I remember this young woman who started working in Support and was very technical (and pretty). All the guys thought she was hot and there was always a little flurry when she came around. My husband had some sort of dealings with her (she worked where he did for a while or something, I don’t remember) and he and all the other tech guys noticed her, including him (not in a ‘hit on’ way, but as someone that you definitely notice). Some combo of young and techie (and pretty but that is most young women) really turns techie guys on. And that is the bad part – it turns techie guys on which makes it hard to be treated as another tech person.

PDC stands for Professional Developers Conference, so really there weren’t too many marketers/sales/vendors at this party. The conference itself was no problem at all; it was just the party portion of this particular event.

Lol.  In high school, I was the friend of the attractive girl. Definitely think the young part was a big part of it, since as far as I know, my friend and I were the only two females our age there.

Back in the day it was much worse and I’d thought it was because it was different then. But it doesn’t appear so, it must just have been because I was young and “hot”.

You started our conversation by asking if I were in marketing. I said no. You moved on to sales. I said no. We are at a developers conference. That is not how I expect to start any conversations here. As you stated, we don’t know one another, so I don’t know your humor. You came off as though you were pushing it wasn’t possible for me to be in tech. You have to understand, it is tiring being mistaken otherwise. After the first few times, it loses its humor.

Once you stated that there are few women in the field, I understood you were being facetious. However, the persistence was insulting and that was what stuck.

I do have a lot more information on the lack of women and am open to continuing that discussion, if you are comfortable with that. On this note, I had a very interesting conversation this past school year on the fourth wave of feminism.

The idea behind the fourth wave is that the next step is for men to become the driving force in advocating for women’s equality. The first step for this wave is for men to understand how women are not treated equally. Once they see this and understand the issues, they can push for change. Otherwise, old practices that continue that lack of equlaity still exists, simply due to lack of knowledge.

I am glad you had a good time. Please understand it wasn’t your conversation specifically that ruined the evening; it was the culmination of the things I previously stated.

Geez, I wasn’t looking for an argument, just trying to make some friends and hang out. I had a really good time, sorry for ruining your night…

RT @OrganizeFISH: Here's what prompted that tweet: http://ow.ly/DDJi RT @creepyed There needs to be more women in technology. NOW. #ugpd …

@Terri:
Ironically, that actually happened to me last night as well. This was at the point where my only focus was getting back to my hotel, cause my backpack had been soaked with a drink and I was just done with the night. One of the guys left when we did and his hotel was the next block over from the party. He shook my hand goodbye, then picked me up and spun me round.