious excuse used to marginalize women in tech. Completing the trilogy is an HBR article, 'Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders?', in which Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic concludes the problem is that manifestations of hubris, which occur much more frequently in men than women, are commonly mistaken for leadership potential. So, with a gender and age strike against her, would a Grace Hopper in her prime even land an interview in today's Silicon Valley?"
Unlikely (Score:5, Funny)
She'd probably miss the job interview on account of being dead for 20 years.
Re:No chance! (Score:5, Funny)
Because she didn't have a degree in computer science her resume would never be approved by HR. The hiring manager wouldn't even know she applied.
Not to mention she wouldn't have 10 years of Java/C#/PHP/etc.. experience.
Slashdot has grown up (Score:5, Funny)
Ten years ago the comments to this story would have been riddled with crude, misogynistic jokes. In fact, I wonder if the story was meant to elicit such a response from Slashdot. Congrats on rising above, everyone.
Re:Unlikely (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Female programmers (Score:3, Funny)
Plus, Grace Hopper has been dead for 10 years. Not even affirmative action can cover for that job seeker fax paus.
Re:Female programmers (Score:5, Funny)
I have a similar metric built after years in business, tech, VC, etc. Its quite simple, totally not politically correct, and very tongue in cheek. But for your entertainment:
Dimensions for analysis:
x-axis factors:
1) Height short -> tall
2) "WASPiness" waspy -> non-waspy
3) Sex "female" -> "male"
4) attractiveness troll -> model
x-axis, (0-N)=1+2+3+4
y-axis factor:
5) Odds of Incompetence likely useless -> potential illuminati
y-axis, (0-N)=5
So it turns out the further away from the origin (0) you get on the x axis, the closer to the origin (0) you get on the y axis. That is, the taller, waspier, more 'male', and more attractive you are the higher are the odds that you are incompetent in every sense of the word. So if you ever meet a short, non-waspy, non-male, unattractive person in a position of power, be very, very careful. They are probably extremely competent. ;-)
This model is clearly US centric, btw, I suspect it wouldn't hold up very well internationally ....
Re:Unlikely (Score:4, Funny)
I've been on teams where dead bodies might smell better too.
Re:Why so few women sanitation engineers? (Score:4, Funny)
Neither of them are carriers. USS Enterprise is a carrier. Politicians may have egos the size of carriers but that seems to go with their career choice.