Caterina Fake on hard-working women
Yesterday Caterina Fake posted a commentary on Misbehaving.net about the effort women need to make to succeed in high-tech [Work Twice as Hard].
I am sure high-tech executive women need to work really hard to get were they are. But I also see a lot of (really talented) women working twice as hard just to survive. Going against the current is not very rewarding: you swim like a crazy woman just to remain in the same place.
Not to mention that in addition to the work our beloved companies force that upon us, we have often to struggle with the voices in our head. I do work a lot (well, some days more than others), but I am also so conflicted about it that it feels even harder. I work so much more that I would like to do or that I consider healthy. And sometimes I find myself still in the office at 8:30 PM and I realize that even if I worked for 24 more hours straight I wouldn’t be able to scrape more than the surface of the pile of things to do.
If I just had been so thoughtful
Today I had lunch with Amber, a Business System Analyst who works as a contractor for my company. I met her at PhillyCHI, the local chapter of the ACM Computer-Human Interactions special interest group. She is such a smart wise young woman. I am in total awe of young people who are thoughtful and deliberate in their career choices. In comparison, my professional history resembles the random path of a disoriented fly (including repeated crashes against the light bulb and related first degree burns).
The entire PhillyCHI group is impressive. Really smart, passionate young people. It’s nice to have a local group like this. Hey, we are not in San Francisco or New York, but we are still extremely cool.
The myth of infinite flexibility
Fast Company has dedicated his latest issue to the importance of dealing with change in the workplace [Change or Die]. Very timely topic, and useful tips, given my excruciating need for a job change right now.
Thinking about this made me also reflect on the corporate myth of infinite flexibility of the workforce. Several examples of people ruined by new “opportunities” or promotions crossed my mind; people misplaced from the job they loved and they did with satisfaction and pride to a job they neither loved nor did well. For example, I thought of the guy who works in my cafeteria. Let’s call him Mark. Mark used to cook and serve food and he did it with a passion. He loved cooking food and feeding people and was able to add some nice specials to the daily boring and never-changing menu of the cafeteria. One day, some people left the job or were moved and Mark was given the “opportunity” to step up as manager and work at the cash register. He took his job seriously. I watched while he struggled to learn how to use the impossibly unusable cash register, while infinite lines of impatient corporate employees waited to pay. I could see his creative juices getting dry, his soul withering a little bit every day. Keeping him away from the kitchen was unusual and cruel punishment. Not only for him, but also for us customers, now having to deal with the boring and fairly bad daily selection of prepackaged food as well as with long lines at the cash register. Fortunately, this story has a happy ending (at least for now). Mark is back to the kitchen, the yummy specials are back, and we don’t have to wait too long in line to pay. He shines again, promoting with pride his new specials (don’t miss his Mexican dishes) and running up and down behind the counter.
Was Mark unable to change to accommodate to new work conditions? Or, rather, was it bad management, arrogant and unable to understand strengths and weaknesses of its employees? Why this blind drive to move people that are good in their job and happy to be there? And yet, I see it everyday, and the results are often catastrophic. The infinite flexibility of the workforce is just myth, and it can be very dangerous.
My Internet life today
I spent a lot of time working on this site (the container, not the content) today. I am playing with the Semiologic theme for WordPress that Denis De Bernardy has created and updates pretty much daily. I find it fantastic and I highly recommend it. Denis is really good — and extremely gracious — in helping with the implementation of his theme, and in fixing any issues that might arise (in my case, mostly due to my clumsiness). The theme has the most amazing flexibility and it’s easy to customize and update.
I read some more women’s blogs; Burningbird on the debate on women, men, blogs, technology, and the value of linking (Shelley is very funny); Pause on women in business, especially when they go solo (Jory’s experiences and reactions are so similar to mine it’s almost scary). I love reading these blogs. I can see that I am not the only one with issues. If you have more suggestions on good women’s blogs please leave me a comment.
Jory has also an article on the May issue of FastCompany [I am Woman (I think)] about men and women’s values in business, and which ones are more successfull.
Men are pigs. So why try to emulate them in business? Women — and their companies — are much better off when they’re true to themselves.
Eddie is the best
I visited Eddie’s site today and found that he listed my site among his “I really like these peole” list of links. But he did much more. He added this comment:
Antonella is one of my favorite people I know. She’s also one of the smartest.
Hey, if this is not support I don’t what is. Thank you, Eddie, I love you back. Eddie is one of the nicest, supportive, and creative people I know. Here it is. You deserve it, Eddie.
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