Office Windows, Field Trips, and Women

[Names changed...]

Kate, the lady in charge of advertising downstairs, was nice enough to give me an opportunity to get out of my closet-of-an-office for a little while and tag along on a business meeting with a web development company. (This is a big treat for a college student who’s not used to being crammed in a stuffy little office all day, and who prefers free-range roaming on campus instead.)

This was my first experience with a business meeting outside our company, so it was really interesting to observe how things went down, the process, the etiquette (although I admit that the atmosphere during the meeting was considerably lighter than the atmosphere at work..), etc. It also convinced me that maybe I should take a few business classes or try and attend a few more business meetings to get a hang of this smooth business-talking style, because I, like so many other pseudo-programmers/programmers/nerds, am not adept at speaking formally..

Anyway, the building was absolutely gorgeous..(though any building with lots of open space inside might seem considerably more attractive when you’re used to a closet). Kate agreed with me, and we just awed..

“Whoa, you guys have windows…huge windows..”

What is it about lots of office buildings not having windows anyway? Is it because it’s distracting? Easier to work when you lose track of time and get into the “zone”?

Anyway, Kate told me that she didn’t notice any women on the company’s list of employees, and sure enough, I didn’t see any when we were given a tour around the office. There aren’t too many women where I work either–just the secretaries, Kate, and two other women. You’d think I’d be used to this by now after having taken computer science classes for 2-3 years (I’m counting high school too), but it still made me a little sad to see it in the real world.

Lately, I’ve been talking to some people about potential projects after I’m finished with this navigation bar (and boy, am I looking forward to that), including some Flash animation, actual website building (not just web-based applications), and Java programming, and I’m getting really excited to work on new stuff. Just this cursed navigation bar in the way… (never again, never again!!)