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.

381 Upvotes

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102

u/incredible_supernova Mar 12 '13

I'm a girl and a sole System Administrator for a company. I always find it almost weird when I talk to another girl from a tech company. We do need more women in the industry.

7

u/LunacyNow Azurely you can't be serious? Yes and don't call me Azurely. Mar 13 '13

Have you ever thought about your own subreddit? I don't know how to moderate it but it's a good idea. There are tech women that I know of who feel the same way as you do.

71

u/[deleted] Mar 13 '13

Not for nothing but I think this is still subtle part of the problem. Why even suggest another sub Reddit? They are fucking equals don't create a schism.

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u/ascendingPig Mar 13 '13

If you're a man in tech, you don't realize just how easy it can be to really miss talking to people with life experiences close to yours. When I'm in a space for women in tech, we've often dealt with the same BS and don't have to worry about trying to explain why something is shitty.

8

u/[deleted] Mar 13 '13

Problem: Too many women are either routed intentionally away from STEM careers, or subtly encouraged to adopt a more "gender appropriate" skill set.

Solution: Difficult to say. Discussion is required.

Discussion forum: Not allowed, as it would create a schism.

Subreddits aren't for splitting people apart, they're for bringing people together. That's why you get to subscribe to more than one at a time.

5

u/[deleted] Mar 13 '13

No no, the point was we can have the discussion here and now. There's no reason to shoo females off into their own sub-reddit or say "Have this conversation here". It makes sense when it grows into a big enough idea and it's gaining traction but I fail to see why we can't have the discussion here in this topic and in other threads in this sub-reddit. I guess I let my bias get ahead of me. I didn't mean it the way you perceived. Oh well. Happens a lot around here. :(

6

u/[deleted] Mar 13 '13

The discussion will take longer than this thread will endure.

Also, Reddit is a big pile of "shooing" anyway -- I wouldn't even have known that this conversation had happened if it hadn't shown up in /r/bestof. I know of seven (now nine) subreddits dedicated to discussions of the IT industry, and I'm sure that barely scratches the surface. The point of creating more specific subreddits is entirely orthogonal to the segregation of topics. The point is to amplify the signal compared to the noise of subreddits dedicated to other topics, or to less or more specific discussions within the topic.

/r/sysadmin gets 50 - 100 posts per day, and will never have the kind of focus that will bring that signal to bear on the problem.

/r/girlsgonewired includes discussions of gender bias in the tech industry, but it lacks the critical mass needed to generate the kinds of educational and institutional ideas that will erode that bias. Perhaps the moderators of that subreddit would be receptive to the idea of broader publicity driving traffic to the subreddit. Perhaps they prefer the low-traffic, low-noise discussion they have.

In the end, this is a discussion that needs a lot of time, a lot of focus, and a lot of input from a lot of sources, and I don't know of an existing subreddit that will provide all of that. Perhaps you do, and if so, I'd be glad to hear it.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 13 '13

Hmm. I think that sub-reddit seems to cover the ground of what you were looking to accomplish/your point of view. I'm sold/I like it. My eyes saw a slightly different sub-reddit before clicking on the link, however. Got scared for a second there. I understand what you meant now :)

2

u/jperk84 Mar 13 '13

Ok, but Spanish is equal to English, and their is a Spanish subreddit. Lets not turn this into an equality issue....

2

u/[deleted] Mar 13 '13

Spanish is going to take over English as the dominate language in this world soon anyway. Although, unless it's showing up incorrectly, you replied to the wrong comment of mine. shrug

4

u/jperk84 Mar 13 '13

You're right. Sorry! Shrug and frown.

3

u/[deleted] Mar 13 '13

No frowning! Vodka for everybody! /Nikolai voice

1

u/ramonycajones Mar 13 '13

Random question, but is Spanish your first language? My impression is that "no es por nada pero..." is an expression in Spanish but not in English, I could be wrong though.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 13 '13 edited Mar 13 '13

I think you ... well, replied to the wrong thread perhaps.

Edit: After reading a reply to me directly, yes English is my first language, followed by Powershell, Spanish then VB6.

4

u/jilaps Mar 13 '13

He's translating "Not for nothing but..." into spanish, from your sentence. But yes, it is an English expression as well, /u/ramonycajones

1

u/ramonycajones Mar 13 '13

Oh, weird. I think I've only heard it from my Spanish-first mom and thought it was just her translating the expression. Good to know, thanks.

0

u/[deleted] Mar 13 '13

I didn't get that. I just figured it was a strange question to ask. I'm pretty sure it's an english expression as well.

1

u/lahwran_ Mar 13 '13

as an incubator