I think age is a BIG part in people thinking you don''t know what you''re doing. I''m 25 now but I''ve ran across a lot of people who thought I was just some game playing kid who thinks he knows how to type. Durring one job, my potential boss said, "So you like to program huh? Playing games and that kind of thing? Can you type programs?" At that time, I''d already been programming for 9 years, and knew Basic, Lisp, Pascal, and C (not C++ yet). But I was only 19 years old, fresh out of HS.
Even now I run across people who treat me as a kid. In my last job I worked in the Data Processing department. Noone there would acknoledge that I knew any programming. When I asked if I could fix up some of their programs, they said no. (They had about 20 QBASIC programs that were written for one file type (ie: 40x5) If they wanted a new file type, they had to copy the program, then change the values for the line length and the number of lines per address. When they weren''t looking, I modified the one on my computer to automaticaly detect what type of file it was and export it as a ".DBF" file. I also wrote a bunch of other programs that ended up cutting almost an hour off each of my projects. About a month before I quit, they were really interested in my programs and wanted me to install it on all their computers. I didn''t and deleted them off mine before I left. Yeah I know I shouldn''t have but MAN, I really didn''t like my boss.

Oops, rambling, sorry.

About female programmers: I knew a girl in HS that knew how to program and wanted to do it for a job some day. I never asked her out but I really enjoyed talking to her. We had math together and talked a lot in class, but we also helped each other out with homework so the teacher didn''t complain. (I was top of class and she was second.)

As most people know, though, women, for the most part, arn''t as good at, or interested in math as men are. (mostly, not always) Same with men and relationships. Don''t yell at me, that''s just the norm. There''s always exceptions. When you look at a group of girls, they''re talking about people and relationships. When you look at a group of guys, they''re talking about computers or mechanics of some sort. Of course both groups talk about sports a lot but I don''t like sports so I stay away from those groups.

Just as a humerous side note: My wife wanted to learn how to knit but her mom isn''t patient enough to teach her so I did. My grandma taught me how to knit, croche, and cross stitch. It''s pretty fun but I enjoy computers a lot more so I never do any of it anymore. Last time was about the same time I taught my wife how. I croched a scarf for her while she knit one for me.

E:cb woof!

I looked at felisandria's web site and I found something interesting, her bio is almost identical to mine. I know a martial art (a friend, who's a national champion, taught me one year) but I don't remember the name, and I havn't been practicing it much. My fav. weapon is my bamboo staff which I still practice with and use when patroling my property. I learned how to play the piano and the recorder but I like my harmonica the best. I currently live in the country and commute 2 hours to Seattle where I work. I also like the same types of music and shows. (EXACT same shows. Spooky.) She's 23, I'm 25.

To bad we're both married Oh well, I doubt I could ever live with someone that similar to myself.


E:cb woof!

Edited by - dog135 on 2/8/00 1:29:23 PM

Well, I'm not female, but I do know that my sister is a programmer-in-training now at her college...She certaintly isn't holier-than-thou in any aspect and seems to attract more than enough attention from guys at her college, heheh...
And even now in a programming class I'm taking there's a couple women in the class, and while they're a minority, they're still there...and by all means, they are indeed welcome!

As for the whole progger/progger marriage thing, it all just depends on if it works well...What may also be good is to have complimentary skills; imagine a programmer and an artist team working on game development.
I certaintly wouldn't mind marrying a female programmer, as long as (of course) we liked each other enough to want to spend the rest of our lives together. So that's what I have to say about that.

Oh, a few more things: About the pony tail thing, we all have the right to certaintly do whatever we want with our hair as we see fit (unless you're in the military or work for a company with a...err...hair code). Speaking of codes, this reminds me of a place that one of my instructors used to work at...The guy in charge had a dress code, but it was by job...He did it that way so he could look at the way someone is dressed and immediately be able to tell if they are a marketing type or a programmer or whatever.

And to Fel - Hello again

Edited by - Bucket_Head on 2/8/00 1:48:38 PM

For all of those contemplating the marriage to a programmer spouse, I have advice. Hope to meet someone that is in the middle. Meet someone who doesn''t program as much as you and has other interests. Meet someone who has entertainment interests outside of yours but understands why your addicted to EverCrack. My fiance and I have had numerous conversations about computers and entertainment. I prefer a good video game to any Friends episode anyday. Needless to say TV is not a big part of my life. TV is her primary entertainment mode and she begins to feel like I choose the computer over her because I won''t sit on the couch with her and watch TV. (After all there is much exp that could be earned in that hour in Norrath) Anyway what you get with a spouse that understands is a better mutual respect for your hobbies and interests. It took a while to get there but we have an understanding about it that we both can live with. I only wish she and I could get to the point where we would play EverCrack together. Here''s to hoping.

Kressilac
ps Seems to me that with one extreme or the other you either talk computers all the time and kill romance, or you argue about your addicition and why you can just go to work and come home. Spouse either understand the programming passion and realize why we do it for fun at home, or they never get it. Now that I live with one who gets it, I find it much better.

I must agree. My wife use to be bored at home so I introduced her to internet chatting. Now she''s always on the computer. Even though it bothers me that she''s always online, at least now she knows a lot more about how to use the computer and understand how I can get addicted to programming. (sort of)

I do wish she''d play network games with me but oh well.

E:cb woof!

I would really like to see whole family spending their weekends with action quake or TFC, Yea! I just blasted my wife with bazooka and she is still minigunning me noooo!!!! Damn you daughter!! I have said many times don''t bother me when I''m dueling with your mother!! Hard to imagine, but what the heck, It won''t be cool if your whole life is goooing with computers.. That sucks ;-(

Well, there is a little bit of a drawback when it comes to playing RTS''s with your spouse...
"Hey! Where''d those Archons come from... STOP LOOKING AT MY SCREEN DARNIT!!!" *grin*

-fel

I''m a programmer. My husband is a programmer. We''ve run
a software company out of our home for more than 10 years.
I can''t imagine doing anything else.

We work closely together. I mean _REALLY_ close. For
years, we not only shared an office, we shared a desk.

We have a slightly bigger office now. Seperate desks. Ted
has a potted plant on his.

Besides writing games, I write books, web sites, articles,
and lots of messages to people who wonder if there are any
women who program. For some reason, this topic has been
coming up over and over lately. Go figure.

The absolute best part about being a programmer and being
female is I get to stay home with my children. You can
see pictures at http://www.fastgraph.com/rita.

And if you want to visit my how-to-be-a-game-developer web
site, go to http://www.makegames.com.

Diana

Hi again!

Well, I just like to mention that my fiancee is a great fan of computer games these days. She plays them more often than I do =) And she beats me flat in every network game from Bomberman to Unreal - guess I will just stick to game programming and 3D modeling =)

I noticed that all the female programmers posting on this board are married....hmmm, wonder why? I would get my fiancee to post but she is just so busy playing Quake 3 Arena.......hehehe =) Seriously though, she deserves the offtime after helping me out with the 3D modeling =)

Best regards,
Sherman
http://www.epixinteractive.com

Aw, Rita's cute. I would love to have a programming business with just me and my wife. I'd settle with just being able to work at home and spend more time with her. Maybe someday.

But of course my new game I'm making will make me filthy rich and I'll be able to retire early.

BTW: Sorry to hear about your publisher. That wasn't very nice of him. (about your book) I just downloaded your disk (took all of 2 seconds on this T3 connection I have at work!) and I'll probubly save your book to my HD. I always love having as much referance material as I can.

E:cb woof!

Edited by - dog135 on 2/9/00 6:29:04 PM