Whaaaa? I had you pegged wrong! Well then again at 38 I could be a Grandpa.
I'm 47. I don't mind admitting my age. It's even in my Blogger profile.
I am anything but sexist, but I have to agree that women that dig into computer nuts and bolts isn't exactly the norm in any culture. I personally don't know any women (aside from some message boards) that are even willing to try it.
That used to be true but it isn't anymore. Get onto one of the LinuxChix lists (all but one are open to men and men are about 40% of techtalk) and you'll meet thousands of them from all over the world. I also suspect that there is a significant minority of those with gender neutral nicks on this forum that are women. Basically if you make assumptions about what women can do, should do, or are likely to do based on cultural stereotypes you are pretty much being sexist even if that never was your intention. Heck, IME probably the majority of those (both men and women) who say sexist things or act in a sexist manner are often unaware that they're doing it. They certainly didn't mean any harm.
Once upon a time, maybe six or seven years ago, I walked into CompUSA to buy a boxed Linux version. First off I liked to support the distro I was using at the time and I certainly didn't have a high speed connection yet. The oh-so-helpful young salesman saw what I was looking at and tried to explain that Linux was probably too difficult for me. He only wanted to help. Really! You should have seen the look on his face when I told him I was a Senior Network Engineer at IBM (I was at the time, not anymore) and that I worked with UNIX/Linux professionally. BTW, he just walked away as quickly as he could without a word. No apology, nothing.
It's even worse when my Mom walks into any store dealing with technology. They assume a woman her age can't program a VCR let alone plug an additional stick of memory into her computer, which she does just fine, thankyouverymuch
I'm intrigued that GrannyGeek does all the "geeky" things that she does. I don't know if she is a older Grandma, or if she is closer to my age. But she has my complete respect, as I could never imagine my mother successfully plugging in a computer, let alone giving one a overhaul. I'm impressed with you as well Caitlyn, you know some stuff.
After 27 years working in the field I'd be in big trouble if I didn't "know some stuff". I know many women who know much more stuff than I do. You know, like a couple of women who hack the kernel and and maintain bits of it.
You've gots the "know-how", hopefully your fingers will have the "can-do".
Precisely, and that has nothing to do with gender. All it takes is a willingness to learn.
