{"id":1265,"date":"2013-07-15T07:19:09","date_gmt":"2013-07-15T14:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nadynerichmond.com\/blog\/?p=1265"},"modified":"2013-07-11T12:12:09","modified_gmt":"2013-07-11T19:12:09","slug":"are-you-really-a-geek","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nadynerichmond.com\/blog\/2013\/07\/15\/are-you-really-a-geek\/","title":{"rendered":"are you really a geek?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post about\u00a0exorcising the spectre of the fake geek girl<\/a> really hit close to home. \u00a0The post is a discussion about a panel at a recent science fiction convention. \u00a0With only a scant handful of changes, this phenomenon is one that women with tech careers recognize as well. \u00a0As a senior technical woman, I often find myself getting challenged about whether I’m really a geek. \u00a0Do I know the right languages? \u00a0Have I been a Mac user long enough? \u00a0Do I use the approved applications? \u00a0Do I read the right blogs and sites? \u00a0Do I have an approved opinion about [whatever the controversy du jour is]?<\/p>\n

There’s always another test. \u00a0If I pass the first one, then there’s another one lurking. \u00a0 Eventually, I will fail a test. \u00a0I don’t know everything about computer science, I don’t know every programming language, I don’t read every blog, my opinion doesn’t match up with your opinion on every single topic. \u00a0Failing one of those tests means that I have proven that I’m a fake geek.<\/p>\n

I honestly can’t fathom the person who quizzes me about my geekiness. \u00a0You would think that my education (three degrees: MS and BS in computer science, BS in math) would speak for itself. \u00a0Or maybe my job at VMware, where I’ve reached one of the seniormost levels available to technical contributors1<\/a><\/sup>, would be sufficient. \u00a0Or maybe my time on the committee for OOPSLA<\/a>, or as an advisory board member of MacIT<\/a>, would be enough. \u00a0Maybe speaking at Google DevFest would prove it. \u00a0But it’s not enough. \u00a0It’s never enough. \u00a0For those who want to believe that there is no such thing as a geek woman, nothing is ever sufficient.<\/p>\n

I’m glad to see others taking on the imagined problem of the fake geek girl. \u00a0I think if you call yourself a geek, you’re most likely a geek. \u00a0You might be a geek in a different way than I am, and each type of geekdom is just as valid as the next. \u00a0There’s no ranking of geeks2<\/a><\/sup>. \u00a0If you tell me you’re a geek, I’m going to take your word for it, and I’m not going to quiz you to find out where you just aren’t geek enough for me.<\/p>\n

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  1. <5% of R&D is at my level or higher. ↩<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Well. \u00a0Except for this<\/a>, which of course I agree with as a mathematician. ↩<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    This post about\u00a0exorcising the spectre of the fake geek girl really hit close to home. \u00a0The post is a discussion about a panel at a recent science fiction convention. \u00a0With only a scant handful of changes, this phenomenon is one that women with tech careers recognize as well. \u00a0As a senior technical woman, I often … Continue reading are you really a geek?<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-women"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nadynerichmond.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nadynerichmond.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nadynerichmond.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nadynerichmond.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nadynerichmond.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1265"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nadynerichmond.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1265\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1266,"href":"https:\/\/www.nadynerichmond.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1265\/revisions\/1266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nadynerichmond.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nadynerichmond.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nadynerichmond.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}