Tumbling down the rabbit hole
Long time no see. It’s been a while. Almost 1.5 years to be more precise. And things still haven’t changed. I still don’t have the guts to write about what really matters to me. Hmm, wonder if that will ever change?
In other news: New job, new lifestyle, 6 months this week. Better? Worse? The jury is still out. But it sure is different. My tumble down the rabbit hole continues. Is there a Wonderland at the bottom? I guess we’ll see.
As promised in the previous post, here are some of my ideas for how to succeed as a woman in a male-dominated field (actually, most of these ideas should apply to both men and women).
Just skimmed through some audience comments from Women In Technology’s Nov 8 event, Aiming for the Top - How to be a Successful Woman Working in IT, on how to achieve success as a woman in a male-dominated field, and I’m blazing mad. Haven’t we come further than this?! Here are some examples to why I’m furious:
Develop a very thick skin and learn to ignore the teasing and jibes. […] Learn that male programmers may feel threatened by a woman as smart as them […]
Speaking as a woman who aced the toughest courses in computer science that our M.Sc. programme had to offer and graduated top of my class with highest average grade possible, I have never, ever encountered any male programmer who felt in any way whatsoever threatened by me, and have only been met with uttermost respect. The guys I studied with thought I was way cool and were genuinely happy about having me around.
Don’t harp on about being a woman; consider and treat yourself as an equal at every opportunity as differentiating yourself can have a negative effect.
I’ve generally ignored the fact that I’m a woman and focused on getting on with my job.
WTF?! I am a woman, and no matter what I do, what I say, how I act, nothing will change that fact. And ignoring the elephant in the room won’t make it go away. I am different, different from any other individual, male or female. It’s our differences that makes team work effective, fosters creativity and leads to great things. Imagine a world of clones. How sad.
And actually, being part of a minority can help your career. You’re highly visible, and have a great opportunity to speak up, show how competent you are, and make a real difference in your organisation. Do you think most men in a large company with mainly male employees ever get such a chance to shine?
[P]rove that women can do it.
How about me proving that I can do it? Yes, I’m a woman, but just because I succeed or fail, doesn’t mean that all women will as well. I want to prove my own worth, not fight a battle representing a whopping 50 percent of the world’s population.
And finally, here is my absolute favourite quote:
Think like a man. Don’t take anything personal, start the day without emotions.
No comments. This is just too absurd, I’m completely speechless. Or wait, maybe I’m just overcome with emotions… Arrrghhh! I sense an emotion! Take cover!!
Sorry, end rant. A little bit less upset now. I’m not saying that there aren’t any difficulties achieving success as a woman when most of your colleagues are men. There are. Having been in male-dominated environments since I was 18, I’ve got my share of experience dealing with various issues that arise when you’re in the minority. But I definitely do not believe that letting go of who you are and trying to conform to a “male” standard is the solution. So what do I believe in? Let me calm down a bit, and I’ll follow up on this post shortly. 
On a much more positive note (than the previous post), I celebrated my 27th birthday yesterday. =)
I actually cheated a little bit this year, and started the celebrations at my parents’ Sunday with tonnes of delicious Chinese food the way only Dad can make it, cake and presents. Among other stuff, they gave me some lovely mulled/spiced wine glasses, which really made me want to clean up the mess in our flat (me being the main culprit, not Andreas), and invite some friends over for a looong overdue move-in/cosy winter party.
Andreas took me out to the new, hot restaurant in town last evening, Mathias Dahlgren at Grand Hotel. The foie gras terrine was a small piece of heaven, served with figs and olive oil. And the crisp, fried duck breast I had… Wow! It was perfectly cooked, and the meat just melted on my tongue. I really recommend the place!
And let me introduce you to my new toy, of which I’m the proud owner of since last night (drum rolls…)
My old Canon IXUS S400 started behaving erratically this summer, and since then I’ve been looking for a new digital compact. And yes, I refuse to cave in to the DSLR craze that’s overtaken everyone else. I guess I’m just not the kind of girl that likes toting around a colossus of a camera and €1000+ worth of lenses everywhere I go.
After doing some heavy research on everything available out there, and hesitating between this beauty, Canon IXUS 860IS, and the slightly slimmer and funkier-looking Sony DSC-T200, the reviews, forum discusssions, and the fact that this camera was one of the few compacts DP Review even looked at this year, all pointed to the Canon.
And now it’s lying next to me, looking all cute and dreaming of all the nice pictures we will take together, while its battery is being charged in the cradle. *Happy*. And all because I have the world’s absolutely best boyfriend. Thank you so much Andreas!
Yesterday, I realised that I’d lost my precious, precious red iPod nano (and the quite worthless, but very nice-looking bling earphones I just got from Swarovski, but that’s a whole other matter). I frantically called all the places I’ve been to since Thursday when I’d last seen it, with no result. I was in complete, utter despair. My baby!! I so loved the little thing, being the gadget freak that I am. And to make it even worse, it was a Christmas gift from my boyfriend, which made it so much more important to me. Felt a tear in my eye when I found the box it came in this morning. Poor, poor, poor nano! May you rest in peace.
So now, in a fable effort to console myself, I’m updating the firmware on my first gen Shuffle and trying to cram my favourite songs into the old thing. Let’s hope 1 GB is enough! Why won’t Spotify come out with a mobile version soon? That would make the pain go away… almost.
Something else that would make it all good again would be if what Engadget reports today is true. I’d take it with a big grain of salt, however.
[T]he gossip coming out of Italy calls for a Q1 release of a UMTS iPhone. Italian site Morse.IT claims to have spoken to high-level sources and “confirms” in no uncertain terms that Vodafone has signed an exclusive deal with Apple. […] The launch the 3G iPhone would occur simultaneously in all countries where the carrier operates but will not be announced until after the holidays (MacWorld?) to avoid impacting sales of the existing iPhone. The timing chides well with other rumors calling for a 3G release before May.
If true, I wonder what that entails for Sweden. We used to have Vodafone, but now it’s Telenor, does that still count?
Q1 2008 is starting to look more and more expensive. New slim MacBook Pro and 3G iPhone. My wallet is not liking the sound of it, but my RDF-brainwashed inner gadget geek is cheering and doing a little happy dance across the room. Wheee! Go Apple!
