Comments on: More thoughts on diversity in open source http://dyepot-teapot.com/2007/05/21/more-thoughts-on-diversity-in-open-source/ don't drink from the wrong one Thu, 17 Nov 2011 16:33:41 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Mary Anne http://dyepot-teapot.com/2007/05/21/more-thoughts-on-diversity-in-open-source/#comment-256 Tue, 22 May 2007 01:14:39 +0000 http://dyepot-teapot.com/2007/05/21/more-thoughts-on-diversity-in-open-source/#comment-256 Please make me feel more welcome. I have been programmering for longer than most of you have been arround. I have never been welcome at events. Ignored, forgotton and not paid. Just Mom who brings cookies, not the person who taught you all about computers from building them to programming them with networks in between.

]]> By: aeschright http://dyepot-teapot.com/2007/05/21/more-thoughts-on-diversity-in-open-source/#comment-255 Tue, 22 May 2007 00:53:00 +0000 http://dyepot-teapot.com/2007/05/21/more-thoughts-on-diversity-in-open-source/#comment-255 Glenn, while I don’t have any hard data at hand, I’ve read studies elsewhere that claimed a large discrepancy between even the percentages of women involved in open source vs. technology in general. My own anecdotal evidence is that I’ve seen more women in corporate Java and .NET/Microsoft environments than in smaller open source-based companies. When I worked at CorVel, there were several other women in data services, systems support, and programming, and that was an all-Microsoft SQL Server and C# environment. It was also more ethnically diverse than most tech environments I’ve been in.

It can be really hard, when there are so few women in some of these areas to begin with, to evaluate whether one set of technologies has an even less diverse community than others, but I think there is a steady decline in diversity when you look at users of proprietary tech with a high rate of enterprise adoption, to enterprise open source tech, to newer and more experimental open source projects. And my best guess right now as to what affects that are the factors I described above.

]]> By: Glenn Kidd http://dyepot-teapot.com/2007/05/21/more-thoughts-on-diversity-in-open-source/#comment-254 Mon, 21 May 2007 21:50:25 +0000 http://dyepot-teapot.com/2007/05/21/more-thoughts-on-diversity-in-open-source/#comment-254 While I both welcome and look forward to more diversity in the workplace, I am not sure I agree with the implication that the current lack thereof is in some way unique to Ruby.

I am fairly active online, reading forums and blogs and commenting where appropriate. I actively follow Python, Ruby, and the Flex community in addition to the Java world to name a few. I like to think that I have a reasonable idea of what is going on in the programming world in the US that is somewhat grounded in reality. Of course on the other hand I am a man, so take what I have to say as you will.

While you assert that there is a discrepancy between the number of female Ruby developers vs. the number of female Java developers, I believe that the difference is nominal at best. Of course this perception is anecdotal, and we can argue about it, but ultimately I will end up at the point I really want to make: even if there is more than a marginal difference does it really mean anything?

I think the discrepancy you are seeing is more indicative of the industry as a whole, I mean I don’t see women flocking to Groovy either. In my entire career I have worked with exactly 3 female programmers. And most of my coworkers and friends that are programmers have expressed similar numbers. It’s not because we don’t hire them, it’s because they don’t apply or they are grossly under-qualified (which is something I see more and more of in both genders).

I will agree that there are a lot of structural barriers to entry in the programming world in general, but I don’t think there are any that are particular to the women of Ruby specifically. That’s just my opinion.

]]> By: Chris Brentano http://dyepot-teapot.com/2007/05/21/more-thoughts-on-diversity-in-open-source/#comment-252 Mon, 21 May 2007 19:34:08 +0000 http://dyepot-teapot.com/2007/05/21/more-thoughts-on-diversity-in-open-source/#comment-252 “…because they anticipate a room full of socially-delayed young men.”

Don’t forget mostly white. I think there was maybe one black person at BarCamp Portland, a handful of asians and a few indian folks. Not to sound disrespectful, I’m just calling it as I saw it.

I cast my vote as well for more diversity (both gender and race) in the local, as well as global, open source community.

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