[j-nsp] MX304 - Edge Router

[Mark Tinka]

On 10/25/23 21:02, Richard McGovern via juniper-nsp wrote:

> I tried to get my daughter (now Sr at Uni) to look at this field. Her response was, “I don’t want to do anything like what you do” 😩

At the risk of derailing this thread, one item that is generally 
programmed into an agenda of your favourite NOG conference is "Women In 
Tech". For over 10 years, the agenda has always been the same... why 
aren't there more women in our field, what can we do about it, and what 
is the experience of those few women that are in the field?

After 10 years, I finally asked the question at a recent meeting earlier 
this year - could it be that we may be ignoring and/or underestimating 
the value and power of personal choice and interest?

While there are some women who enjoy engineering, and some men who enjoy 
nursing, most women don't enjoy engineering, and most men don't enjoy 
nursing. I think we would move much farther ahead if we accepted this, 
and stopped trying to force-feed people stuff that does not interest 
them. That way, we give a real chance to those that are interested and 
make sure we don't risk people's future by placing them in subjects and 
fields where they will not be able to compete fairly with those who 
really want to be there.

If you look at the data, on average, 70% of new enrollments at 
university are women, and 60% of all graduands are women. And yet, 90% 
of all STEM students are men, while 80% of all psychology students are 
women. Perhaps there is a clue in there :-)...

Mark.