Society

From Computer Engineer to Cheerleader

Recently one of my readers posted a link to an interview with a Redskins cheerleader who stated that mathematics was always her favorite subject. She then went on to study computer engineering “to help society in some way”. We also learn that she has worked in many programming languages, even though she couldn’t name one, but “people probably have worked with”.

Now, I’m all for women in tech. What I don’t like so much is that some women seem to want recognition just for working in a technical field. Instead of doing a good job, they have to let the world know that they do technical work. Well, feel free to check out Megan’s LikedIn profile. (She’ll probably wonder where the surge of visitors is coming from.) She is currently employed at a “woman-owned” computer company. It’s the same bullshit. Just do a good job and don’t wear your sex as some kind of badge of honor. Then again, this is the US we are talking about, where government contracts go only to companies that fulfill certain diversity quotas.

On the other hand, guys in tech tend to be rather unassuming. You may talk to some seemingly regular dude at a conference, only to later find out, for instance, that he is a main contributor to an important open source project. The problem is that nobody really cares about women working in tech per se. It’s great if women have a job that allows them to make a living, instead of needing to leech off men. Yet, if you’re a rank-and-file employee with no real contribution to your field, you don’t run around screaming that you work in tech. For some reason this is supposed to be impressive if it’s said by a good-looking woman. I wonder why, though. Is this a concession that expectations of women are so low that just having a job in tech is supposed to be remarkable? Not wanting to sound to demeaning, but Megan most likely “helped society” a lot more by being a cheerleader, which arguably puts her in the top few percent of women, than by being a non-descript techie, where she is most likely far from the top of her field.

6 thoughts on “From Computer Engineer to Cheerleader

  1. Looks like attention whoring. Cannot compete with Instagram babes so use your “brains” and STEM placement as your “USP”.

    I didn’t It amusing that women preach about equality (or superiority to) the boys…meanwhile self-objectifying on their looks.

    Have you heard about Katy Perry Going nude To promote Clinton…and Madonna offering blow jobs If you vote for her.

    Now we know why it’s hard to take women seriously in serious matters?

  2. Think working in the tech field does not necessarily mean being a tech person. For example, I think she is not really doing any coding/engineering, and is working with clients to gain requirements which she works with or passes on to coders to code on. Although, getting requirements and formulating ideas is a technical skill it is different to actual coding and engineering.

    She is also a scrum master, which is just a fancy title for group controller, therefore a form of management. They just control the proceedings of meetings and make sure coders can do their work. IE management.

    I am all for women to become engineers, only if they are good. I have met a few women who have gotten jobs ahead of others who were not better programmers but better at the interviews or presentations, who have hardly done much with their portfolio (not much coding projects) etc. It is likely to do with companies seeking to increase their gender diversity.

    I have even heard big startups look specifically for women (this is positive discrimination and illegal). At career fairs, companies would talk differently with women and say they are interested in getting women, with guys they would not be bothered or interested.

    There is a trend for multi disciplinary teams in tech, where not all are coders/engineers some are ux or business analysts or users etc, thus making software does not mean you are part of the coding

  3. I also see a lot of decent women using the “Dr.” title when they are in fact naturopathy doctors (eg herbal pills, ,

    1. Whoops, bad phone connection.

      I mean to say:

      I notice decent looking women (at least on their LinkedIn profile photo) who use the ‘doctor’ title when they are not surgeons but really naturopathy practitioners.

  4. It’s the same thing in accounting. It’s really stupid how accounting firms go about hiring people. Most of them care more about hiring to promote ‘diversity’ or to promote the firm’s image moreso than hiring people who enjoy doing accounting and is competent at it, and they wonder why the turnover rates are so high when these plastic preppies heaven forbid have to work a lot of overtime and deal a lot with ‘real world’ bullshit that isn’t as clean cut as what they were given in college.

Leave a Reply to MacDragard Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.