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Proportionally, do Trans women have greater visibility in the Open Source ecosystem as compared to Cis Women?
This is anecdotal, but I've often noticed that, I read a technical blog post by someone, end up following them, find that they are women (pronouns/name) and later find that they are trans.
At this point almost all women whose technical blogs I follow are Trans. So, this makes me wonder, are Cis women Software Engineers just not interested in Open Source or writing blogs? If there is some sort of discrimination involved then it should also effect Trans women since they are just another username on the screen, just like everyone else. In fact they may even face more discrimination than Cis women.
This very much looks like something progressives should be up in the arms about since Identarian politics and equality of outcome is very much their thing. But you only have strategic silence.
I think this is potentially evidence against the blank slatism that says systemic discrimination is the only possible reason for the lack of female representation in certain occupations. One issue you could poke in this argument is that Trans women were socialized as male, but I think all the young boys who are being socialized as girls today will soon prove them wrong.
I don't think my CS domain interests are too niche. They mostly lean towards Systems, Security, Programming languages (Go, Rust, C++, ...). I source technical content on these topics from HN, lobste.rs and some subreddits which themselves are not overly niche platforms in the Software industry. So I think there is something to think about here.
OR I am just falling prey to some sort of Sampling bias and the argument above is garbage.
Having said all this, I actually think a 50/50 gender distribution typically helps in creating a healthier work atmosphere, mitigating the worst excesses of either gender. Male dominated work environments can run you ragged and be outright abusive when under a lot of competition.
<rant>But, I do not see any way to achieve this due to the asymmetry in the distribution of interest. When taken to its logical conclusion, average expendable (male) Software Engineers like me will be left hanging out to dry unlike average or below average women. And it galls me when my concerns get gaslighted as incompetent men who cannot handle the competition.
</rant>I am considering alternative options for my future in the software industry. I have noticed that there are certain expectations and requirements for participation in various aspects of the industry, such as employment and technical communities. I am aware that there may come a time when my opportunities in the industry may be limited due to these expectations and requirements.
Come work in defense. Legends (meaning emails) tell of the company’s DEI initiatives, but I have yet to interact with any such thing. Everyone in a remotely technical field just quietly doesn’t give a shit.
I am reminded of an exchange several years ago on the original SlateStarCodex forum where a prominent "right wing" poster was complaining about not being able to find a programming job that was not inundated in progressive nonsense. I told them that if they were willing to move to Huntsville AL I could get them a job writing code for artillery and missile guidance computers where they wouldn't have to deal with any of that bullshit. To be clear this was a genuine offer at the time. But the response I got was a rant about how deeply offended they were by the mere suggestion that they might give up their cushy FAANG job to go work for the defense industry in a state that was over 25% nigger.
So it goes.
They chose their path, and in my eyes whatever DEI nonsense they complained about in the future became something that they had volunteered for.
Moving to defense to avoid DEI nonsense is not likely to work out so well. One, of course defense still has plenty of DEI nonsense, even if it's taught by bored black ladies instead of rainbow-haired white and Asian nonbinary queer folk. Two, the security clearance process involves a WHOLE LOT of nonsense, very intrusive nonsense. Three, programming for defense involves a whole lot of non-DEI nonsense. MIL-STD-498 may be gone, but its replacement isn't likely to be less bureaucratic. And yes, of course, defense pays much less than FAANG.
There are jobs in the tech industry with less DEI BS than Facebook, Google, and pre-Elon Twitter, and total less BS than defense (a very low bar). Maybe not in SF. Probably even in the Bay Area. (My own DEI stuff is taught by CalArts icons and diverse actors -- that is, it's prerecorded box-checking. Probably about the best you can do in tech, unless the company is VERY small).
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I'll point to my reply back when someone brought up Antidem's proposal, here. I've done it. I recommend it!
But it wasn't getting you clear of the bullshit six or even two years ago, and it's gotten worse in the meantime. If you don't want to be surrounded by SJWs, moving to a purple or red state can help, but your defense contractor job absolutely will still be (required by federal regulation!) to throw social justice frameworks at you, even as everyone in the building not working for HR and compliance thinks a lot of it's bullshit.
((I'm also having trouble finding the original, but some other details from your past retellings seem relevant.))
Maybe, but your DEI training will be administered by a middle-aged black lady who through her emphasis on "federally mandated" will tell you that she thinks that this is a waste of everyone's time as much as you do.
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