Comments on: Filling the tech talent pipeline http://postcards.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/06/29/filling-the-tech-talent-pipeline/ It's about powerful people. Provocative insights into them. Smart ideas from them. Advice on how to join their ranks. By Editor at Large Pattie Sellers Fri, 18 Dec 2009 06:20:18 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: John Doe, CA http://postcards.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/06/29/filling-the-tech-talent-pipeline/#comment-1764 John Doe, CA Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:26:06 +0000 http://postcards.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/?p=4628#comment-1764 ex techie: Very well said. I wish I had been a stock boy instead. And yes, companies lay out their plans with the idea that they own the IT staff with 0 notice. ex techie:

Very well said. I wish I had been a stock boy instead. And yes, companies lay out their plans with the idea that they own the IT staff with 0 notice.

]]> By: Ex Techie, Denver CO http://postcards.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/06/29/filling-the-tech-talent-pipeline/#comment-1744 Ex Techie, Denver CO Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:51:09 +0000 http://postcards.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/?p=4628#comment-1744 Well, here's an idea to ease the talent crunch in Information Technology: stop making it a career path that no sane person, male or female, would attempt to combine with a balanced personal life. When I began as a programmer in 1983 (at an oil and gas company in Texas, not exactly a bastion of affirmative action) about a third of my peers were women, as were about a quarter of the system management team. The number of women in IT dwindled on every team in every company where I worked for the next 27 years. And no, it's not because women are "afraid of math and science." It's because IT is now a field that is actively hostile to anyone except 24 year old male techie gamers who have no outside life and no plans to acquire one. Companies lay out their system project plans on the assumption that they own every minute of their IT staffers' lives and with zero prior notice. It's difficult for men with family responsibilities. It's close to impossible for women. Well, here’s an idea to ease the talent crunch in Information Technology: stop making it a career path that no sane person, male or female, would attempt to combine with a balanced personal life. When I began as a programmer in 1983 (at an oil and gas company in Texas, not exactly a bastion of affirmative action) about a third of my peers were women, as were about a quarter of the system management team. The number of women in IT dwindled on every team in every company where I worked for the next 27 years.

And no, it’s not because women are “afraid of math and science.” It’s because IT is now a field that is actively hostile to anyone except 24 year old male techie gamers who have no outside life and no plans to acquire one. Companies lay out their system project plans on the assumption that they own every minute of their IT staffers’ lives and with zero prior notice. It’s difficult for men with family responsibilities. It’s close to impossible for women.

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