Nerd Girls Community

how many girls do you work with?

2008-07-20T18:35:35-06:00

i love this site because it presents this romantic image of, like, a sex & the city bond between girl engineers. definitely a noble goal! it’ll happen, it’ll happen.

but for now… i work in a group of ten guys, and I’m the female. there are a few others in my department but we’re so spread out we barely ever have time to get together. we have the occasional girl lunch meetup and it’s awesome! but seriously, I’m talking about like four women working with 100 men… and whenever we hang out together, the guys think we’re conspiring against them.

we do get along fabulously though. when we can get together it’s great.

how is it where you work? are you the only woman? have you been able to seek out others and support each other? I think a little sisterhood goes a LONG way in this world, I didn’t know what it’d be like until I got out of college, out of the girls dorm and into the workplace where I’d go weeks without speaking to another female. it’s really nice to talk to someone and not feel like the different one.

All my friends are nerd girls…

2008-11-30T11:45:37-06:00

All my friends are nerd girls… You can’t tell them that but they are all engineers and beautiful and multi talented. That is how we all are… Electrical Engineers, System Engineers, Industrial Engineers Computer Scientist… I am the chair of the Baltimore Computer Society and I would like to have a Nerd girl program here in Baltimore. We live that life everyday…but to share it with young women and girls would be great.

the world needs more nerd girls!

2008-11-27T18:06:11-06:00

well, I’m not a nerd girl, or a father of girls, or a husband of a nerd girl or anything like that. I just think it’s really awesome what you are doing to turn around the stereotype of intelligent and strong women. It’s really hard for us young nerd guys to meet great nerd girls. So many women out there have so much great potential and a strong interest in science and technology, but they don’t think they can be nerdy and still get that cute bag and flats they’ve been dreaming of. I just wanted to give my support and encouragement to all of you for the great job you’re doing.

Nice to find fellow Nerdy Girls! :DDD

2008-11-21T21:26:04-06:00

HEY :D My name is Janna, I’m a freshman Mechanical Engineering major at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. I really am pleased to have found you guys :] I personally like being a nerd..haha and I like to find others who enjoy it too! hehe Have a lovely day!

The need for more women in technology…

2008-11-12T19:42:51-06:00

As a guy, I hope my contribution here will be welcome. :)

I’ve been passionate about helping more women into the technology work force since my college days. Many of the best engineers that were weeded out of my university compsci program were women who could not deal with the cowboy, win at any cost culture. As a result, most of the small final number of graduates were arrogant, bossy, asocial men who argued needlessly and had very closely held, calcified opinions.

Since then, the course of my career has taken me from a software engineer leading to the corporate exec I somehow managed to become today. During that time, the characteristics of those great women engineers that were weeded out of my university compsci program were precisely those attributes I’ve needed to get projects done well; collaboration, sharing, empathy, self awareness and openness. Granted not all women engineers have these characteristics, but they are more likely to. Combined with strong engineering skills, this makes for a powerful combination.

Over the last (oh my god) 20 years, I’ve been involved in multiple projects to advance the cause of women in engineering. From the Stone Center, thru MentorNet, and diversity programs within the companies I’ve worked for, I’ve put a ton of energy into creating an environment and an acceptance for deeper diversity in the software engineering (at least) workforce.

Now that I manage a fairly large group of very highly skilled software engineers with a fairly unique mission, I still find it difficult to hire highly qualified female candidates simply because I do not get the resumes. This has to change, and I hope this site helps build a community that supports that change.

Layout

2008-10-31T13:07:10-06:00

I think you guys need to add some links at the top of the thread that lead you back to the other threads or to the homepage of the forum. Because whenever I go into viewing a thread, in order to get back to the main page to view all the topics I have to click on ‘Community’ at the very top of the page. There should be some links back to the main topic page at the top of the thread you are viewing instead.

Photos anyone?

2008-07-29T16:45:52-06:00

I just noticed that none of us have our photos up, I was just wondering why? It might be a commentary on the safety women feel in the anonymity of the internet, but I wanted to pose it as a possible topic. I don’t really want to put my photo up because I vent about work, but maybe we could think of a way to make the photos anonymous too, like here are the members’ photos but they are not by their screen names, what do you think?

Baby european nerd girl :P

2008-11-09T08:25:12-06:00

Hey everyone.
I’m a sixteen year old aspiring engineering. I’m thinking i’m the youngest girl on this site but my interest is just as big! I’m applying for colleges now and mostly its aeronautical courses I’m going for. The sterotype of a female engineers is always a pain in the ass and I’m really happy you guys are out there changing it. Anyway, happy yo meet ye all :)

Nerdy - and loving it.

2008-11-07T07:01:04-06:00

I am so excited to find this website! I hate the stereotypical nerdy view shown so often - its ridiculous. I’ve tried to start my own website, quite a while ago, as I am a bit of a computer guru. It was more associated with study etc but I sort of lost interest. Anyway -

My name is Shanae, that is Sha - Nay (as in the noise a horse makes). Yeah, and as of the 22nd of October, I am 16! What do I plan to do when I graduate? Become an engineer. Aerospace engineering is my dream! But, I’m starting off trying a basic engineering course to see what I find most interesting. (Working my way up). I am extremely motivated to do well, and have received scholar of the year for 3 years running (last week was my 3rd time). I am fairly modest in real life, but I’m sorry, I love to brag when I get the chance because I’m extremely proud of my hard work, and why shouldn’t I be?

I am from Australia, North QLD and am currently in grade 11. I study Physics, Math B, Math C, Chemistry, English and I also do creative arts (I’m fairly artistic and study piano outside school). Now, I have a boyfriend but he doesn’t live in the same town so its very hard. We get through though, it gives me time to focus on study and when we see each other its fantastic. We have dated about 3 years now, his name is Brendan. He has just finished school and hopefully, we plan to move in together in my 2nd year of University. I love shopping, purple and Hello Kitty things. My favourite culture - Japanese! I have tried to teach myself, and can’t wait to holiday there! I would love to do engineering over there sometime in future - they are very advanced in that side of things.

Enough about me, I’d love to hear about everyone and can’t wait to get to know you all.

Shanae <3 xx

Confessions

2008-07-20T01:31:33-06:00

Things that I’d rather not have the other people at work know for fear of ruining my reputation. (Though what the reputation is I can’t exactly say.)

1) I find “Americas Next Top Model” fascinating. I take notes on how to posse better in front of cameras. (I swear I’m now less camera shy because of it.)

2) I once had to ask a lab manger to remove a device’s battery cover for me because I’d just had my nails done. I’m certain he’s never had anyone ask that question before. I’d never felt so silly-female before in my life. To his credit, he didn’t flinch.

3) Being “the girl” is kind of my pretty princess crown, and I sometimes find it a little hard to share the title. (Though that doesn’t stop me from encouraging anyone from entering into my field! I love computers and engineering! Everyone should love it!)

What are you willing to confess?