Progress
When I first got the idea of digging up my old tapes and digitizing them before I lost them for good, I was chatting with another ‘softie (I believe it may have been Craig Ziegler, who manages the test team for the WDK) at the big party during WinHEC 2008 (so I did do something there besides play Halo 3). At about that time, the music being played switched to the Donna Summer classic “(She works) Hard For The Money”. That was one of the tunes I wanted to see if I could capture one of my “covers” of.
Perhaps in part because of that Grateful Dead influence, I was always a very improvisational player- that song was a part of my bands’ repertoire through much of the 80’s, both when I played the bass, and later after i switched to the guitar. I always liked it, and my approach to it was always laden with drama- lots of energy, catchy motifs [well, I though they were catchy], strong attacks on key parts- perhaps overly bombastic- but hey, that’s how I thought it should be played and I was the one with the instrument. While I was aware of the underlying theme the song had, I always treated it more as an anthem for women in the workforce. In part because my career included an era where things were a lot tougher than they are now. “She works hard for her money, and you better treat her right”.
I’ve managed to find two instances that I play in my office (and in my car, and on my xBox, thanks to that fine SanDisk USB thumb drive I got as a WinHEC freebie)- one where I play the bass in a live performance [and I thought it captured the nuance of that night well]- the other with guitar- but it was at a practice, and fairly early one- so the leads aren’t very inspired, there are presentational inconsistencies [more than usual], and I make a few more flubs than usual. I know I had at least one solid live performance on guitar, but I may have lost that tape. Ahh well, now that I’m practicing again, maybe I can recreate those lost glories- not that anyone but me actually cares, but one ought to have some purpose in life, right?
At any rate, while listening to the two of them back-to-back last week, the basic idea of this article came to me. So perhaps this will be less half-baked than others have been…
I’ve been fortunate enough to have had several women as managers or coworkers [I also employed quite a few at the Laundromat, had more sisters than brothers, and my mother was herself a strong influence on me]. I owe most of them some debt of gratitude.
My first long-term job after graduating from Caltech was at IBM in Owego, NY. The interviews there were interesting to me- I had two in their Electronic Design Automation group, and it was one of those experiences where you just light up and enjoy it. I’d been working as an electronics technician on and off since graduation (one of the things I had acquired and needed to rid myself of during my college years was a distaste for computer programming, which had been one of my first loves prior to that- I had decided I’d rather work toward being a EE, instead), and had been thinking about application of computers to digital circuit design and testing. I’d discussed some of them with coworkers and had the “not possible- way too hard- you’re crazy to think like that” kind of response- but here I was interviewing with a group that was doing exactly that- and it was working quite well. Since I’d already been thinking along those lines, I could ask intelligent questions, etc. The interviews went well.
But I did terrible things at Caltech- things like skipping exams because I knew I would get a passing grade without taking them [not a good grade, just a passing one]- so I had a rather poor GPA. Low enough I did not meet the corporate hiring guidelines. The hiring manager seemed to consider me a bit of a nerd, and he also judged a lot on those numbers. His manager was a woman- she had attended grade school near Caltech, and I had also interviewed with her. She intervened, and I was hired in spite of some resistance. So I definitely owe a woman my first good start in the high-tech industry.
But the things I used to hear! That she had to agree not to have a family life in order to have the management job, for instance. Or later, assertions of tokenism. In those days, I was pretty naive- so it was hard to judge how much was true, how much was cattiness, how much was just plain made up out of spite and jealousy. So I may have accepted more of it as truthful than I should have. But it didn’t seem fair. So as she progressed (at least as far as a divisional vice president, last I knew) I gave a few silent cheers, and didn’t contribute to or spread all the gossipy stuff.
The working environment certainly wasn’t friendly- that much was true. One incident I recall later in my tenure there was my mentioning pointedly in an employee poll the plight I observed of one of my fellow engineers. The men hired at about the same time as she was had been given desirable assignments and good career paths- high-profile design and engineering tasks. Her assignment was to track equipment being checked in and out of the equipment closet. When she agitated for something a bit more technical, she was given a project that was clearly doomed to spectacular failure (budget had already been spent, technical approach was flawed in the opinion of most of the experienced engineers on the team, etc). I had a distinct sense that this was deliberate and retributive and found it reprehensible. Such opinions of course had to be written, and my writing style is distinct enough it was clear who raised the issue- only deliberate obfuscation of submitted material could have hid it, and no place I’ve ever been that conducts such surveys resorts to that. So I shouldn’t have been surprised that the next project that came along that I had a strong interest in was given to her. But that was probably a good choice, as it turned out- I pushed way beyond my limits in those days- she was a bit more sensible.
Now I don’t think what I was seeing matched the desires of the top management of the company, even then [and I’m equally certain it would not be regarded positively now]. I’m merely discussing perceived changes from my viewpoint. Cultural changes- both societal and within other aggregations such as a corporation, take time. Personal change as well, [and there’s been a bit of that, fortunately] for that matter.
After coming to Microsoft, I experienced what at the time I would have termed a more “liberal” working environment. Family leaves, etc. While women were rare, there wasn’t quite the same sense of class difference. I tried to take some of those lessons to heart when I was the boss [the Laundromat again]. I tried to provide flexible arrangements, allowed employees to bring children to work when there were day care problems, etc. The pay was terrible (as I’ve noted elsewhere, the venture bankrupted me in all but the legal sense of seeking the protection), but I wouldn’t have paid a man more. I always paid more than minimum wage- but not much more. So I suppose in that sense my employment of them could be deemed exploitation- but that certainly wasn’t my intent.
I’ll skip over a few bits of reminiscence- don’t need them. Today I find myself working for a woman again [and one could even argue she was promoted to the spot over my head- it happens I don’t have a problem with that, though].
Now I could go on about how well I think that turned out [she’s a good leader, I’ve said it before, and I still believe it, and try to do what I can to help], but that’s not what I intend. It’s the difference in environments across that span of time, and the direction of the progress as I see it. Sometimes she works from home- sometimes she has to drop things to attend to family and child care issues. Nobody sees anything wrong with that, as far as I can tell. It doesn’t affect her being an effective leader or manager. The organization supports it, and we as her team support it.
After mentally composing much of that, I found we have new board member- again a woman, and computer science professor…
With a daughter of my own soon to enter the work force- it’s good to consider these things. There has been progress- the journey may not be over, perhaps many are not satisfied with the pace- but at least it’s the right direction. I consider myself fortunate to work for the company I work for- that it values these things, and makes these efforts- to produce a more inclusive and diverse workforce. One that respects these things and its employees.
Now Playing: Troy- Ghost in the Shell: Stand-Alone Complex Soundtrack- Monochrome
