Post by TimberWolf762 on Feb 20, 2005 0:15:51 GMT -5
The standard stereotype of the computer geek is - well, he looks just like Bill Gates. Skinny little wimp with glasses, possessing the social adeptness of axle grease, can’t get a date . . . you know the type. (Yes, I do know Gates is married. Of course he is. He’s worth ninety zillion dollars or something like that. The Elephant Man could get married if he had that kind of money! Mick Jagger got married to Jerri Hall with not nearly that much money and he’s butt-ass ugly! But did Gates ever have a date before he had the money? And how long until Ms. Gates divorces him and becomes – voila - the richest woman in the U.S.?)
Or there’s the small, auxillary stereotype of the computer nerd, the little Indian/Oriental guy with the thick accent.
But that’s changing. I have been in the computer industry for over 15 years, network and database administration, and I don’t fit the stereotype. Tattoos, scars from barroom brawls, big muscles, deep familiarity with weapons, and a tour in the Marine Corps kind of take me out of the mold. I know other computer guys that are programmers by day so they can be bikers on their free time. Unix system admins whose idea of a good afternoon is shooting empty beer cans with their AK-47s. Networking guys that weightlift at lunch and view beating up people in bars and pool halls as a normal part of Saturday night. And speaking of tattoos, as I look around at all of the other departments – sales and marketing, administration, operations, human resources, accounting, etc. – guess which group overwhelmingly has the most body ink and piercings? Yeah, the computer guys and girls. Lots of times, the girls more so than the guys.
Part of the reason for it is that the stereotype is just that, a stereotype. It applies to some members of the group but not all. It used to apply a lot better than it does now. But as computers are becoming more pervasive, a more hetergenous group is moving into dealing with them. Put it this way, if the choice is between making $30k a year as an auto mechanic or $60k a year as a network administrator, which do you go for?
Not that money is the sole arbitor, but the two professions are actually rather similar. Swap a carburetor out, swap memory chips out. Throw in a bigger cam, throw in a faster CPU. Drag-race a car off a stoplight, blast through a game with a fast computer. OK, the fast car is a lot more fun than a damned game. But it is a lot more trouble and expense to maintain. The good thing is that, with the higher pay for network administration, you can actually afford to have a race car. A Lotus Notes consultant I know has a 600 cubic inch, drag race-only 1970 El Camino. He can afford it.
I don’t know where the pencil-necked geeks have gone. Sure, there may be one or two around, but not much more than that. The Indians and the Orientals are there, as always, but not the geeks. Maybe the biker/ programmers and the network toughs are beating them up and telling them not to be seen around there any more.
Or there’s the small, auxillary stereotype of the computer nerd, the little Indian/Oriental guy with the thick accent.
But that’s changing. I have been in the computer industry for over 15 years, network and database administration, and I don’t fit the stereotype. Tattoos, scars from barroom brawls, big muscles, deep familiarity with weapons, and a tour in the Marine Corps kind of take me out of the mold. I know other computer guys that are programmers by day so they can be bikers on their free time. Unix system admins whose idea of a good afternoon is shooting empty beer cans with their AK-47s. Networking guys that weightlift at lunch and view beating up people in bars and pool halls as a normal part of Saturday night. And speaking of tattoos, as I look around at all of the other departments – sales and marketing, administration, operations, human resources, accounting, etc. – guess which group overwhelmingly has the most body ink and piercings? Yeah, the computer guys and girls. Lots of times, the girls more so than the guys.
Part of the reason for it is that the stereotype is just that, a stereotype. It applies to some members of the group but not all. It used to apply a lot better than it does now. But as computers are becoming more pervasive, a more hetergenous group is moving into dealing with them. Put it this way, if the choice is between making $30k a year as an auto mechanic or $60k a year as a network administrator, which do you go for?
Not that money is the sole arbitor, but the two professions are actually rather similar. Swap a carburetor out, swap memory chips out. Throw in a bigger cam, throw in a faster CPU. Drag-race a car off a stoplight, blast through a game with a fast computer. OK, the fast car is a lot more fun than a damned game. But it is a lot more trouble and expense to maintain. The good thing is that, with the higher pay for network administration, you can actually afford to have a race car. A Lotus Notes consultant I know has a 600 cubic inch, drag race-only 1970 El Camino. He can afford it.
I don’t know where the pencil-necked geeks have gone. Sure, there may be one or two around, but not much more than that. The Indians and the Orientals are there, as always, but not the geeks. Maybe the biker/ programmers and the network toughs are beating them up and telling them not to be seen around there any more.
