Fullstack Launches Coding School For Women (sdtimes.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Fullstack is tackling technology's diversity problem in its latest venture. The coding schooling has announced a new coding school dedicated to women. Named after computer science pioneer Grace Hopper, the Grace Hopper academy aims to provide women with high-quality coding education, and won't ask for tuition until the student finds a job post-graduation. "Technology has become intrinsic in our daily routines, regardless of gender, but the tech industry remains exceedingly male-dominated," said David Yang, cofounder of Fullstack Academy. "We have always been inspired by innovation and it seems peculiar that an industry revolutionized by a pioneer like Grace Hopper would remain so divided along gender lines."
Grace Hopper | Code of Conduct: "The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Conference (GHC) believes our community should be truly open for everyone. As such, we are committed to providing a friendly, safe and welcoming environment for all participants free from discrimination for any reason including on the basis of gender...."
In literature, sure. But in technically writing? Not even close.
Women may be (on the whole) more creative, but men are (on the whole) more logical.
While I agree that posting this stuff on Slashdot time and time again is damn near trolling (maybe we should be able to moderate the summary?), I don't see why anyone should have a problem with this. I think it's fine if some people wish to set up women-only schools. It's not like there aren't a million other options for male students. There are probably some women who would feel more comfortable going to school in an all-female environment, especially given the likely male/female ratios in programming classes.
Of course, one question I have is, how will they react to jumping into an environment with 90% or more men straight from all-female classes? My fear is it could cause a bit of culture shock - sort of like an adult who has never built up an immunity as a child gets hit rather hard by typical childhood diseases. Damn, I just compared men to diseases. You know what I mean, though.
Anyhow, more power to them. I'd personally love to see more female programmers, but only if it's what they want to do, and if they get the jobs because they're qualified, not because of any particular internal plumbing. My fear is that if this program bombs due to lack of participation, some people will still manage to point an accusing finger at the industry and say "See? Your workplaces are so poisonous that women don't even want to take a chance on a computer science degree!" I'm a little tired of being collectively accused of misogyny when I've never seen female programmers I've worked with treated any differently than anyone else.
Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
When I was a kid my Dad would bring home an Apple IIe in the school holidays. My sister and I loved playing on that thing together. Then around about the age of 12, transitioning from a child-hood self image into the teenage years, my sister didn't want to play on it any more. I have no idea if that was because of the influence of other girls & women or men & boys are just inherent nature.
If it acquires resources on instantiation like a duck, then its a shared_ptr<Duck>
The sexism that is rampant in this industry (and you can't deny that) is an extra hurdle for women.
BULLSHIT. These days if you so much as look at a female coworker the wrong way (in her mind) you can get hauled before HR and given the 3rd degree, notes put in your HR file, reprimands, warnings, etc etc etc.
I've seen a male coworker written up for having a vacation pic of he and his wife on his desk; the fat SJW cows in his office took offense to it and complained. It wasn't anything remotely racy, just he and his wife on a beach somewhere, mugging for the camera. And it was enough to get him written up.
Don't give me this "womyn are SO oppressed in the workplace boo hoo" crap, it's not true at ANY place I've worked in the last 20 years.
It'll be a huge failure. Sweden, Denmark, and Norway have already proven that with the "women only" technology related schools including programming only schools and classes.
Om, nomnomnom...
I kind of expect that to be true, but I'm hoping for their logical response. I'm curious as to how they'd respond if the company had a class exclusively for men.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
Now now... We can only presume. So far, I've asked (more than once and in a variety of ways) and not yet had an answer. I know they get reply notifications so it must be deliberate. I've got enough capital to actually start something along those lines and find out for myself but I really can't be stuffed nor do I want to deal with the *likely* fallout. Also, it'd be a waste of money. My suspicion is that I'd get a dishonest answer. "Oh, I'd be fine with that." No, no they wouldn't. Well, again, that's presumptive.
Me? I'm a fan of egalitarianism and that meant I sometimes hired women because they were, indeed, better than other applicants and I paid them the same as I'd have paid anyone else who filled the role. And it was successful and lucrative. I'm not sure why we should give preferential treatment to anyone for any reason other than skill.
My business is long since sold but, you know, if I bumped into someone who was so good (regardless of gender) then I might just hire them to keep them on standby in case I got some sort of idea - I've some folks I know who'd hold 'em and keep them busy until I needed them. Heh... Maybe I should start poaching from /. or something. Then I can get a bunch of geeks together and start a recently discussed business - Graybeards Incorporated.
But that's a topic from another thread and is for another time. I've digressed enough.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."