Call yourself a 'brogrammer'? Then get the hell away from me.

Re:Call yourself a 'brogrammer'? Then get the hell away from... by _delirium on Sunday March 04, 2012 @01:44PM (#3663493)

Now that I think of it, there was actually a YC company's recruiting post on HN that used it (not entirely clear how seriously), which created a bit of a backlash: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3168038

I think it's probably not a good recruiting strategy, because it telegraphs both that this might be a problematic opening for women, and that anyone worried they'll be deemed too egghead/nerdy might want to pass. Even if you don't care about sexism (which you should), a job ad that implies that nerdy programmers may not be welcome really restricts the size of the candidate pool. On the other hand, if that's the company culture, maybe it's better to know ahead of time...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Call yourself a 'brogrammer'? Then get the hell away from... by neutronicus on Sunday March 04, 2012 @04:19PM (#3664041)

I'm not sure if I agree with you.

I think a lot of people are repulsed by the idea of spending a career surrounded by the "programmer" stereotype (i.e. monomaniacal, male, introverts). Part of me wonders whether advertising a more traditionally social work environment might not attract a lot of talent that doesn't fit the "programmer" mold (including women!).

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Call yourself a 'brogrammer'? Then get the hell away from... by _delirium on Sunday March 04, 2012 @05:09PM (#3664252)

I'm not sure a frat-ish vibe is the best way to accomplish that, though. In particular, I don't think cultural geekness is the problem; women are fairly well represented in cultural geekdom outside of programming, especially in recent years. For example, most sci-fi/fantasy fanfic authors are female, and gender balances at general-geekness conventions (e.g. Comic Con) is closer to even than it is at specifically tech events.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Call yourself a 'brogrammer'? Then get the hell away from... by iamgilesbowkett on Sunday March 04, 2012 @02:19PM (#3663611)

a job ad that implies that nerdy programmers may not be welcome really restricts the size of the candidate pool.

that's what I find funny about the whole thing. "we're hiring programmers! no nerds." that's an unlikely strategy for success even when programmers are easy to hire -- which they are currently not.

[ Parent | on HN ]