Dan Kim

I was just pragmatic about it. A STEM degree opens doors, and I could easily read novels and draw on my own time (and take a couple optional humanity courses along the way).

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I decided on CS since I hated working in a lab with real physical materials ... ... and, well, I wanted to make video games. Actually, I wrote as much in my application and set it to the tune of "Modern Major General".

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But you gotta decide, anon -- what kind of life do you want to live? What really matters to you? What is most important in life? Really, deep down? Really, really confront yourself. You may not find answers (who does?) but a general landscape might emerge from your investigation -- possible futures you might want to inhabit. From there, you can figure out what tools and provisions you might need in your backpack for the journey - the kind of education you need, the people you need in your life, what to cut out, what to keep. Doesn't mean you won't change your mind along the way, but you can at least operate with a plan, map, agenda, etc.

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... Well, I'm sure that's so general as to be perfectly obvious and perfectly useless, but there it is. Sorry I can't say more than that, anon. You're your own master, so to some extent you're just on your own.

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It's sausage city over here, m8. That bottom picture might be every woman even tangentially related to development in a campus of 3000+. My teams have been >90% men, and walking around the building it looks like that pretty much everywhere.

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The exception is HR, which is like 90% women.

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I'm honestly not sure it's a "problem". There's a very robust and generous internal transfer and training program, and literally anyone can switch tracks and go from dev to producer or HR to design, or whatever. Since HR is run by women, you can be sure it's not men preventing transfers. And there's nothing keeping women from rising to the top -- heck, Jade Raymond WAS the top. But still, the proportions stand as they do. In fact (just from anecdotal evidence) it looks like having easy ways to switch streams and follow their passions can lead women /out/ of development. My HR contact used to be in development but decided she hated it (not surprising -- watching the sausage get made really drives people out. Heck, it drove ME out). And my producer used to be an animator, but she decided she liked managing people more. So what do you want to do? Force people to work jobs they don't want to do and make 'em miserable? Roll out the phony-baloney false consciousness arguments and tell folks that their innermost passions are really just the spooky actions of the patriarchy at a distance... and tell them to change careers based on /that/?

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Anyway, all that aside, Ubisoft definitely has a super progressive vibe. The company and its employees give plenty of donations to try and get young girls making games and there are special parties, soirees, and conferences celebrating women in games, indie game meetings that specifically cater to women, outreach programs, bring your daughter to work day, daycare, 100% flexible hours, etc. And of course everyone just accepts that a woman developer is just a developer. No one cares. I see male and female coworkers playing Triforce Heroes together at lunch and smoking together outside. Heck, some even marry each other. There is no culture of hostility. The company has absolutely bent over backwards and then some to make sure everyone is well cared for, supported, made comfortable, and welcomed. I'm sure PC Principal himself would give 'em a thumbs up. I don't know what else they could possibly do to get more women into the development side besides somehow forcing them into the career path.

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Seriously, anyone still complaining just needs to download that free copy of Unity/Unreal/Game Maker and be the change they want to see. There is literally nothing holding you back and nothing but ladders, legs up, big bags of money, and open arms ahead of you. I'm sure Ubi would love to have you.

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Well. It's not like I really care about this stuff anymore, honestly. 2D 4 laifu

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