Re:Hacker School: Summer 2012 Applications Open + Etsy Schol...
by nicholasjbs on Thursday April 05, 2012 @05:33PM
(#3804749)
They are literally saying "If you are a girl and ask us for money we will give it to you"
We never said that. This is what we said:
We're not going to lower the bar for female applicants. It frustrates us a little that we feel the need to say that, and we think it underlines the sexism (intentional and not) that so pervades the programming world.
But we want to say that now, so people don't have to waste time asking or debating the point. Women will be judged on the exact same scale as men. We think to do otherwise would be insulting and counterproductive. We care a lot about getting more women into Hacker School, but we won't do it at the expense of the quality of the batch.
Re:Hacker School: Summer 2012 Applications Open + Etsy Schol...
by mythrowawayacct on Thursday April 05, 2012 @08:01PM
(#3805301)
That's great that you won't lower the bar for female applicants. Does that mean you will remove gender-identifying information from applications before evaluation/processing? that could be a cool way to do things and a great experiment...
Re:Hacker School: Summer 2012 Applications Open + Etsy Schol...
by nicholasjbs on Thursday April 05, 2012 @09:43PM
(#3805574)
I agree it would be a fascinating experiment, but I don't think this would be possible, since interviews are an essential part of our process.
Re:Hacker School: Summer 2012 Applications Open + Etsy Schol...
by indec on Thursday April 05, 2012 @06:35PM
(#3804996)
My opinion is that "female-friendly fields" is (or should be) "software engineering". Thus "lets see them set up a special fund or something for female-friendly fields" reduces to the current state of the program.
Let me make sure I'm clear: I love the idea of female engineers being given incentives to enter a male-dominated field. There are a myriad of great benefits to everyone involved. The trouble is, the methods they are using are previous-level.
Seriously, a group of hackers can't figure out a more elegant process? They are literally saying "If you are a girl and ask us for money we will give it to you". That's absurd. Lets see them set up a special fund or something for female-friendly fields rather than just throwing money at women outright.
I stand by my assertion that their methods are amateurish but their intents are good. I'd like to see the people who designed this program at least speak to the topic; what else they tried, why it didn't get approved, why it didn't work, et cetera. I just want to hold other engineers to rigor and examine their methods, especially when I find the goal noble but the methods sophomoric.