This "comment" started out as one but I've decided to make it a post as I hope that a few people that may follow me but not Stacia - will check out her post on WIT.

The post to read is here: http://blog.datainspirations.com/2010/07/29/maybe-its-just-me-a-perspective-from-one-woman-in-it

First - Great post.

Second - Fantastic comments from folks in the SQL community (once again reminding me of why I like it so much)!

I do love the SQL community for so many reasons and this is DEFINITELY one of them. To be honest, I've never really felt singled out as a "WOMAN" in tech. I've always felt like just another person struggling to do the tech and to do it well. I've found that you must do things well to get ahead but I (luckily) haven't been in a situation where nothing but my gender stopped me from getting ahead or getting something done. To take that even further since I'm sometimes the only woman in the room where I'm teaching (big smiles) the thing I love the most is the willingness and interest for everyone to listen, contribute and grow - regardless of the fact that their instructor is a woman. I suspect that maybe I don't meet the people that don't want to hear tech from a woman as they go to someone else's sessions instead of mine but the good news is that I've often had very well attended sessions (so it truly can't be the majority of men that can't listen to a woman OR work with a woman OR deal with women in tech). And, this week my class was the norm - in terms of men/women ratios (maybe even a bit higher than normal). We had 31 students + 2 instructors - 6 students were women (Paul Randal and I were the instructors). That's only 20% and still fairly low (overall - but again, a bit higher than some) but I didn't feel like there were any issues with men/women in the class - everyone was happy to be there and sharing information (regardless of gender, ethnicity, etc.).

Having said all of that - I do think that there have been sterotypes over the years. I remember (*VERY* clearly) something that was said to me when I was in high school (I wish I didn't have to say that it was over 20 years ago but it was roughly 25 years ago when this occurred). My favorite math teacher (I was also his TA) introduced me to a mathematician that was a woman... She was definitely an inspiration and talked to me about different fields and directions in which to go - in Math. It was a nice dinner. I remember thinking that I might want to continue my studies in Math (which I did as a Math/CompSci major in college). But, what I remember clearly is her telling me that she didn't wear makeup or paint her nails because she wouldn't be respected in the field. I've never forgotten that but I've also never lived by that. And, unless it's me (and my bad memory ;-), I really don't think it has hurt me. Maybe it's SQL. Maybe I've been sheltered - but I guess I have to say that I'm happy it's been this way as well.

Thanks for (another!) great post Stacia and some really great comments.

Once again - I'm reminded of how much I love our community!

Cheers,
kt

PS - Check out a past post about Women in Technology and some of the resources that are out there: http://www.sqlskills.com/BLOGS/KIMBERLY/post/Resources-A-panel-on-HA-and-a-second-on-Women-In-Tech.aspx. Also, if you're interested in helping your daughters get more involved in technology check out:

• DigiGirlz: http://www.microsoft.com/about/diversity/programs/digigirlz/hightechcamp.aspx 
• Teaching Kids Programming: www.TeachingKidsProgramming.com

OK, in my quest to blog more often, I realized I have the perfect thing to blog about today... stuff I did that I haven't yet told you about. :) :)

At TechEd US, Paul and I were on a panel created to debunk some of the more common questions/concerns when setting up High Availability. It's an interesting panel and I think there are some particularly interesting moments based on the strange turns the discussions take... but, overall, it's expecially good for people seeking a 100-200 level overview of HA (Clustering, Database Mirroring, Replication, Log Shipping) with a few other related topics (Database Snapshots and Backup/Restore). Here's the direct link to the recording: http://mfile.akamai.com/14853/wmv/microsofttec.download.akamai.com/14853/TechEdOnline/Videos/08_NA_ITP_TEOPanel_57_low.asx. And, here's a general link to everything TechNet so that you can check out TechNet Radio, TechTalks, etc. there's some really great stuff out there: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx. Have fun!

Also at TechEd US, I hung out for a bit in the bloggers lounge...when it was just about to end, it turned out there was a "Women in Tech" panel starting - in which I was then asked to join in. I have to admit that I'm sometimes reluctant to get involved in these because my general (and this is *very* general) opinion is that it doesn't matter if you're a woman or a man (wait - wait - let me explain!!). What I mean by this is that the key to ANY job is that you have to enjoy it. You need to find something in it that's exciting. If you can do that - then you'll be good at your job... plain and simple. If you don't like it (regardless of whether you're a man or a woman) then it's never going to be satisfying and/or you're never going to get ahead. Having said all of this, I do have to admit that I find it especially exciting when I do find other women that can geek out and really enjoy doing this whole IT thing (like MLB, Kate Gregory, Stacia Misner, Julia Lerman, Kalen Delaney, Eileen Brown). So, I don't really intend on actively trying to get more women into technology but the fun part about this panel was the fact that a lot of us talked about how children these days are already way more into IT - without realizing it (our girls asked what film was recently because we were scanning a lot of negatives... and, can you imagine any of our lives without cell phones??). And, my hope, is that if people find ways of getting more into IT (and computers/digital stuff - in general) at an earlier and earlier age... then maybe more kids (girls as well) will find a passion in IT. Here's a link to the panel from TechEd: http://mfile.akamai.com/14853/wmv/microsofttec.download.akamai.com/14853/TechEdOnline/Videos/08_NA_ITP_TEOPanel_67_low.asx.

And, here are a few resources regarding Women In Technology:

• WITI - Women In Technology International: http://www.witi.com/
• Women in Technology Organization: http://www.womenintechnology.org/
• Womin in Technology (a government funded project): http://www.womenintech.com/
• Girl Geek Bloggers: http://www.geekgirlblogs.com/Home.aspx (which has a lot of links to other orgs - including the City-based "Girl Geek Dinners" like London Girl Geek Dinners, etc.)

And, I think that's it for now...

Thanks for reading,
kt