Re: Pulling my hair out

[MegaZone <megazone -at- BIGWPI -dot- WPI -dot- EDU>]

re_allen -at- pnl -dot- gov (Robert E. Allen) shaped the electrons to say:
>A fair portion of my time is spent editing things written by
>engineers and scientists.  Usually they appreciate the help
>and quickly admit their lack of writing skills.

ARG!  Engineers cannot write!

I say this as almost every last one of my friends is an engineer and I
started out as an MEA.  But got sidetracked and got out with two degrees -
in TW and HU.  WPI stressed project work, and I invariably ended up heavily
editing, or just trashing and rewriting, my partners' work.  Most of the time
the knew what they were talking about, and said it effectively, just very
awkardly.  Lots of single syllable words when one larger, more concise word
would have sufficed.

>this scenario has only occured with male authors.  Don't
>know if it's a testosterone thing or not.

Well, during my brief stint at the WPI writing resource center, I had one
woman who seemed to have an ego problem.  I got the feeling she didn't like
taking advice from a male, since she wasn't as stubborn with one of the
female students who worked there.  At least not from what I saw.  And there
were some guys who were very open to suggestions, some to the point that I
was worried about them becomming dependant on the center.

I also worked for a year at the WPI Help Desk, and in general (how many
flames am I going to get for this?) it was much nicer to help a woman than
a man.  Because most guys seem to think not knowing something is a sign of
weakness or something, or the fact that you know more than them is a threat
to their ego.  So they blame the machine, try to tell you how to do your
job, get angry and yell when you tell them they have indeed lost their file
and next time keep a backup.

Whereas woman generally admit that they don't understand whatever the problem
at hand is and *listen* to you when you tell them how to fix it.  And they
don't try to tell you that you're wrong, or how to do things.  I also noticed
less repeat visits/calls from women, they seemed to learn from their mistakes
more readily.

I also noticed a different attitude.  When things didn't work men get all
pissed off and try to force it to work, while women get worried or upset
and either give up or seek help.  I never heard 'oh, it isn't important,
forget it (when it was important and I knew it)' from a guy.

I think in the long run the women will be better off because they don't try
to fight the machine.

Of course, this is just one persons impressions from time at a technically
oriented college, and a few years worth of world experience.

--
megazone -at- wpi -dot- wpi -dot- edu   megazone -at- world -dot- std -dot- com   megazone -at- hotblack -dot- gweep -dot- net
"I have one prejudice, and that is against stupidity. Use your mind, think!"
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