

Smell Ya Later, Nerds - protomyth
http://betabeat.com/2013/09/smell-ya-later-nerds/

======
monksy
I considered her opinion on tech to be invalid when she claimed that tech
isn't merit based. All of the people I've met and worked with have taken lots
of effort and [informal & formal] education to get where they are today.

Then I saw the last bit of it: "[...] I will miss terribly, like writing about
poop and that time my editor tried to get me to go on a date with a sex robot
and What Will Elon Musk Think of Next and that one month where John McAfee
went completely insane; "

That rather explains her position. She doesn't get into the low lying details
of tech.

The minor irritants I can relate with her and agree with her on.

~~~
protomyth
"I considered her opinion on tech to be invalid when she claimed that tech
isn't merit based."

How is tech merit based? Truthfully, most vocational jobs are more merit-based
than technology. We see technology companies filtering on a long list of items
(school attended, age, etc.) that have very little to do with merit. If you
have had opportunity, technology is a wonderful career, but it just isn't
merit-based. It does suffer from the same problems as every other professional
career.

The merit-based utopia meme needs to leave so we can actually look at the
trends and decide if some things need correcting.

~~~
roarroar
Plebs are never assessed on merit because they don't have any. So you get
better treatment for one pleb or another pleb because of what school they went
to or their gender, but in the end it's all just interchangeable plebs anyway.
If you have real talent ("tech bloggers" need not apply) and a bit of a spine
then that is going to be the dominant factor in your success. But we see so
many stories these days about how various little plebs aren't getting some
perceived due that it's becoming a degenerate force.

~~~
blocking_io
You are literally calling most people in the world 'plebs'. What is wrong with
you?

------
theorique
The tech industry lately seems to be mired in this either-or thinking about
meritocracy. How about we admit it's a bit of both?

Being connected and having the same hobbies and coming from the same IIT as
the hiring manager will help, not hurt you. Is anyone denying this? That's why
all the career advice boards remind merit-focused new college grads that "it
matters who you know, _then_ it matters what you know".

On the other hand, there isn't a lot of room in organizations for people who
don't get it done at all. Merit - or at least the appearance of merit -
matters a great deal. Maybe in larger, more mature organizations and
industries people can hide out and network with the right people to stay in
their no-show jobs.

However, bootstrapped startups don't really have a lot of sinecures for random
"VP, Business Development" slots to go around.

~~~
xrctl
It is true that no system in the world has or could ever have a perfectly
accurate merit assessment system... but has any one noticed that improvements
in merit assignment and lower barriers to entry lead to less representation of
women at the top, not more? In highly structured environments with statistical
ranking systems, the portion of women at the top is miniscule. For example,
women make up about about 55% of registered players in the American Scrabble
Associations raking system, but on some occasions there are no women in the
top 50 ranked (the most there has ever been was just a few) [1]. The only
places where women are highly represented at the top are places with strong
diversity programs. For example, Rwanda leads the world in terms of women's
representation in parliament, but that is because a very large number of seats
are reserved exclusive for female candidates, while the rest are open to
anyone [2].

1\. [http://rcm-papers.net/scrabble-ratings-gender.html](http://rcm-
papers.net/scrabble-ratings-gender.html)

2\.
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7620816.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7620816.stm)

~~~
theorique
Interesting point. That Rwanda situation is interesting because it enforces a
baseline of 30%. I am sure it's easier to get from 30% -> 50+% than it is from
a much smaller number to 30%.

Chess, Go, Math Olympiads, and other such pursuits are other examples of
situations where female representation is miniscule.

However, we can't assume this is anything biological because that would be
sexist, so we need to assume that there is extreme misogyny at play, which
increases as the level of competition gets higher and higher.

Philip Greenspun explores this in his article from a few years ago, in the
arena of academic science:

[http://philip.greenspun.com/careers/women-in-
science](http://philip.greenspun.com/careers/women-in-science)

------
jackgavigan
Dear Jessica,

We won't miss you either.

All the best,

The Tech Industry

------
tripplethrendo
What an angry person.

