People are afraid of being placed in a situation that's totally alien to them. It's not as alien -- it's not as big a deal for you to go through an art gallery and chat up yuppies as it is for her to go through a convention center being gawked at by nerds.
After my girlfriend and I had been going out for six months or so -- this was five or six years ago -- I got her a laptop and a wacom pad. She was a painter -- she'd never touched photoshop, illustrator, corel or anything. I tried to teach her how to use them. She got so frustrated, at one point she held the laptop out a window and threatened to throw it down six stories. But she's amazing with it now -- she's actually one of the highest-paid, most in-demand freelance illustrator/designers I know. I knew she had the skill.
But to this day when I talk about getting her to sit down and see something of the code I write, she gets a look on her face that I know not to mess with. I'd love to walk her through what I do, but I know she understands as much as she needs to, and it's not compatible with the way she thinks. It doesn't do anything for her. That's alright.
My point? It's easier for us to go back into their world than it is for them to understand ours.
After my girlfriend and I had been going out for six months or so -- this was five or six years ago -- I got her a laptop and a wacom pad. She was a painter -- she'd never touched photoshop, illustrator, corel or anything. I tried to teach her how to use them. She got so frustrated, at one point she held the laptop out a window and threatened to throw it down six stories. But she's amazing with it now -- she's actually one of the highest-paid, most in-demand freelance illustrator/designers I know. I knew she had the skill.
But to this day when I talk about getting her to sit down and see something of the code I write, she gets a look on her face that I know not to mess with. I'd love to walk her through what I do, but I know she understands as much as she needs to, and it's not compatible with the way she thinks. It doesn't do anything for her. That's alright.
My point? It's easier for us to go back into their world than it is for them to understand ours.