Uhm, first off, yes I realise that my first post was somehow posted twice, creating two seperate threads. I have no idea how that happened, unless I clicked the Submit button twice without thinking?? Yeah. Sorry. It certainly wasn't deliberate >.< Okay... onto my query... Basically, is gender discrimination a big issue when trying for jobs as a (game) programmer? Does anyone have any idea? Like, do you have to be amazingly outstandingly fabulous to be considered, as a female, or would you get treated pretty much the same as everyone? I know guys at school who get pretty annoyed that I, a girl, come out top in math and physics, the two 'male-orientated' subjects. I'm worried that this mild sexism could be magnified in situations of actually looking for jobs... realistically, is gender discrimination a big issue? If so, how to overcome it? Just checking out every possible problem that could come up, should I go that way as a career path, y'know ^_^ Is it a realistic aspiration to wish to go into game programming, anyway? Having never done any programming before, but wishing to take a university course (bachelor of computer science + math), and prepared to try to learn as much as possible outside of that... like, I'm going to try and get the hang of at least one language (our library has good C# books and a mysterious absense of C++ books - since I'm poor [no job] and can't afford to buy any... guess it's C# for me!!) before I even get to university. Yeah. But. Is it a realistic goal anyway? Hm. All I know is that I'm stubbornly optimistic ^_^;; ~Aquila

>Is it a realistic goal anyway?
Why wouldn't it be? Go for what you like doing - if you have
the right skills, an employer is unlikely to refuse you just
because you are a woman (if he would, he'd be stupid).

Actually last week we had a girl here at our company doing a
review of a part of our project.
I actually found it pleasant to be able to discuss our project
on a technical level with her.

I'd say go for your dreams (and ignore the jealous guys) :)

Haha, I doubt anyone would turn you down for being female. I'm not qualified to say, but it may well be the opposite. Watch your back though, there is the occasional programmer who's a bit... creepy.

Employers are not going to turn you down because you are female. If they think you will fit in and are any good, you'll get employed.

To be honest employers like to be seen as "equal opportunity" employers, so it might even be a plus that you are a woman in a male dominated field.

We have a couple of female programmers and plenty of female artists at our studio at the moment and they do their work just as well as the guys so I really dont see this is as an issue. I think it has a lot to do with your own attitude rather than anything else. If you go into the interview feeling you're not going to get the job for any reason then the interviewers will likely pick up on this and maybe take it a sign that you're not confident with your own abilities. Just be proffesional, show confidence, treat your potential employers with respect, and dont try and use your gender as leverage. Bottom line is, give yourself a fair chance and you will be given one by others.

As for it being a realistic aspiration I dont see why not. If you take a course in programming you've already got one up on me when I was applying for my first job in the industry since I was completely self tought, but I still made it proffesional. I've always been of the belief that anyone can acheive anything if they have enough drive, focus, and determination, you just have to want it enough to dedicate the time to it that it requires and not give up when things get tough.

Good luck

I say go for it: if you are the best person for the job, you'll get the job -- that said, I've seen some strange things over the last couple of years as relating to females in our Computer Science faculty...they are few and far between, but on the occasions I've worked with them, some have been really ...awkward about articulating their knowledge. I figure they fall into two categories: 1) Have a decent technical knowledge of problem domain but bad communications skills (or are embarrassed at sounding too smart??)
2) Don't know so much as they should really know about the problem domain.

However, that said, this is a general trend in my school (as far as I can see). I see more and more 'generic' and not very well schooled people coming in. I tutor some people to help them get a leg up on the competition, and it's frightening what people -don't- know :S

Moral of story: anyone can program/analyse a job but there are many levels of skill and ability -- so practice practice pratice, that's what I do. If you are as keen as you say you are, I see no reason why you wouldn't go far :)

~Shiny

Quote:Original post by Kylotan
I agree with the person above who said that if anything, it's a benefit, not a hindrance. At least in my country. Unlike many industries, game companies aren't typically run by the crusty Old Boys' Club with a patriarchal outlook; they're generally run by passionate geeks who would love to have more females in the office if they have the correct skills.

I'd like to put a minor "minus" point here. For unknown reasons, a small number of employers tend to think that having a female in an otherwise male dominated company is going to distract the other guys. Such employer can safely be considered as stupid as he don't even trust his employees, so you can move on to another place without any regret. He is just a sexist in disguise.

Regards,