bogosity in Elk: "@grimalkina @danilo What a delightful epis..."

Today I'm launching something near and dear to my heart...VERY near and dear -- a podcast project with my phenomenal favorite neuroscientist (& wife), @analog_ashley !

On "Change, Technically" we're coming to your ears to share tales of who gets to be technical. We dig into STEM pathways & how leaders can learn from psych and neuroscience to think about cultivating innovation. We share our stories from classrooms to software teams. Plus new Cat & Ashley lore!

https://www.changetechnically.fyi/

Mega warm thanks to @danilo who is our big-hearted and big-brained producer on this project! It's so fun to cook with you on the work and the hope we all believe in

@grimalkina @danilo What a delightful episode! I learned a lot from this, and it has me thinking about how to meet people in their spheres of interest to contextualize coding. I'm not sure I'm equipped to do that, but it sounds like great fun!

Since I grew up in an age when essentially all coders were self-taught, it's weird to me that people think they are "the only one" who learned programming that way.

August 26, 2024 at 1:47:41 AM

@bogosity @grimalkina @danilo

this is such a great point; it's the double-edge sword of formalizing these kinds of things in coursework and degree programs, imho.

might i recommend @thecarpentries for finding folks in their respective disciplines!

That was my reaction as well. I both came of age at a time where a large number of coders were self taught (due to the personal computing revolution followed by the WWW revolution) and worked around physicists, electrical engineers, and astronomers who generally seemed to assume they could teach themselves to code and didn't need instruction (for good or ill...definitely ill in some cases ). It hadn't really occurred to me that times had likely changed and also norms might be different in other scientific disciplines. @grimalkina @danilo

@internic @bogosity @danilo

Ashley and I both have spent most of our time working with people who have been discouraged by others at every turn and who have a need to have every credential in order to be given a chance so we're really aware of the other side...! This is definitely what I experience as a social scientist in tech vs having a degree in a field that people see as "math adjacent", even though I have often done relevant statistical work and some other person hasn't!

@internic @bogosity @danilo

and these beliefs carry through in hiring way more than we might like, relative to the true state of where the skills are. I think one simple thing is that a lot of companies, every one I've ever consulted with on hiring, drastically overestimates how many people even have access to the degree pathway they are setting their filter by

Oh yeah, certainly if one is subject to prevailing biases that would question one's competence, then any formal recognition of expertise is more valuable. I guess I hadn't fully considered that beyond the more typically discussed dimensions of privilege there's also the question of whether your degree is in something considered to be "mathy" or "technical" nor that some of my experience with coding specifically may be highly historically contingent based on when I was learning it. @bogosity @danilo