Even if men statistically have larger bodies, can you correlate that to military success? Are you ignoring qualities like grit, confidence, strength, courage, strategy, and leadership which are not “male qualities”?
And interpersonal skills and communication: I’d argue these are not “female qualities”. Does your comment factor a possibility that external pressures around gender norms might create a cycle where women put more effort into these skills, thus demonstrating them more often?
I enlisted to be a mentor but found I wasn’t prepared or ready for the time commitment quite yet. The folks who reach out are often in a bootcamp or self taught and looking for a way to break into their first tech job.
> promotes really crappy "Look at me! I just learned a thing and wrote a 300 word blog doing a crappy job explaining it because I don't really get it but want to pad my CV..."
This is a broad brush, are you sure the intent is always resume padding? Some folks (like me) write poorly but I find writing tests what I know (and shows me what I don’t). I share anyway so I can be corrected and learn more, and so others might benefit if they have a similar problem. Your comment felt like shaming.
> This article is exceptional. Thank you OP.
100% agree, OP’s writing and content are examplary!
> Some folks (like me) write poorly but I find writing tests what I know (and shows me what I don’t)
That's fine, just don't have such a big ego you need to share your crap with the world unless you have something important to say. That's why when you try to google something to learn, you have to wade through pages and pages of half-baked crap: all the good stuff has been drowned out.
As someone who came into software dev without a degree and started in QA, this is correct. Some shops are setup with QA as a separate function on separate teams. If development tickles your fancy, starting on one of those QA teams may limit you.
Sharing from my anecdotal experience, if you’d prefer an environment where you can grow beyond manual testing (QA Engineer) and automated testing (SDET), look for positive cues: “QA as a role” or cross-functional teams or embedded QA within development teams. Ask for stories (examples) about a team member who made a lateral move, how leadership looks for this potential and supports the transition.
Coding Coach [1] makes this simple: folks who want to be a mentor have posted their contact details, you reach out and see if it’s a match. Do read their mentorship guidelines [2].
Pre-COVID I was running 4-5x per week, was training up to a half marathon distance. I thought having a dog would help pass the time, motivate me to keep the habit, maybe keep me safe. The dog we adopted loves running, but play sprinting is not the same as endurance running. I want to complete this mile sub-10, she wants to mark every rock and pole on the block. She’d be much happier if she could run trails with me off-leash, though she can be wonderful on walks and does make walking a daily habit.
Thank you for sharing! Hadn’t heard of Effective Altruism or 80,000 Hours before.
This takes a tangent from the article, but it surprised me “Privacy” was absent from the primary paths[1], though the inverse “Surveillance” made the list and might be related. Likewise, Facebook and Google (along with Open AI and many others) are recommended for careers[2]. One might argue that the progress these giants already have means that’s the best place for folks should plug in and have an impact. I’m skeptical that centralizing all our efforts into giants that seem to run on ad revenue will continue to have good outcomes for humanity.
Even if men statistically have larger bodies, can you correlate that to military success? Are you ignoring qualities like grit, confidence, strength, courage, strategy, and leadership which are not “male qualities”?
And interpersonal skills and communication: I’d argue these are not “female qualities”. Does your comment factor a possibility that external pressures around gender norms might create a cycle where women put more effort into these skills, thus demonstrating them more often?