Eleanor SaittaMay 23, 2023

Tech speakers, it's 2023. Stop using moms as your example of a non-technical audience. It's wrong, its not funny, and whatever you were saying, now most of your audience is not thinking about it.

Just use the exec team as an example instead and get on with your life.

Show threadEleanor SaittaMay 23, 2023
(Yes, of course I'm saying this because I just heard another one today, from someone who should — and did — know better)
Show threadEleanor Saitta

And dudes, if you think this is a small thing (it's not), then it should be a small thing for you to fix your shit. If you'd like to not have to deal with people being annoying when you do it, you can literally have that.

Everyone else, if you're in a position to do so without it being a risk for you, tell the speaker and the conference, every single time.

May 23, 2023 at 9:13amWeb
Show threadEleanor SaittaMay 23, 2023

Also? Marketing? HR? Largely female-coded work, so you're doing the same thing, but now also showing that you don't really respect your colleagues. And yes, they are actually your colleagues, and they do notice. Punch up. The CEO will laugh too, and he can take it.

If he can't, you really want to change jobs anyway.

Show threadEleanor SaittaMay 23, 2023
...and please don't double down if someone lets you know it's not ok. Best case apologize, ignore it and move on if you really don't care about hurting folks you work with. Actively digging a hole for yourself only makes it worse.
Show threadYusuf ToropovMay 23, 2023
@dymaxion what an idiotic podium strategy
Show threadJessamynMay 23, 2023
@dymaxion Yep, well-stated. When I started doing public speaking I really tried to focus on who I was calling out and what lazy tropes I was just perpetuating and made a conscious effort to do less of that. So I talk about grandmas who are pretty good at social media and farmers who excel at smart phone usage. And yeah if I have to call someone out, it's the C-class folks.
Show threadDuhWombat :verified_coffee:May 24, 2023

@dymaxion I like the way you think.

I think the problem is an overall mindset and that same mindset creates so many additional problems in work culture.

For example, I sit on project meetings for months at a time without other team leads communicating even basic requirements. Or showing that they comprehend their roles. Later on, usually in the middle of a deployment, those same leads suddenly realize they aren’t prepared and act like they didn’t know.

Show threadPhil SherryMay 23, 2023
@dymaxion I’m employed by a company that has a woman in the CEO chair. She’d laugh and she’d take it, but I’d still mostly pick on men in middle management because I’m 100% never going to be speaking in the same room as her.
Show threadEleanor SaittaMay 23, 2023
@philsherry
Yeah, there are caveats — I'd absolutely avoid it in that case, but you can always use your CTO instead if they're a white dude. :-)
Show threadsimpleMay 24, 2023
@dymaxion
What does being a white dude have to do with being able to take a joke on not having good technical skills? You think other people are not able to take a joke? And why punch anywhere (up or down, left or right) anyway?
@philsherry
Show threadEleanor SaittaMay 24, 2023
@simple
Because they've got the social privilege to do it without it reflecting on everyone else who looks like them. And shockingly, this isn't a complete guide to how to speak well in public. I'm suggesting folks punch up because a lot of folks seem like they need to punch someone in their talks, not because it's a good idea
@philsherry
Show threadJørnMay 23, 2023
@dymaxion My direct report, and the CEO in my company, are women. "he" would probably take it just fine, but would prefer I use the "she" pronoun.
Show threadEleanor SaittaMay 23, 2023
@jornane
And hey, there are more female CEOs than men named John now! Not in the tech industry, of course, just in the US in general.
Show threadRachelMay 24, 2023
@dymaxion fuck HR
Show threadEleanor SaittaMay 24, 2023
@hina_hanta
Yes and also when engineers use them as the example of the office idiot it's also still a kind of misogyny.
Show threadRachelMay 24, 2023
@dymaxion they're not idiots, they're just evil
Show threadvarx/techMay 24, 2023

@dymaxion Hmm! It's interesting that you're saying Marketing is female-coded. I don't think I have any such associations.

(Interestingly, I tend to conflate it somewhat with Sales, which I think of as male-coded.)

HR though, yes, strongly female-coded in my mind.

Show threadEleanor SaittaMay 24, 2023
@varx
Less heavily, maybe, but I think so?
Show threadunicorndeburghJul 29, 2023
@dymaxion @varx In most tech companies that I've been in, Marketing and/or Product roles are more likely to be staffed with women than the developer roles.