#handelsman

So Eileen Pollack visited my office today to speak about her new book, The Only Woman in the Room, which deals with the issues that women face in the STEM pipeline. She identifies some of the normal culprits, low expectations, poor encouragement, etc. She also suggests that “geek culture” is off-putting for many woman, who otherwise have the raw talent to perform in the field. Also, she argues, the “natural born genius” stereotype is often at odds with what girls have been taught about themselves, even when their academic performance is as good as the boys. The girl perceives herself as not “having it,” when in fact she does.

The idea that geek culture is off-putting to women is an interesting argument. I can imagine that many of my male colleagues might say, “Well so what? Don’t like it, don’t come.”

I think this is a poor attitude, and one at odds with our self-image as a “meritocracy.” After all, what do we want to incentivize? Is our real concern one’s knowledge of Middle Earth trivia, or one’s capacity to write high quality code?

If the two are essentially related, then fine. But I see no reason to suspect they are, instead of their being accidentally related by cultural factors. Which is to say, nerds are not the only people with the capacity to excel at technology. Nor should we expect to own the space.

In fact, quite the contrary. It is in the interest of high tech employers to broaden our industry’s cultural appeal and thus to attract a broader range of talent. We must not let our comfort with “nerd culture” form an artificial barrier of entry to the STEM fields.

Freaky Fables: The Career of Richard the Lionheart – according to Handelsman!

Those of a bookish disposition have a tendency, in middle age, to go in search of the books that they read in their formative years.  I will not disclaim any such tendency.  Rather, I have just come across an item that I read when I was very much younger, which I thought that I might share with you.

By some process unknown to me – for I do not think my parents were subscribers – I often saw…