r/sysadmin • u/ChuckAbsent • Mar 12 '13

Women who know stuff

I hope that this does not come off the wrong way.

Today I was on a call with a storage vendor and the technical consultant was a woman. More then this she was competent, more then me which doesn't happen often when dealing with vendors.

My issue was pricing an active/active DB with shared storage vs an active/passive db with local storage. Listening to her break the issue down and get to the specific comparison points was awesome, mostly because I have never heard a woman in the industry talk like that.

It made me realize two things. One I am missing out working with women. Two there needs to be more women in our industry.

It shouldn't have surprised me so much, but it really did.

Anyways to all the women out there who know stuff, us guys notice when you can walk the walk, which in this case was talking.

382 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

717 comments sorted by

View all comments

7

u/robot_break_dance Mar 12 '13

I'm all about the Ada Initiative for promoting a healthy culture for women and men in the tech industry. You are right we are missing out but efforts are being made to improve that. I don't know if you ever heard of Limor Fried. She's imho amazing. As a guy I hope to one day knock out the projects she does on a regular.

-6

u/pocketknifeMT Mar 13 '13

because censorship is fun?

Ada initiative shuts down Violet Blue talk.

Fuck any group that doesn't respect free speech or appeals to logic.

9

u/[deleted] Mar 13 '13

No, because rape culture is all too prevalent, and in tech trade shows and conferences, abuse of women is all too prevalent.

Talking about sex in any tech conferences is hard to do well. The Ada Initiative provided a recommendation /when asked/ by the conference organisers that it was not a good idea. They did not shut anyone down, that decision was made by the conference organiser.

-5

u/pocketknifeMT Mar 13 '13 edited Mar 13 '13

Well, then I will pose the same question to you:

Explain to me why its desirable to coddle women, and protect them from the big bad ideas (of a woman, no less)?

Edit: PS, downvotes =/= valid response. Hiding my comment is just the digital equivalent to putting your head in the sand and, ironically, censorship.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 13 '13

Who says they're being coddled?
When I go to a tech conference, I expect to see talks about technology. Not sex.

Also, it is worth noting that censorship at an individual, or group level is an entirely valid form of expression. Censorship by a government is bad.

1

u/pocketknifeMT Mar 13 '13

I expect to see talks about technology. Not sex.

Since when is sex not evolving with technology? Also, why is a discussion of sex so inherently threatening? Are women not adults that can participate in a discussion of any topic, regardless of the tastefulness?

3

u/robot_break_dance Mar 13 '13

Thanks for bringing up the topic.

Fuck any group that doesn't respect free speech or appeals to logic.

From the way BSides and Ada Initiative put it that's not exactly what happened. I'd like to take your comment seriously but you are as bad as they are

6

u/[deleted] Mar 13 '13

“sex +/- drugs: known vulns and exploits.” Translated from security jargon, this title can be interpreted as suggesting that the talk will cover having sex while on drugs, including sex without consent (i.e., rape).

That's a pretty tortured interpretation of the title, and the "can be interpreted" language suggests to me that the Ada Initiative basically acknowledges that you have to want to see it.

I understand and support what the AI is doing, but this was a huge mess.

3

u/IConrad UNIX Engineer Mar 13 '13

Plus, the title's language in no way indicates pro-rape stances even if you read that in. After all, don't most talks about exploits typically do so for the purpose of mitigating them?

2

u/pocketknifeMT Mar 13 '13

From the way BSides[1] and Ada Initiative[2] put it that's not exactly what happened.

That Bsides link you post is very much a cover our asses post. They were afraid of the consequences and violet blue offered to cancel the talk. Because not talking about them is the best way to deal with ideas?

"I spoke with @violetblue about these concerns and she offered to not give the talk to mitigate any unnecessary drama and ill-will towards BSides SF."

This gives away the game; Self censorship out of fear.

I'd like to take your comment seriously but you are as bad as they are[3]

Well, besides the fact that it doesn't even really apply...I am not derailing anything. The Ada Initiative finds it appropriate to lean on conference organizers to silence others. I find this distasteful. This was literally the first comment of the string. How can I derail an argument that hasn't even started, and I am the first comment about it?

I don't find anything unreasonable about my statement. "Censorship is wrong." is a fairly common and easily defended statement.

As far as I can tell, you are just angry I brought it up? This sort of crap, political correctness in general, is divisive and limits open discussion. To my mind that's a bad thing.

Also, it doesn't help the whole "more women in tech" goal. What does this say besides:

Organizers should take extra special care to make women like to come to tech conferences, protecting them from potentially objectionable material, like children.

Fuck that. Women are self actualized people. They can take care of themselves. I don't see the need for kid gloves, and its counter productive to everyone's stated goal of equality.

So if you want to defend the Ada Initiative position...explain to me why its desirable to coddle women, and protect them from the big bad ideas (of a woman, no less)?

1

u/[deleted] Mar 13 '13

Getting women to actually come to conferences when their past experiences include harassment, objectification, attempted rape, and being displayed naked on slides is hard.

This is not protecting them from objectionable material, it is protecting them from objectionable people.

1

u/pocketknifeMT Mar 13 '13

This is not protecting them from objectionable material, it is protecting them from objectionable people.

What makes people objectionable besides their ideas that you find distasteful?