

Inspiring Women Interview: Corrinne Yu (Lead Halo engine programmer) - iman
http://www.kombo.com/article.php?artid=12174

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Radix
_Diversity as a first class citizen is not merely about race or gender or
creed. It is diversity of creativity and intellect and technological
innovation. If we use only the same people and the same kind of people to
create games , our technology and our games will stagnate._

I really like this message. I wish people would stop saying 'we need more
women in blah,' then instead say something like this. We really don't need
more of anyone just to make the demographics look nice. Lack of a group in a
field is a problem because we might be missing out on more like her, and I
hate to think that.

~~~
idlewords
Somehow the process that is selecting computer programmers out of the general
population disproportionately selects men. Unless you believe that the dearth
of women in the field is driven by biology (and there the evidence is against
you), it's pretty clear that women are being deterred from hacking by social
factors. Saying "we need more women in CS" is equivalent to saying, let's stop
driving half the talent out of our field.

~~~
axod
You should add some evidence to your comments... I've seen no evidence women
are driven away en masse from programming by anything other than their own
wants and desires.

I hang out on IRC quite a lot, and if someone brings up the fact that they're
a woman, most people are just 'meh'... it's irrelevant to how they're treated
and the value they add to discussion etc. That's one of the great things about
this industry - it really does not matter.

Girls and boys are very very different biologically, with extremely different
strengths and weaknesses. Extremely different brains. Lets stop pretending
they're the same.

~~~
idlewords
The evidence, as I said, is actually against you.
[http://news.softpedia.com/news/The-Gender-Difference-in-
Lear...](http://news.softpedia.com/news/The-Gender-Difference-in-Learning-
Math-113149.shtml)

~~~
cousin_it
What the paper you linked to actually proves:

 _girls' math scores are just as variable as boys' in some countries and some
ethnic groups in the United States such as Asian Americans_

I could even grant you that this result transfers to all ethnicities, but
still legitimately ask: so what? If yesterday's evidence of differing math
scores didn't imply differing ability to you, then equal math scores today
shouldn't imply equal ability either. Make up your mind, will ya. Till then
I'll consider you to be cherrypicking evidence to support a feel-good
conclusion.

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kqr2
Another inspiring woman programmer is Niniane formerly from Google and
Microsoft.

<http://niniane.org/>

<http://www.ofb.net/~niniane/resume.html>

Brief snippets from her resume:

    
    
      Google:
    
       * Founder, Lively by Google
    
        o Created vision, got project chartered.
    
        o Built and led a team through technical design and implementation. 
    
        o Co-inventor on 5 pending patents. 
    
       * Tech lead, Gmail Ads
    
      Microsoft:
    
       * Software Design Engineer Lead, Microsoft Flight Simulator
    

Also featured in Google's recruiting campaign:

[http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2006/05/brilliant-
niniane-w...](http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2006/05/brilliant-niniane-
wang.html)

However, she left Google recently after 5 years:

<http://niniane.blogspot.com/2009/02/life-updates.html>

~~~
patio11
I appreciate the intention and downmodded you anyway. "Wow, I've heard of a
woman programmer, too!" is stigmatizing, although I'm sure that wasn't
intended.

I work in Japan, and am one of probably three white guys in my industry in the
greater Nagoya area. (That is an exaggeration, but not much of one.) When I
get introduced to someone in a professional context, almost without fail, I
hear something to the effect of "Wow, you're American? I met an American
once." _God_ does that get old.

Yes, I'm an American, but I'm not here in the wow-an-American context, I am
here in the valued-professional-employed-by-the-firm-you-are-in-business-with
context. I suppose the appropriate remark would be "Oh, a Big Freaking
Enterprise Web Apps Java programmer -- I've met one of you before!". (Now, of
course, nobody will say that because it is stupid and insipid... but the
original was, too, with an extra soupcon of unintentionally insulting added to
the mix.)

~~~
swombat
How is Japan to live in, btw? I have been told they are very closed to
foreigners. Can you make friends despite your ethnicity?

~~~
patio11
10 second version: _Some_ Japanese people dislike foreigners. (Please see my
comments above about people being Ruby objects, because that is relevant here,
too.) I have good friends, a nice church, and a decent job at a company which
is happy to overwork me insanely no matter my skin color.

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snprbob86
It should be pointed out that this is "Microsoft's Halo Team" which is not
Bungie. Bungie is no longer a part of the company, but Microsoft still owns
the IP rights to Halo.

Bungie is developing "Halo: ODST", to be released this year, as well "Halo:
REACH" which is only at the teaser phase. Microsoft is developing their own
game engine for their own Halo games.

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DannoHung
Here's her Moby Games page:
[http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,68...](http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,68790/)

It seems like she's recently transferred from Gearbox to Microsoft, since she
references both Borderlands and Aliens: Colonial Marines.

I guess she's working on Halo: Reach

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contergan
I'd hit it!

