ROSE Blog: Rikki's Open Source Exchange

Women Write More Considerate Code

Jun 06, 2008 GMT

I ran across a blog post on the Wall Street Journal site today called "Men Write Code from Mars, Women Write More Helpful Code from Venus." According to the post, Emma McGratten, senior VP of engineering for Ingres, says that men and women write code differently. Emma says that men write code "to show how clever they are by writing very cryptic code," whereas women are more considerate and leave helpful comments within the code.

Article: Fighting the Female Brain Drain

Jun 03, 2008 GMT

Globe and Mail recently ran an article, called "Fighting the Female Brain Drain," about women dropping out of the science, technology, and engineering fields. The article is based on a Harvard Business Review study, The Athena Factor: Reversing the Brain Drain in Science, Engineering and Technology, which "attributes this female exodus to a wearying atmosphere of sexism in the sciences, along with extreme hours and family responsibilities that tend to ramp up for women around age 35." One point the study makes is that the majority of the women surveyed were happy and enjoyed their work in science, technology, and engineering. According to the article, "But by...

2008 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing

Jun 03, 2008 GMT

Registration is now open for the 2008 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, which will be held October 1-4 in Keystone, Colorado. The keynote speakers are Fran Allen, IBM Fellow Emerita and 2007 Turing Award Winner, and Mary Lou Jepsen, founder and CTO of One Laptop per Child.

Geek Goddesses article

May 23, 2008 GMT

The Guardian ran an article today about Sarah Blow and the London Girl Geek Dinners. In August, the 3rd anniversary London Girl Geek Dinners event will be held at the Google headquarters.

Review: Ark Linux

May 21, 2008 GMT

Susan Linton wrote a review of Ark Linux 2008 for Linux.com. What is Ark Linux? According to the website, "Ark Linux is a Linux distribution for everyone - designed to be easy to install and learn for users without prior Linux (or computer) experience, while powerful enough for longtime Linux users." Susan checked out the newest release... and doesn't recommend it.

Top 50 Tech Visionaries Article: 5 women make the list

May 21, 2008 GMT

Five women made the list in Network World's "Top 50 Tech Visionaries" article. Grace Murray Hopper comes in at 26, Meg Whitman is number 31, Ann Winblad is number 35, and Arianna Huffington is number 44 followed by Susan Kare at number 45.

Surveys Show Shrinking IT Paychecks

May 20, 2008 GMT

InformationWeek's Marianne Kolbasuk McGee wrote about a recent report by IT staffing firm Yoh that shows wages dropping in the first quarter of 2008 for IT professionals. Marianne's article says that tech wages were 2.7% lower in February 2008 than the same time last year. The study also indicates that the salary decline mirrors what's happening in the US economy overall. Last month, Marianne wrote about InformationWeek's annual US IT salary survey, and the news isn't good for women. According to the article: "Regardless of title, a gender gap persists, though female staffers gained some ground the past year. While male IT staffers earn a median salary of $75,000, female staff earn...