2003-03-27 9:49 a.m.
A Unicorn Sighting
I used to think there were two kinds of sysadmins, at least in terms of how they think about women.
The first kind of admin think that women (and gays, and possibly others) have no business having root access. These are incredibly annoying, since they're incapable of believing that anything technical coming out of a woman's mouth might be accurate, especially if it contradicts something they've just said or done. Thankfully, they seem to be rare around here and/or stay out of my way.
The second kind think of the technical world as a meritocracy. It doesn't matter what other characteristics you bring to the table -- gender, sexual orientation, race -- either you rate or you don't. Some of these require a burning-in period where your competence is yet to be proved, but since they do that to everyone, it's no big deal, and once you're in you're in. Others of this type like to see women get a shot in an equal playing ground, and also appreciate how it really ticks off admins of kind #1.
I met the third kind yesterday, as I was coming out of the colo area into the lobby. The night guard (who had apparently heard that a bigwannabe.com employee was in the colo, but nothing more than that) and an admin from another company both gawped at me like I had two heads. They couldn't have been more astonished if a unicorn had come trotting into the lobby with a card key hung around its neck. Clearly the admin hadn't really formed an opinion of female sysadmins, possibly because he'd never seen one.
As I signed out, the other admin and I broke the ice with a little shop talk. I thought, he seems genial enough. He'd probably make a good coworker if I broke him in properly.
And on that note I hoofed it out the door.