Or, considering the likely-innumerate source, uncalculated. "Hyuck-hyuck, I never met a female engineer before." Yes, but now that they have put a gen-yew-ine railroad through your holler, you'll likely meet lots more, and won't that be an education for you?
Women have been doing technical geekery since long before Lady Ada Lovelace invented the computer program. Back in the Middle Ages, most of the brewers in England were women and to this very day, there's one room filled with power equipment and specialized tools to be found in nearly every American home. It's not the garage or the basement and the odds are extremely small Dad is in charge of it: it's the kitchen.
We're in your computer. We helped design your car. We're here, we can solder and even run a slide rule. Get over it.
BUILDING A 1:1 BALUN
4 years ago
9 comments:
And a good number of em built the machines that won WW2. Heck there's even women cops and fire people these day. I tell new troops that cops come in one sex and that's blue and one race and that's blue. Otherwise we're doomed.
Got no issue with female engineers. Just helped hire one today.
Are you going to just tease us, or are you saving the particulars for 'I work on a starship'?
I interviewed a young man for a pilot position. He was a helicopter guy as well as fixed wing. After asking him a bunch of questions including fully articulated rotor systems and retreating blade stall, he finished the interview up with "gee, you know a LOT for a girl!" I was the Director of Flight Operations - he did SO not get hired.
Yep.
In this case, it was a nominal peer mentioning "female engineers" in about the same way that a 12-year-old-boy talks about seeing a six-legged dog. Yeah-howdy, they walk, they talk, they solve problems almost as good as a real engineer. Ass.
I got tired of banging my head against that particular wall.
One of the reasons I stopped being involved in Ham Radio - everyone wanted to rush to my help, weather I needed it or not. That and no one over the age of 12 should be called a "young lady."
Of course on the shooting side, you could be the only customer in a gun-store and they would ignore you as being unimportant. Really not sure which is worse. Comes from the same place.
You are invading their club-house and they don't like it and don't know how to respond.
Seems to be worse on the Left Coast.
Then there's that one "great" bit of firearms condescension, beloved of the Cleeti and Mall Ninja alike, that always comes up in answer to the question of what gun a gal should get (drumroll):
"Girls should get them one of them little .38 revolver, cuz they're too dumb & weak to run one of them semi-autos. Yessir, all dem gals jus cain't handle all that mechanical complexication."
The best and smartest engineer I ever worked with just happened to be a woman. It did not matter to me, she was damn good at her job.
A long time ago, I was interviewing candidates for an entry-level engineering job. I had a stack of resumes on my desk and a candidate in front of me.
I thumbed through them and sort of absent-mindedly said each first name aloud as I looked for his: "Ben, Ed, John, Rick, Shirley, Fred..."
The candidate said: "Shirley? I'm competing with a girl?"
I probably gave him a look like this. He probably knew that he'd blown it. And he had.
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