Inspired by Ted Neward’s posts, K.C. chimes in with her experiences in Tech and her ideas to add to the discussion. One of the points she makes is not to only talk about women programmers, but women in tech. Yes, the bigger picture is very important. When K.C. was trying to figure out what to do with her interests in tech, she kept getting pushed towards programming – as though that was the only thing in all of computer sciences as a career – or as if this is all there is in C.S. that’s appropriate for a woman (?).

In my conversations, I have  explicitly chosen to focus in on the programmers for a few reasons. First is that “women in I.T.” is an area that is well covered on a more general basis. There are many organizations that exist that address i.t. more generally., or even still with a broader sweep: “women in computer sciences”. This doesn’t mean that the book is closed on that, just that I don’t know what I can specifically add to that particular conversation that his new. Secondly, I am a programmer and that’s what I know, who I know, who my community is and where I think I can personally have an impact. So that’s what happens to work for me. But I don’t think I have total tunnel vision.

This is one of the reasons that the MVP summit was such a great eye opener. Developers only made up a portion of the group of MVP’s.

I definitely have an interest in enabling anyone of any gender into any field that they are interested in.

Anyway, I feel redundant here. I really have said a lot of this in the interview that is online at DevSource. There is even a forum there for talking about some of the things I said if anyone is interested. devsource.ziffdavis.com

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