random854

Based on what I've seen, anyone can write code, just as anyone can learn math or write a story. Further, anyone who devotes time and effort to writing code (or doing math or writing a story), who immerses themselves in it, who learns and practices, can write code well. Thing is, most people aren't motivated to do everything well. People find enjoyment in different ways; some through working with their hands, some through solving puzzles, some through talking to people. I wouldn't say this is purely natural (I didn't discover programming until later in life thus I'm nowhere near how skilled I'd be if I started at 10, although once I knew what it was I knew I would enjoy it), but I wouldn't say it's purely up to environment either. Anecdote: I introduced a friend of mine to programming recently. He can do it, and he's not bad at all, but he'd much rather be face-to-face with someone than staring at a screen for hours.

So, anyone can become a good programmer, but most won't want to be.

This is not directly relevant to the article, but I see people look at public/private school v. homeschool as if it's a zero-sum game. Many families are unable to have a parent stay home the entire day(whether due to money or due to the parent liking their career-who wants an unhappy, bored teacher all day?), but ideally "schooling" should be going on in the home as well as in school. In public school I learned little of value past socialization (I did have interaction with peers, something my family would not have been able to give me on a regular basis if I was homeschooled) but I learned a lot on my own time and was encouraged by my parents to do this. Most children who are too ahead of the public school curve to benefit from it are smart enough to teach themselves (with some help from parents in the evenings if needed.)

Very impressive. If this is what you do at 14, imagine what you'll be doing in a few years.

Read 'Unlocking the Clubhouse' (in regard to women.) It's dated but more recent research has similar conclusions.

I can't speak personally about race issues in tech. What I do know is that the industry thrives on ideas, and as people themselves have diverse ideas, missing an entire group's is missing a lot. Why isn't the field more racially diverse? Are black people 'naturally not interested in tech'? Or do they face social barriers others don't? What I know leads me to believe the latter.

Assorted thoughts:

1. While it is certainly good that this study does not show an anti-female bias (not saying the 2:1 preference is necessarily good), I'm seeing this hailed as 'proof sexism doesn't exist,' which it is not. Several studies, the most notable one being from 2012 (Moss-Racusin is the author iirc), found that at the undergraduate level, men are preferred and given a high salary. If both of these studies are true, it means that as women age/gain higher degrees/prove themselves, this bias disappears. This makes sense when you think about it, but is still a good thing.

2. While I don't like this bias against men, I don't think men need to worry about it yet. Probably, the only reason the preference is so high is because so few women apply for these positions. Were an equal number of men and women applying for the position, it'd likely be a different story.

3. No one against the broad goal of 'sexism in tech' that I've heard at least is vying for 50-50 representation. If 70% of engineers are men, fine. The problem is that many girls who would become engineers are never exposed to it or are pushed away (some by the attitude that 'women just naturally don't like STEM'—read 'Unlocking the Clubhouse.') Much of the barriers to women in STEM come from childhood (women being less likely to take STEM classes due to low confidence in math etc)—it's good to see women don't need to worry about bias in academia, don't get me wrong. But I see strawmen here. As a woman in tech who got a late start because "math is hard for girls," and who had a programmer cousin who admitted to me that he never showed it to me because he assumed girls didn't like it, despite knowing I enjoyed math/physics—I'm not trying to build a 'fempire' in which women are preferred to men and the 1950s repeat themselves in reverse. I just want girls like me who love what they do to have the opportunity to do what I do.