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Back before I started my own company, I experienced this to different degrees. I did all of those things those of us who are female in IT do - turned the other cheek, outperformed those certain males, etc. However, once I started my own company, I was quite determined to create a culture that simply did not allow for that behavior at all. I'll admit, there does seem to be certain demographics who have a harder time than others and they have not lasted with my company. Oddly enough, I have more female than male developers now and I'm thrilled with it.
Funny (or sad?) story. I had my team interviewing a potential candidate (an Indian male). I stopped in just to say hello, ask some questions, and that was that. His answers proved he wasn't qualified for job. After he was turned down for the position, he wrote a letter to our company, saying that we needed to get rid of the explicative, explicative beotch (me), obviously not realizing I owned the company. Unbelievable really and obviously a good thing we didn't hire him! We're a bit of a small tight IT community here and even though we may be competitors, we talk. Let's just say this guy's chance of being hired anywhere in our IT community is nil. Can't say that environment would have existed 5 years ago so I do see change for the better. If these types of bullies do not shape up, they'll be unemployable anywhere.
I have surprisingly only come across bullies that are women! I don't work in IT, but alongside IT.
One boss was so horrific, she would start off our day by telling me I did something wrong. She picked apart everything! I was having a hard time in my personal life (my dad in hospice, mom just diagnosed with lung cancer and sis diagnosed with leukemia). It was pure torture. I didn't handle it well needless to say. I reported her, but as soon as HR found out she was 'too high up' within the company they dropped the complaint.
I guess I've been lucky - a female in IT for 14 years and I have only experienced bullying once. It was a man who thought he knew better than all of us because he was a SW engineer (working on products) and we were just internal IT. A male coworker and I separately had yelling matches with him....after mine (where I told him point-blank if he didn't back the F off and let me do my job I would make absolutely certain that a bug in my code miraculously overwrote his access to the network on a random pattern so he'd never really be sure if HE could do HIS job from one day to the next). He promptly reported me to my boss. My boss's only comment was "Next time, close the door before you start yelling at him." Annoying man left us alone after that...and we threw a party when he quit a few months later.
I've worked with people from all around the world, including Indians in India and in the US, and I generally have no problems. It's usually pretty clear to people that I'm no shrinking violet. I insist on respect and competence on my teams.
Software engineer at a major company here. Its definitely a cultural thing. We have a lot of cultures here that do not respect women, the vast majority of men from these cultures have Americanized and it is not a problem.....but....vast majority is not all.
We fired someone this month with a primary cause being the disrespect for women. Any guy reading this? Thinking women don't belong in tech or in management? We will fire you. Maybe you should re-evaluate your beliefs.
As for the OP, changing someones cultural beliefs is very very hard. Keep reporting issues, and eventually that issue will go away.
I just wish corporate America would stop whining about the lack of women in STEM while refusing to address the very real problem of a critical mass of foreigners from countries that do not respect women. These workers need to assimilate or leave. Period.
They're too busy blaming (native) white geeks for driving women out of the industry. Pinning anything on non-whites doesn't fit the narrative.
This is not an Indian male issue. It is a chauvinism issue. Happens across many cultures but is expressed differently. Workplace bullies, the good old boys network....
All this stuff is the same problem in different forms.
You are right about that; not all Indian men are chauvinist pigs, and not all chauvinist pigs are Indian. I just see it mainly from Indian men because of the field I'm in. Indians are definitely overrepresented in IT.
Quote:
Originally Posted by southbel
Back before I started my own company, I experienced this to different degrees. I did all of those things those of us who are female in IT do - turned the other cheek, outperformed those certain males, etc. However, once I started my own company, I was quite determined to create a culture that simply did not allow for that behavior at all. I'll admit, there does seem to be certain demographics who have a harder time than others and they have not lasted with my company. Oddly enough, I have more female than male developers now and I'm thrilled with it.
Funny (or sad?) story. I had my team interviewing a potential candidate (an Indian male). I stopped in just to say hello, ask some questions, and that was that. His answers proved he wasn't qualified for job. After he was turned down for the position, he wrote a letter to our company, saying that we needed to get rid of the explicative, explicative beotch (me), obviously not realizing I owned the company. Unbelievable really and obviously a good thing we didn't hire him! We're a bit of a small tight IT community here and even though we may be competitors, we talk. Let's just say this guy's chance of being hired anywhere in our IT community is nil. Can't say that environment would have existed 5 years ago so I do see change for the better. If these types of bullies do not shape up, they'll be unemployable anywhere.
What
The
Entire
Fudge??????????????????????????
WHAT A MORON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm glad you blackballed him. That guy needs to be on the first thing smoking back to India.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MPowering1
BigDGeek, since he was pulled into the office yesterday for a chat with the boss, how did today go?
I was going to post an update! It went MUCH better, much smoother. His attitude was a complete 180 from the other day. Almost Jekyll & Hyde-ish. He's done this before so only time will tell if the boss got through to him, but I am going to proceed as if this attitude adjustment is for real. And if it's not...I'll just talk to the boss again.
Excellent! Glad to hear you're getting a respite. May it be a long one.
Thanks! I hope so. I hope it's permanent, but...y'know how things go. Sometimes people stumble a few times, and this kind of attitude isn't easy to shake off. I'm not making excuses for the guy, I'm just trying to be realistic. I wouldn't be shocked if he relapsed but I would be disappointed.
He's not stupid and when his attitude is in the right place, he can actually be quite pleasant.
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