Posted 1 year, 6 months ago at 11:59 am by Jennifer. 0 comments
These comments were made three days ago. I think this is about the five thousandth time I have read these exact same sentiments. I’m not saying they are not true, but they are no longer original thoughts. Please stop attaching them to every single PHP-related post on the internet. It’s just something that everyone has heard and that is generally accepted common knowledge about PHP, so let’s just make it official:
First Theorem of PHP: PHP has a low barrier to entry, therefore it tends to attract a lot of inexperienced programmers.
Corollary to First Theorem of PHP: There is a lot of bad code written in PHP.
Posted 1 year, 7 months ago at 1:04 am by Jennifer. 2 comments
I feel the need to clear the air about something. You may have noticed that I have a female name. That is because I am, in fact, female. Also, this is a programming blog so you may have surmised that I make my living programming computers. Very true. How is this possible? Well, as it turns out there are many jobs that both men and women are capable of doing. Sometimes in a particular field there are a lot more women than men, and sometimes, there are a lot more men than women. Computer programming is a case where there are typically a lot more men.
“But, Jennifer,” you are surely saying, “doesn’t this mean that you are incredibly lonely and unsure of yourself? Doesn’t this mean that you need to exercise your femininity by joining special support groups, posting compromising photos of yourself on your blog, and proudly flaunting how you are different and special to anyone who will listen?”
No. No it doesn’t.
I don’t mean to be rude or unappreciative of the efforts people have made to create female developer communities, but I don’t get it. Being a black sheep makes me work harder to NOT stand out. The thought of being treated differently, whether positively or negatively, just because I happen to be female is awful. I want to be judged on the merit of my work, and parading around in purple shirts and “raising awareness” about the plight of the lone female in the IT department just cheapens the real efforts we are making in our field. It’s annoying enough to get comments all the time like “Wow! A girl developer!” or “Wow, my girlfriend can’t even work the microwave!” Then I go to these sites and read “Wow, a group of females that actually gets excited about this stuff!” I really hate that shocked tone, and yet we use it on ourselves.
Also, I don’t understand the concept of feeling excluded and therefore creating a club to exclude others. It’s all a little too “No Boys Allowed” for me. I understand the desire to connect with other female devs, but do we actually need sororities? Also, what happens when you start a forum for programming help and then exclude 90% of the people qualified to answer your questions?
I want to be described as a solid developer, a great developer, a knowledgeable developer… not a “girl developer.”