Study Journal #5

Finance

November 5

Social Issues in Computing

• Why are there not more women in computer science? There are lots of different reasons. One big factor that seems to stand out in most of the comments in class is the "strong male presence" that seems to be present in the CS world that makes women uncomfortable.
• People should not be forced to do what they don't want to do to fulfill a quota. If you like doing something, then do it.
• It sounds like a lot of women are also "forced" out of STEM majors because of pressure to be a stay at home mom. As I said before, if you like something, do it. My wife is a Medical Laboratory Scientist, but she isn't really planning on working in a lab. She loves her current job as a secretary at the Marriott School of Business, and has been offered full time employment there. She is happy for the education she got though, and in the event anything ever happens to me she has a way to provide for herself should anything bad happen.

November 10

Cydni Tetro, Executive Director, Women Tech Council [Did Not Show]

• Since the speaker has not shown up yet, we again started to talk about gender bias and racism in the workplace. I really liked one student's comments that the Affirmative Action movement is just a band-aid for the real problem, which is a person's individual bias. Rather than forcing a biased person to hire people, something should be done to help these people change their abrasive views.
• I didn't like the article with the experiment of altering the environment to encourage women to go into Computer Science. It sounded like their original test environment was really an extreme one with the Star Trek posters and sci-fi objects. I think that that sort of environment would also push away some men as well as women. Also, I know quite a few women who are way more interested in that kind of stuff than some men are. Just because you changed the environment doesn't mean that you will be changing the people that are already there. Eventually you will have to interact with people who are very interested in this kind of stuff. Will women be turned away at that point because they don't like their colleagues?
• We didn't really have a class today. However, I do feel that talking about the lack of women in computer science in a room almost completely full of men is not the best use of time. I know about this issue already. I am in Computer Science. I see that there are very few women here. If we want more women in CS, then we should go talk to the women and encourage them to join, not sit here and talk with the men about why is it like this.

November 12

Cydni Tetro, Executive Director, Women Tech Council

• It has been proven that groups work more efficiently if there is a good mixture of men and women in it. This is because there is a greater range of ideas and methodologies, which encourages more thinking and communication.
• 80% of all children in school in Utah come from a home with both parents working. That seems kind of high, but understandable, especially since my wife and I will most likely be adding to that statistic.
• Everyone can help to make a better environment for women to work in tech. The key is to be aware of the different situations that everyone can be in.
• 4 Key Points: 1 - Teams win, ideas don't. You have to work with other people. 2 - Make it a non-issue. Don't do business differently with women as you would with men. 3 - Look around you. 4 - Build a network. The best way to get a job is by knowing someone. Get to know other people.

November 17

Module Quiz Day

• It baffles me that people can spend so much time on social media each day. Maybe it is because I am more antisocial than other people, but I still say that 16 minutes per hour average is a lot.
• I thought that NDA's would be valid enough to keep employees from blabbing company secrets through social media. If there is a contract, then the employees should demonstrate self control, no matter the medium to which they are talking to other people.
• I don't think there is really a big problem with not having women go into computer science. As long as they aren't kept out by silly reasons like they think it is a nerd's world, then I'm fine with whatever they choose.