Concept is solid. If you want to be taken seriously as a developer, make a splash as a developer; expecting attention for being a girl is counterproductive.
Execution needs work. Running girldeveloper.com does not immediately communicate to me that this is someone whose identity is invested in being a developer. Otherwise it'd be HaskellRocks.com or something.
It's interesting that she thinks more women need to succeed for other women. Why can't women just succeed for themselves? Have the passion and drive to create -- for themselves? Why does it need to be for someone else?
I reckon few men think to themselves, "I need to be successful to be an inspiration to other men. To show other men that men can succeed at this."
I'm guessing you're a straight white male. Imagine how different you'd feel, be perceived and interact at a sports bar almost only by White people versus night club almost exclusively attended by Black people.
It's uncomfortable to be in the extreme minority. That's one reason why many small liberal arts colleges actively pursue Black students, they know that a small minority population will further hamper recruitment efforts.
A lot of hackers go through the experience of being in a minority(1), the only difference is that it's not illegal to pick on the geeky kids hanging out in the labs.
The constant attempts in this community to segregate it into small groups of aggrieved protagonists drives me nuts sometimes. The mentality of us against us seems even dumber than the mentality of us against them. Better to just get on with building things.
(1) No more self selected than being gay, albeit easier to hide than being black.
I'm sorry but being of a minority race is completely different than being bullied because you're a nerd. It's amusing to me though that people on YC have upvoted this view so much. For some reason I'm getting the feeling that there are a lot of white nerds on YC and not many minorities and women.
"Better to just get on with building things."
I perceive a religious undertone from this. Racism and sexism can be solved by the PG/"Hacker" mentality "building something".
I agree. Being in the extreme minority means that you'll draw a lot of attention. That's great if you are an attention-seeker, but developers are often the precise opposite.
Certainly disagree with this gold-digging sentiment, but if she's looking for someone who still needs to file a W2, she's not aiming very high. Those with real income are rarely employees, or if they are, receive virtually no "wages" (cf. Steve Jobs' $1/year salary: http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/4-26-2005-69111.asp )
I think this rings true, not only for women, but all software developers. I think too many people in software become too focused on arguing the best way of doing things that they never actually accomplish anything of real value.
"correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't see anywhere on that site that she is doing a startup. Sounds like she could use her own advice."
Well I understood her as saying "Instead of whining about how there aren't more women in software, let us(women) get out there and build something".
She doesn't have to create a startup for that to be a point worth thinking about. (If it were, only soldiers could decide whether and where and how long to fight).
Execution needs work. Running girldeveloper.com does not immediately communicate to me that this is someone whose identity is invested in being a developer. Otherwise it'd be HaskellRocks.com or something.