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Home > Archive > IT career women > April 2002 > The Only Female
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| ciscofreak 2002-03-06, 3:46 pm |
| I am the only female in my CCNA class. Any tips on how to deal w/ these guys?
ciscofreak  | |
| cross36 2002-03-06, 3:53 pm |
| Read ahead 1 or 2 chapters and stomp them in any of there questions.
Look to different sites for all sorts of question pools for your CCNA class.
Also use the CiscoPress book as your best study guide. | |
| Nicole 2002-03-06, 6:57 pm |
| Are they giving you any specific trouble, or do you just feel uncomfortable?
LOL, Cross. How sad, but true... be better than the boys for them to accept you as an equal?  | |
| cross36 2002-03-06, 7:25 pm |
| I'm not promoting violence. Only humor.
When you want a challenge, you prepare yourself to be the best. Not the second best.
So ATTTAACCKKK!!!
LOL all play in here. | |
| Drummer 2002-03-06, 8:27 pm |
| I'm a trainer and I've noticed that most classes have at least one female. I would say the main things are don't get intimidated, they know as much or as little as you do or may even know less than you do. Don't be afraid to speak up and/or ask questions. There are no dumb questions, as the cliche goes. And perhaps most importantly, have a sense of humor. If it's a blatently sexist environment you don't have to put up with it but when you have a situation with mostly guys you are going to get a lot of guy talk. It seems that the women who can laugh right along with them do well. | |
| ciscofreak 2002-03-07, 3:19 pm |
| Thanks for all the advice. It was really helpful.  | |
| bluejay53 2002-03-10, 10:23 pm |
| Taking Net+
The first thing the instructor (I didn't know he was the instructor at the time) said when he walked into the door and saw the group of us standing there was, "oh, no, they did it to me again - only one female"
I replied, "did you think it was just to slight you?" He said, statistically, it seems that there is only one female per class, and he wondered why (was it a representative of the population statistics). I said perhaps it was due to the level of interest - that in this area percentage-wise, there were less females interested in IT topics.
They've come to accept me, and tease me just as much as each other, sometimes a little differently, as I'm usually the one carrying all the research and Internet links, etc., that can help them too.
The only reason I wish they did not accept me so much is that perhaps they would cut back on the "f" word and other remarks best reserved for non-female company. | |
| GalaxyGal 2002-03-12, 3:37 pm |
| Bluejay-So true!
I always kept the best notes and records and in the long run I won their trust and am still their "coordinator" for our get togethers. If they need something they contact me first, if they can't get a hold of each other they ask me to.
So when I have a problem if I have many 'guys' I can ask for help even on short notice to help me lug computers home. Whenever they get rid of old equipment at work, I take them home to build!
Which we try to have at least 2 a year.
The language is rough and the only thing you can do is pretend they said otherwise. | |
| limsam 2002-03-13, 7:56 pm |
| My wish to be in a class where I am the only male!!
(Note: My wife does not read this forum) | |
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| when i started at the school i am currently attending there was only 1 girl in my class
as we moved on to the mcse classes another girl joined the class... in my current class both of those girls have disappeared... i wouldnt mind seeing more girls in the class, i realize that it can be intimidating being the only girl in the class, the 1st girl in my class was very quiet and went home for lunch every day, if you think the guys in your class have something against you it could be all in your head, there may be a few that do but i wouldnt worry about them because they are narrowminded, if you are interested in fitting in start up a converstation im sure people will talk to you... | |
| Salvage 2002-03-21, 12:42 pm |
| Hi, I suggest u never look your best. Why?
Cause then and only then would they give u space to study. After all the fees u paid, u really need to pass. | |
| msmoonbeam 2002-03-21, 3:48 pm |
| I too am the only female in my class--for the third class in a row. The guys are nice to me, but I miss having another female around. I always wonder if the guys think I am weird or something for wanting to learn stuff that most other females are not interested in. | |
| nnoble 2002-03-22, 5:20 pm |
| I was the only woman in my MCSE,A+ course and the biggest thing is to not let their opinions and ideas affect your progress. What they think does not define who you are. What you think does!
That is like everything in life, we can not break it down to male female because it is human to human and ultimately it is your thought process that will dictate how you do in life. Don't let other people pigeon hole in to believing something you are not. | |
| tailgate 2002-03-23, 12:50 am |
| My advice to you is not to let them see that
you are intimidated.Earn their respect by reading ahead and comming to class confident and prepared. | |
| CatLady 2002-03-24, 2:30 am |
| When I started at Western Electric, eons ago, I was the only woman installing Central Office Equipment and pulling cable...I just tried to remember that when typewriters first came out, only men could use them because "women don't know how to run machines"........ | |
| magika 2002-04-01, 1:52 am |
| there's still a lot of male stereotypes out there.
i was the only female systems engineer when i first joined my company which happens to be a japanese mnc. On the first day at work they gave me that look and asked if i was in the wrong department by mistake. Sometimes people say hurtful things about women in IT but we just have to take it with a pinch of salt, improve ourselves and let our skills do the talking.  | |
| bluejay53 2002-04-01, 8:33 am |
| I do realize it doesn't matter what gender you are, it is just other people's perception.
However, if you let their perception dictate how you behave - you are the one losing.
I believe they have accepted me as part of the class - they always look to me for notes and research - which is why I started to create a web site based on the N+ objectives, with answers to each objective and links according to chapter. It may not be interested to any of you, but if you wish to peruse it (and give me lots of comments - either negative or positive), please feel free to do so.
It is located at coleslaw11.tripod.com/netweb/
Thank you all for your comments. I may not be in the IT field yet, and my work experience in that section may not last long, but any amount of experience will act as another stepping stone. | |
| dearvien 2002-04-14, 1:54 am |
| Oh my do I know how you feel! When I was taking a Cisco course at first I had a male teacher (later moved onto a woman teacher) and about 30 guys and I was the only woman. It was really bad. They didn't think I could do anything, so when it came to the part of the course where we did the router simulations, they wouldn't let me on! We only had five routers, so only five people could do it at a time. The guys, NEVER let me in! It made me so mad! Then one day the teacher put us into two groups to troubleshoot a router, and when the guys couldn't figure it out, I stepped in and said "I know what the problem is. So, if you will move out of my way I will show it to you!" And in about 5 minutes, I had everything up and running perfectly! They couldn't believe it! I didn't have a problem with them after that at all.
So, my suggestion to you is just tell them that you know what you are doing and stand up for yourself! I wish I had done that from the beginning. Don't worry about their ego's or anything, just get in there and show them how it's done!!!
Also, check out:
http://www.networkdesigner.net
100% FREE IT certification Practice Exams, Forums, and Study Guides
Erin | |
| bluejay53 2002-04-14, 9:03 am |
| Thanks, Erin
There are often time when I really feel that I don't know what I'm doing.
Because, the IT world is not where my present job is, and the remainder of the class already works in that field, even in a small degree, there are many aspects of the course that are very unfamiliar to me.
They have been very nice, for the most part. Of course, they like to find things to tease me about (even if it is only a forgotten password or something simple), but they accept me for who I am. I believe, this is partly because the teacher accepts me, and actually listens when I say something (or ask questions).
I think, if I had a different teacher, things may be different in the class. This one is concerned that we learn, and that we are ready to pass the course. This course gives us credits at the university, as well as preparing for the Net+ Exam (which is elsewhere). | |
| darthw 2002-04-14, 7:31 pm |
| Keep in mind BlueJay, there are many times all techs feel like they don't know what they are doing. Some just choose to be real about it, and others will focus their attention on another techs perceived lack of abilities.
I've been doing this for over four years, and I still mistype passwords, unplug computers (then go to power it on five minutes later and can't figure out why it won't boot), occasionally make a bad PC run worse. And so does any other tech out there (although some may do these things less often than I seem to.)
IT work is a combination of skills. Some of us are better with the customer service "soft skills", others are hardware gurus, and others know a little about a lot. I know some techs that can find a solution for the hard stuff "shootin' from the hip", but I have to ponder and research before I'll jump into a solution to a difficult problem. However, both styles get the job done.
Just always keep learning. It will give you the edge, particularly as the years proceed. | |
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| margieg14 2002-04-22, 6:05 pm |
| Hi! I haven't posted before.
I am one of 3 females in a class of 15. The accecptance is going well, better than I thought it would.
I have experienced the "F" word thing. It was not once - which doesn't bother me - but over and over and loudly.
I actually talked to the instructor. I had not set out to do so but it seemed like the right thing at the time. It worked out very well. I have not heard any of it again.
It is very unprofessional behavior and would not be tolerated in a public work place.
Margie |
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