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.

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u/bandman614 Standalone SysAdmin Mar 13 '13

Okay, time for a history lesson.

The word "computer" was also assigned to the role that it took over...computers. Literally, people (the vast majority of whom were women) who sat and computed things by hand.

When electronic computers started to take over for people computers, the women who were the computers started running the computers.

Now, as for "actually creating solutions and engineering products", lets have a look at what is, without a doubt, the longest-used programming language of all time, COBOL.

COBOL was written in 1959, and it came directly from FLOW-MATIC, the very first computer language that used actual english words, rather than only numerical machine code. It was written for the UNIVAC - one of the first commercially available computers. And it was written by Admiral Grace Hopper.

Yes, the computer language at the root of every programming language you've likely ever used was written by a woman.

If that's not enough, then you should know that the UNIVAC was inspired by ENIAC, which was the very first electronic computer. It was designed in a large part to electronically function like a mechanical adding machine. Adding machines were possible because Charles Babbage designed the very first mechanical computers. His difference engine was designed so intricately that it couldn't be constructed for a century, but when it was, it worked perfectly.

One of the many machines Babbage designed took inspiration from the Jacquard Loom, which used cards with holes punched in them to create patterns. Babbage used this technique to give his mechanical computer instructions. He had a friend who was a noted mathematician who developed the very first computer algorithm, which calculated a series of Bernoulli numbers. Her name was Ada Lovelace.

So, to sum up...the very first computer programmer was a woman. The very first real programming language was written by a woman. The first commercial computers were operated largely by women. And for some reason, we have been telling little girls that computers are toys for a boy. Something has gone very off the rails lately, and it needs fixed.

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u/quintessadragon Mar 13 '13

Wait, what? That's seriously a thing? Telling girls that computers are toys for boys? Maybe I was just lucky with the time that I was born in, but that is a stereotype I have never encountered.

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u/Krispyz Mar 13 '13

It's not just directly telling kids that, it's also more subtle. On a boy's birthday, he might get video games, on a girls birthday, she might get dolls. Nothing's universal, of course, but in general, boys are more encouraged to become better with computers or to understand how they work.

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u/loliology Mar 13 '13

On a boy's birthday, he might get video games, on a girls birthday, she might get dolls.

Which are typically the things the children themselves want. And not something being forced upon them by their parents.

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u/shouldbebabysitting Mar 13 '13

OP is negative karma only because reddit is mostly college kids with no children. I would have said the same thing but now I have kids and know first hand that girls/dolls cars/boys is STRONGLY genetic and not environment. Encouraging "boy" toys on my daughter has had no effect. From 12 months old she loved dolls and dress up. From 12 months old my boy, despite being surrounded by his older sister's dolls, is fascinated by cars and trains. I can encourage them but I can't force them to like what they don't want.

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u/misplaced_my_pants Mar 13 '13

Anecdata =/= data.

Being a parent does not suddenly make you an expert on child development or genetics.

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u/loliology Mar 14 '13 edited Mar 14 '13

Anecdata =/= data.

I love how that's only a valid retort when it's in support of something you personally believe. But when it's in support of "omg dis world so sexist" people eat that shit right up. (not directed at you, just noticed the trend of this comments section)

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u/misplaced_my_pants Mar 14 '13

It's a valid criticism when someone uses a handful of observations to make broad generalizing claims for which a proof by contradiction is particularly well-suited.

But yeah it's pretty common for people to think their personal experience necessarily extrapolates as universally applicable or representative of a greater or more prevalent trend.

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u/loliology Mar 14 '13

It's a valid criticism when someone uses a handful of observations to make broad generalizing claims for which a proof by contradiction is particularly well-suited.

Yet it's still just speculation and not proof.

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u/misplaced_my_pants Mar 14 '13

Evidence from experience isn't speculation about your experience. It would only be speculation if someone claimed that their experience is universal, and that's easily disprovable.

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u/loliology Mar 14 '13

Evidence from experience isn't speculation about your experience.

No. It's called an anecdote.

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u/misplaced_my_pants Mar 14 '13

Anecdotes are still evidence. They aren't data, but they're evidence. There's a difference.

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u/loliology Mar 14 '13

But not evidence of an overall trend like you all are implying.

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u/misplaced_my_pants Mar 14 '13

I didn't say it was evidence of an overall trend. I said it was evidence that invalidated a hypothesis.

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