Women in IT

J stands for Joanna.
In Polish there is this rule that female names must end with vowel. I'm a .NET developer with, nicely said, 10+ years of experience. I read a lot about all those diversity problem, programs like 'woman to Polytechnics'. This is now a day a real thing. There is not enough developers and employers are looking for people to fill the gap, I really understand it.

But on the other hand all this fuss, all those articles (some of them good, some totally not worth spending time on reading), all those actions, imho, are making noting good.

The most prominent change I see in official Microsoft events. Visual Studio 2017 premier event was fully differentiated - women, Americans, older men (age discrimination is also a thing) and Scott in two persons ;) This was great! aanndd it wasn't. It felt so forced and artificial. This is only a wind of change and it will take time to feel natural. It will take a lot more time in Poland, in my opinion. 

In Polish there is this "joke" 'kobieta programistka jest jak swinka morska. ani swinka ani morska' in translation it isn't as good 'woman developer is like Guinea pig. neither pig nor Guinea'. After hearing this joke hundred times I started to ignore it but it still sometimes hearts my fillings on bad days. 

But wait can developer have feelings? There is a little problem that women - don't have nothing box and small jokes just accumulate. The next problem is that women should not curse, be unpleasant or rude. Being cynical is a behavior that doesn't suit a woman. 

I had an interview today. I've asked how looks the team that I would join. The answer was 'well there are three men' and a little giggle. I don't even know if there is a tester on this team.

The answer was one of those little things / innocent whips that adds up into decision 'I have had enough! I'm leaving'. I had already tree times when I wanted to change a profession. I've solved it with a lot of love for developing and a lot of unemployed time spend on bike or any other activity that didn't involved working computer.    

There is a lot more. I could make a story on each of those: The ‘manterruption’, The Real Reason Women Quit Tech, The ‘Women in Tech’ movement is full of victim blaming bullshit, The Rise of the 'Brogrammer'. Each of them addresses one or many problems that I've meet on my path. I don't want to talk about all of them. I don't even want to make a point. And I know that I'm not the only one with all those problems. But most women don't talk about it. Endure or change career. 

Well maybe I wan't to make a point. There is a problem. There are many problems.

And additional problem in Poland is that no one knows there is a problem.

Cynicism is an unpleasant way of saying the truth.