RT @CHCW1@twitter.com

@clientsfh@twitter.com @richardhills777@twitter.com I have something similar for my bikeshop:

@cybeardjm We need something like that for Supporting Microsoft windows, esp when people are told constantly how to keep their anti virus updated.,

@zleap I managed a support team @ MSFT 1989-1997 (not Windows, but games, productivity, kids, multimedia, hardware + PowerPoint + project = around 100 products YoY) ;-)

@cybeardjm Cool. Sounds good,

@zleap twas fun... We were the most "exotic" group of people inside MSFT support - BTW it was in France - with big colorful product boxes everywhere...
Flight Simulator's latest versions were a big success even for official corporate tours of the building... ;-)

And 70% female engineers

@cybeardjm Nice, so what has happened to gender diversity, mind you i was at school back in 1987 so they were still teaching computer science back then I think.

We are now trying to get more girls interested in STEM.

@cybeardjm I would guess we have a chance to promote gender diversity in STEM here at least.

@zleap They went sent to my group, where it was really fun working (even if technical support is not that fun sometimes), mostly because they were not considered "engineer" enough for more "professional" products (the sort of bro-culture, even coming from customers).
A few of them, who kept on fighting the good tech fight did well, inside and later outside MSFT.
Getting (young) girls/woman to STEM is not the problem IMHO. It's helping them get real jobs and keep them in an environment where young male engineers still believe they are the superior race and know everything.
I was part of the recruitment process for new engineers, and I could smell them a mile away, sometimes the school name was the first indication to the level of intellectual mediocrity I'd meet besides the pure tech knowledge.

@cybeardjm Yeah good point, We need a decent strategy for this.

The same problem happens in forums women are subjected to sexist attitudes that they know nothing. to the point where a colleague does not disclose she is female.

@zleap Just like for rape. Teach the boys the proper way to behave. It's not a girls' problem.

@cybeardjm And teach NO means NO end of.

@zleap Yes first. There are more values to teach (respect, empathy...).
I live in WestAfrica now where the patriarchy is strong (through education, religion...).
There are many programs to help girls enter STEM education. But, what then? In this environment how will they even find a job? How will they be able to show they are technically equal to their brothers?
Will male (and sometimes female) employers even consider hiring them?
+ basic education is so bad, there are many who won't even be able to leave primary school. How do we teach the digital basics?
So OK, push these ideas, but the environment has to change too.

@cybeardjm I did a teaching assistant course, in that it highlighted children are very good at working out how to do things, an example given was setting up a computer in a village in india, as part of a study, the kids , being curious, figured out how to move it, what the icons were and what the mouse (or i think track ball did in relation to the screen).
You still need to find good teachers to teach the basics, which is where the problem lies i guess.

@zleap I always had computers at home (or machines that looked like IT stuff). Had 3 daughters in a "former life" (80s/90s), and it was quite interesting to see the differences in how they connected to tech, alone or not. Each one had a very different approach, starting as babies, then toddlers... None of them came to IT but they are heavy users in their respective domains (1 design, 2 biology, 3 music).

@cybeardjm I think there are still kids here who lack computers, or perhaps tablets, some parents may have smart phones but 2/3 kids + smartphone don't really work well when they need internet access for homework / learning.

@cybeardjm In the mean time companies have to throw computers away due to data protection laws, why we can't just wipe old hard disks and install Linux, I am not sure, you need to be pretty determined to undo some of these data wiping tools, and specialist too.

@zleap I did bring a few old desktop computers I collected from companies when moving here. Unfortunately, heat and humidity are not that friendly and most of them broke after some short time.