Just read another big tech post about the future of software engineering.
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When people are scared as everyone in tech is, people also cling more fiercely to the things that feel safer. More Technical feels safer and that means your demographics contract. I genuinely think people do not realize this is happening in their decision making
Women have just as many wild imaginations, hot takes, joyful meandering creations, silly experiments. I am so tired of watching my friends and loved ones have to hide all of that and play these roles of the somber grownups ready to be leaned on at all times, to feel accepted in tech and STEM.
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Women have just as many wild imaginations, hot takes, joyful meandering creations, silly experiments. I am so tired of watching my friends and loved ones have to hide all of that and play these roles of the somber grownups ready to be leaned on at all times, to feel accepted in tech and STEM.
In this piece I wrote several years ago I had a ton of stories that could've illustrated feeling excluded from creativity in tech, but I used this story about not being given access to a makerspace specifically because it was so evocative to me! So on the nose
On Craft
My grandpa -- my Missouri grandpa, who played slide guitar to me when I got homesick on the rare occasions I stayed with them -- grew up on a farm without electricity. He went past eighth grade, which really mattered to him. He loved that I played harp, which he always called "elegant," in an extremely Missouri accent, an accent that hugged every syllable. Since living in California, I never hear this way of speaking. Recently I heard his accent on TV and cried unexpectedly, ugly crying, startli
drcathicks (www.drcathicks.com)
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In this piece I wrote several years ago I had a ton of stories that could've illustrated feeling excluded from creativity in tech, but I used this story about not being given access to a makerspace specifically because it was so evocative to me! So on the nose
On Craft
My grandpa -- my Missouri grandpa, who played slide guitar to me when I got homesick on the rare occasions I stayed with them -- grew up on a farm without electricity. He went past eighth grade, which really mattered to him. He loved that I played harp, which he always called "elegant," in an extremely Missouri accent, an accent that hugged every syllable. Since living in California, I never hear this way of speaking. Recently I heard his accent on TV and cried unexpectedly, ugly crying, startli
drcathicks (www.drcathicks.com)
Every once in a while I have to write myself back into staying in tech and writing this piece was one of those times.
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Every once in a while I have to write myself back into staying in tech and writing this piece was one of those times.
@grimalkina this is resonating hard!
Also the razor thin line to walk to be seen as competent and therefore only speak about things you know and the need to try new thing and potentially be wrong to be seen as creative is incredibly difficult to walk -
Women have just as many wild imaginations, hot takes, joyful meandering creations, silly experiments. I am so tired of watching my friends and loved ones have to hide all of that and play these roles of the somber grownups ready to be leaned on at all times, to feel accepted in tech and STEM.
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@grimalkina this is resonating hard!
Also the razor thin line to walk to be seen as competent and therefore only speak about things you know and the need to try new thing and potentially be wrong to be seen as creative is incredibly difficult to walk@CCochard yes. People have exploded on me with rage for not being totally right when I was just thinking out loud and trying to imagine. They bestow this kind of horrific responsibility on you that you never agreed to.
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Every once in a while I have to write myself back into staying in tech and writing this piece was one of those times.
@grimalkina I’m sorry this is a thing you’ve had to do, Cat — and at the same time, I’m so glad this post exists. It’s beautiful.
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@grimalkina I’m sorry this is a thing you’ve had to do, Cat — and at the same time, I’m so glad this post exists. It’s beautiful.
@grimalkina (And it made me miss my grandmother something fierce, for similar-ish reasons
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People are always gonna read this kind of thing as "shrill" or whatever so please picture me saying this in a super bored, calm, chill voice which is accurate. There's always a contraction around who gets to speak first and loudest when things are about The Future
@grimalkina I admit that I always read these criticisms in the same voice Willy Wonka uses when people do utterly dumbass things they were explicitly warned about. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVdDXeYM4ss&t=13s)
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@grimalkina I admit that I always read these criticisms in the same voice Willy Wonka uses when people do utterly dumbass things they were explicitly warned about. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVdDXeYM4ss&t=13s)
@wordshaper hahahaha I accept this as a rendering
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Women have just as many wild imaginations, hot takes, joyful meandering creations, silly experiments. I am so tired of watching my friends and loved ones have to hide all of that and play these roles of the somber grownups ready to be leaned on at all times, to feel accepted in tech and STEM.
@grimalkina I do my part by coming up with five times the density of the hottest, cursedmost takes ^_^
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In this piece I wrote several years ago I had a ton of stories that could've illustrated feeling excluded from creativity in tech, but I used this story about not being given access to a makerspace specifically because it was so evocative to me! So on the nose
On Craft
My grandpa -- my Missouri grandpa, who played slide guitar to me when I got homesick on the rare occasions I stayed with them -- grew up on a farm without electricity. He went past eighth grade, which really mattered to him. He loved that I played harp, which he always called "elegant," in an extremely Missouri accent, an accent that hugged every syllable. Since living in California, I never hear this way of speaking. Recently I heard his accent on TV and cried unexpectedly, ugly crying, startli
drcathicks (www.drcathicks.com)
@grimalkina Your essay is thought-provoking and beautiful. Thank you for sharing it.
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@grimalkina I do my part by coming up with five times the density of the hottest, cursedmost takes ^_^
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@grimalkina I’m sorry this is a thing you’ve had to do, Cat — and at the same time, I’m so glad this post exists. It’s beautiful.
@beep @grimalkina Co-sign — this is a beautiful piece.
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I find it kind of interesting because I've seen it across so many spaces and cycles in tech. Women suddenly are invited into spaces when it's "time to do culture" and "time to get stable" not when it's "time for wild predictions"! We can make wild predictions too
@grimalkina YES, let women be absolute feral weirdos is my entire ideology.
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@CCochard yes. People have exploded on me with rage for not being totally right when I was just thinking out loud and trying to imagine. They bestow this kind of horrific responsibility on you that you never agreed to.
@grimalkina I don't think I fully dare expressing new ideas I have to avoid being seen as unreliable... Half my work is research...
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@beep @grimalkina Co-sign — this is a beautiful piece.
@debcha I thought of your “not a maker” essay too, friend
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People are always gonna read this kind of thing as "shrill" or whatever so please picture me saying this in a super bored, calm, chill voice which is accurate. There's always a contraction around who gets to speak first and loudest when things are about The Future
@grimalkina But on the other hand, when it comes to computing, women *were* first. Back when the programming part was considered boring and secretarial. I love those photos of early programmers walking inside of mainframes in dresses and heels, getting shit done.
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In this piece I wrote several years ago I had a ton of stories that could've illustrated feeling excluded from creativity in tech, but I used this story about not being given access to a makerspace specifically because it was so evocative to me! So on the nose
On Craft
My grandpa -- my Missouri grandpa, who played slide guitar to me when I got homesick on the rare occasions I stayed with them -- grew up on a farm without electricity. He went past eighth grade, which really mattered to him. He loved that I played harp, which he always called "elegant," in an extremely Missouri accent, an accent that hugged every syllable. Since living in California, I never hear this way of speaking. Recently I heard his accent on TV and cried unexpectedly, ugly crying, startli
drcathicks (www.drcathicks.com)
@grimalkina Thank you for sharing that! The makerspace part is so odd to me, but of course also not surprising, because I have had the experience that everyone benefits so much from the access to explore their creativity
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Every once in a while I have to write myself back into staying in tech and writing this piece was one of those times.
@grimalkina That's perhaps one of the things that bothers me most when we look "up" to our tech leaders and see nothing but a bunch of rich men. Their desires for the future are so warped, and yet their ambition and perverse outlook of the future is what steers the ship and sets the tone of our technological culture.
It's such a stark difference when you see something different, as I did recently when watching the doc "Ghost in the Machine" (which I reviewed on my site) and see how beautiful and wise diversity can be...
