Interview - Women in Tech

By Steve Wang

According to Claire's website she a mother of two and a professional programmer. She is the person we get the chance to interview. We want to interview her because she is a mother who is working in the tech industury and her family dynamic is not the most common dynamic in today's society. All this is closely related to women's rights which is the topic of this term.

When preparing for the interview, I wanted to learn more about the interviewee’s family dynamics and family situation because in her family, her husband stays at home while she goes out to work to support the family financially. This way of doing things is not extremely common in society today and more tradition people might look down on it. First I planned to ask about her experience raising a mentally challenged child, I thought that she would says that communication would be difficult and she would somehow blame herself for something she could not control. Following that, I planned to ask about how her family decided that her husband should stay at home to take care of their kids while she goes to work. I guessed that she brought it up and her husband agreed to the plan after some convincing because someone needed to take care of the mentally challenged child. Next, I wanted to ask about her religion, if she was a Christian before she married her husband or if she or her husband convinced the other person to take on Christianity when they got married. I thought that she was already a Christian before they got married and she convinced her husband to be a Christian too because she actively participates in Christian events. Lastly, I wanted to ask about her decision to post her children's pictures and situation online because this is potentially a security and privacy risk. My guess of her answer was that she did not think about it very much or that it is not a big issue because she has chosen to post her and her children's private information online.

When asked about the family situation, she told us that her husband stayed at home because his job was less stable than her's and their child needed special care. At first, this caused problems with their relationship but they realized that if they divorced, it would be bad for their child and their child needed 24 hour care and neither of them could do it alone. For them, one person could not earn money and take care of their child simultaniously. So, they decided to put aside their differences and work together. According to her, now, their relationship is going well. Regarding the questions about her religion, apparently, she is a big believer in Christianity her husband is not so I just guessed that she asked her husband to join her but did not force her husband to do so. Lastly, regarding posting her family's personal information online, she thinks that she did not post enough information online for this to become a safety issue. However, she says that she is aware of safety issues posting personal information online and she is being careful by not posting too much information about her family online.

The most interesting thing I learnt from Claire is that women today are still very traditional. Most women still find it unacceptable for the men to stay at home to take care for children and for the women to be the one working outside. I thought that was the way people thought 30 years ago.

In conclusion, I think she gave information about someone who has had a very interesting life so far. I found the stories that were told very interesting and would enjoy the chance to talk about some code with her next time.