Ask HN: Are men systemically ecluding women in tech?
I have taught many software development classes, with dozens of students. It&#x27;s completely open enrollment, no restrictions on age, experience, income, certainly not gender. Only 2 women ever asked, let alone attended.<p>The 1st was taking the class because her dad was a programmer, but she couldn&#x27;t figure out how to use the mouse to save her life, and it was only frustrating for her after that.<p>The second one was taking the class because her dad is also a programmer, and she was bloody fantastic. She was the only female in that particular class, and she put older, more experienced men to shame with her critical thinking, problem solving, and pattern recognition over the course of the semester. A CEO of a multi-million dollar company was going over to the desk of a girl half his age to ask questions and get help. If I had 10 of her, I&#x27;d hire them all.<p>But I don&#x27;t. It&#x27;s like 1 in 25. And that&#x27;s generous.<p>And it doesn&#x27;t have to be someone&#x27;s fault or society&#x27;s fault. It just is.<p>I&#x27;ll teach anyone that comes in wanting to learn. And for 15 years, it&#x27;s mostly men are interested, and stick with it.<p>I&#x27;ve also had some exceptionally bad men in class, who realize they need to go do something else. The CEO took a semester, struggled, finished OK, and didn&#x27;t continue. Meanwhile, the girl just finished her first year of a CS degree.<p>It&#x27;s not like all men are great programmers because they show interest. But in my experience, most who show interest are men. And occasionally, you get a woman that&#x27;s an absolute gem.