Women and computing

Take a deep breath this may well be painful. I need to have a little rant...
I'm sick of being treated like shit because I'm a woman in IT. Don't get me wrong I don't think that I should get special treatment or anything like that, I just wish I existed...

I wish that I didn't always have to prove myself over and above others, just to have my knowledge used against me. I wish that it didn't matter! I don't want it to be an us or them thing. I just want to work with computers, because I LOVE it. It shouldn't matter that I'm female.

I graduated top of my class last year. All the rest of my peers were male, and all now have jobs. I don't, I haven't even had an interview. Maybe there are other factors. Perhaps I'm missing the real reason.

Yesterday I walked into a computer shop. I needed a sound card for my fathers computer. I looked around for a minute, then went and stood by the counter. The all male staff were hurrying around. I stood there.

Then a male customer entered the store, within 20 seconds he was served. So I tried more frantically to gain the attention of an attendant. Nothing...
Then two males walked in together and were served straight away, I couldn't believe it. In the end I had to say load enough for the attendants to hear. "Hello, don't I exist here."

After about a minute an attendant walked up to me and said, "Do you want something do you?" I should have walked out, but there was nowhere else to go. He continued to be arrogant the entire time I was in the store. I walked out and burst into tears. All this is really getting to me at the moment.

I don't understand. I don't think being a women takes away from my ability to work with computers. I don't think that I have less knowledge than others in my situation. I don't think I act like I know it all. I certainly don't push the fact that I'm a woman in anyones face. So why do I get treated like this?

Is this a problem just here in Launceston Tasmania?
Are there other places in Australia were women feel like this?
Are there other places in the world were people feel like this?
Or is all of this just in my head? And women get treated the same as there male counterparts.

I'm sorry I'm just fed up with being nothing and nobody, and being treated like crap doesn't help. All I want is to work in the IT industry yet no one wants to give me a chance.

Private work area

Yesterday and today I have been moving our computer room around. My partner and I both needed more privacy. It wasn't working the way that it was. So after discussing a few layouts we decided on one that would work for us both.

Now I have my own little area, pictured left. It feels very strange at the moment, like all new things do. In fact at the moment it feels so strange that it is almost like I have a new computer.

I am happy that we decided to move everything, it works much better this way. Hopefully I will feel more comfortable working here. I didn't feel right the other way. It is hard to work properly when you feel uncomfortable.

IT companies with no web presence

I'm currently looking for work in every place that I can find it. Today I decided to pro-actively write a resume for each of the IT companies around my local area, to advertise my skills, and let people know that I am available. I approached the project with excitement and eagerness. I really want a job badly, even if it only gives me some experience and lead into the IT industry.

I thought that after a couple of web searches and some hunting through the phone book I would be able to find many companies, view their websites and then work from there. Finding out what they are all about and weather or not they would be interested in someone with my skills.
However I was to find something very different...

I can't believe the number of IT businesses in my area, which do not have an on-line presence at all, nothing. Some of them don't even have an e-mail address. Others have a contact hotmail or bigpond address, and that's it. It seems amazing to me it really does. I don't understand why as a "IT/computer" company you wouldn't have a web presence.
I am still in shock this may take me some getting over.

Of the companies which do have an on-line presence, I was amazed at the quality of some of the web sites. Don't get me wrong some of them are at a Very high standard! Others I could teach a monkey to write. Worse still some of the bad ones are actually web design companies.

I think I need a break...