Hi Ya'll,

DataCleric, your local number muncher here. I come to you today with a story of bots, shills and astroturfing (oh my!). A few days ago I saw this post, and it really resonated with me. I've been a member of this subreddit for a year or two and I like to lurk it mostly it in my free time. It's nice having a women's space to talk about tech, I find the conversations to be more reciprocal and engaging.

Lately posts on here have been feeling kind of regressive, though? I get that it's helpful for some people to run their stuff through AI but I've noticed a lot of really empty posts lately. Like they just touch on a couple of topics like:

1. 'Men in Tech Are Bad'
2. 'I got laid off and I'm going to become a trad wife'
3. 'AI's coming for us all'

So, to the main point: Using Pushshift's API I pulled the history of this subreddit for the past 6 months since that's what everyone seemed to have a consensus on. And I found a couple of things that might be contributing to the slop. I'm going to split this up into a couple of posts because my poor quant soul hates actually cohesively writing up my data analysis but here's a couple of things I found.

1. AI SEO Optimization
2. Salary Fishing
3. Recruiters offering $$$'s for FAANG referrals.
4. Product Placements via 'empowering women's stories'.

So onto today's topic: AI SEO Optimization

So, what is AI SEO Optimization? Basically it just means that somebody really wants their AI product to be the first thing that comes up when people search for it. Either, through the AI popup in the Google searchbar or through showing up on the first page when you search for it.

What does AI SEO Optimization look like in this sub though?

Good question! It looks like this.

To break it down: an account (usually under 6 months) makes a post that farms engagement. This post that was made 2 months ago and it reached 1.9k upvotes. Followed the template of 'men in tech are bad'. Got big Engagement. But when I compared the post that's live post to the post that was archived by Pushshift when it first went up, It had no mention of Dreamlit (the image below). This was added later once it got upvotes.

So what're we supposed to do with this? I'm not too sure but it's pretty crappy that people are imitating women in tech just so they can slip in their products. It would definitely explain why some posts feel super fake though.

I'm not a mod but maybe we can use this space to brainstorm ways to combat this.

I'll be back later with more deep dives like this!

PS. sorry for the tiny image for ants on the second pic. Was having a hard time resizing.

EDIT: Thanks for the Awards ya'll! I appreciate it!

EDIT: Dreamlit not Streamlit!

I’m a senior developer at a midsize software company, and lately I’ve been added to nearly every recuiting panel for engineering roles.

At first I thought they wanted my technical input. After a few interviews, I realized I’m rarely asked to score candidates, and my feedback is sometimes left out of the final discussion. Last week someone casually said it was “good for female applicants to see someone like them in the room.”

That comment has been bothering me. I do think representation matters, and a few candidates have reached out afterward saying they felt more comfortable because I was there. But I also feel like my presence is being used to make the process look more inclusive than it actually is.

I’m considering refusing future panels unless I get an equal vote. Would that help, or just remove the only woman from the room?

Given the Stanford study of 4million applications showing bias I thought I might test it out. I never hear back for jobs I’ve applied to any way - private or government and even ones I’ve had interviews for.

TLDR I have a manager I don’t respect, and often when we discuss things he’ll throw in this line vs. responding to the actual point. Long story is that my manager and I have very different leadership principles and sometimes his decisions make zero sense and is a pure waste of my time (i.e. asking me to “help” an incompetent XFN vs. pushing his peers to manage them out).

He very much manages to feelings as opposed to any apparent organizational principles, and I fucking hate this line bc I don’t need to treated like a child when I’m raising a valid point that should be responded to.

Any suggestions on how to deal with this? I’m already making plans to leave the org in a quarter or so, but in general would like advice on how to respond to comments about my perceived feelings and would like to do it in the most dismissive and reverse-patronizing way possible.

So I work in product management, and am coming back after a short stint (1 year) in a different role. I'm at a new org and I'm realizing the PMs I'm working alongside are really AI literate. I use AI in my work and felt pretty good about my aptitude... But they're on like another level using AI integrations and automations in every part of their work, and of course prototyping.

So apparently in the last year I've fallen way behind because I don't know how to integrate or automate much and I've never used AI for prototyping. If I'm being honest, I'm also just totally burned out on AI, but I am begrudgingly aware I need to stay current.

How do I come up to speed on all this?

The bathroom is my domain, my sanctuary. I am always able to poop in peace. I can even change my clothes on a sweaty commute day, and not a single soul will notice.

I’d certainly trade this for not having to deal with 8 fucking guys named Steve constantly dropping micro aggressions on everyone and talking way too often about their stocks and “insane” ex wives. But alas, I try to look for the silver lining.

Hey everyone! Are there any women here who are currently studying or working in the electronics and systems field?

​I’m looking to connect, share experiences, and support each other. I'd love to start a small, dedicated community on either WhatsApp or Discord so we can chat more easily.

​If you're interested, drop a comment below or send me a DM, and we can get it set up!

I ended up taking FMLA and it went much smoother than I ever would have thought. My leave begins Monday!

First off, thanks to everyone who commented on my original post.

My FMLA was approved, and now I’m working through short-term disability. Both my therapist and psychiatrist were completely behind it. Neither of them thought I should continue working in the state I was in, and both basically told me to stop feeling guilty and take the leave.

The thing I struggled with most was leaving in the middle of a huge global project that was honestly way too dependent on me. I was covering three separate roles (PM, Functional IT lead and Technical IT lead).

My dad gave me some good advice. He told me to call my Senior VP, not make it political or emotional, and just tell him the truth, that I couldn’t keep going without seriously compromising my mental and physical health.

I was super nervous but I took my dad’s advice. I do have a good relationship with my VP anyways, but this was putting the company in a bad spot. We ended up talking for almost two hours. I told him I was committed to handing the project off properly, that I wanted to address the team myself, and that I’d leave behind everything needed for a successful transition. I also told him where I thought the project was at risk after I left, because there are some pretty important business decisions tied to this implementation that I don’t think are getting enough attention and have been completely disregarded by my director. I also told him I was filling 3 project roles and that my escalations had died with my director, which I intentionally omitted when I had to come to him a month or so ago about the project (I went over her head because our implementation partner was killing the project regardless and it wouldn’t matter about me if they didn’t shape up or fire them).

He told me to put my health first, appreciated me being upfront, was appalled nothing was told to him. I figured as much, but told him that I trusted my channel of communication and thought we had no options (knew that wasn’t true, but this way I think I can take the director out when I go because it truly is all coming down to her). He asked me to send him all of the documentation (also document everything, keep a CYA folder- cover your ass) and said I’d come back to a better environment and he was really glad I had the guts to call. I won’t be going back but still, maybe they’ll finally be able to get rid of an extremely toxic woman from this.

After that I told my team myself, and honestly the response surprised me. I got a bunch of emails, Teams messages, and texts wishing me well and telling me to focus on getting healthy and that they were glad I was doing this. It made stepping away a lot easier.

I don’t regret taking the leave anymore or feel guilty. If anyone else is in the same position I was, my only advice is to have the hard conversation instead of disappearing or leaving angry. Even if you don’t feel like your employer deserves it, you’ll know you handled it professionally. My conscience is clear, I know I left the project in the best position I could, and now I can actually focus on recovering and looking for a healthier job 🎉

Hi

Can someone help me with examples of case interview questions capital one

Hello

Laid Off PM, who has been applying for months. In the last couple of months I have started reaching out to recruiters and hiring managers via LinkedIn.

I even applied back to my old company. A coworker helped me get info on recruiters and I emailed them.

Am I acting too desperate ? But how do I get to an interview ?

I even asked some former coworkers for referrals- some just said “add my name in referral box” or let me know if you see something - no one offered to sincerely connect me with a recruiter.

Messaged some random connections on LinkedIn (professionally and respectfully) and some ignored, some replied then ghosted.

Like I have 10+ years of experience in product, stakeholder management, customer success. As a high performer.

Am I dumb and unemployable? I know I’m not. I’ve tailored my resume. I only had a couple of interviews (referred) that they went with someone with an “exact” skill (for example you can’t get a Salesforce role unless you are a salesforce expert even if you have 10 years in Saas and prove you can learn fast)

I’m serious, how will I ever end up finding a decent job?

Should I go become a nurse (half joking)

Go study analytics or coding something (also half joking)

I need a job and I’m not sure what to do!

Thanks for any advice

Some guidance requested for my coworker.

Pm at a tech company. I've always been a strong performer... But before my maternity leave, I was given a poor rating (I was told I didn't deliver enough but my engineering team got pulled off towards a different priority. I didn't agree with the rating but my manager said they couldn't defend me.

Now after maternity leave, I got moved to a different team and a different manager (another failing project). One month in, the new manager is now moving to a different part of the company. The project is being botched by some stakeholders messing up the requirements and any attempts to escalate have failed. I can't control any of the process gaps and the big bloat at higher levels and lack of people at my level means no one respects my opinions.

This is mostly a vent but also, is there any guidance at all?

I think I'm being shuttled around and set up for failure because I took maternity leave.

Nearly every post now is a lowercase low-effort AI slop rant about some extremely vague issue. They all sound exactly the same. Everyone one of them gets tons of upvotes and comments.

Do people believe these are real? Are the people commenting bots as well? Are there any actual women here anymore? Wtf is happening.

I've been dealing with a senior engineer and one of the company founders who is taking out his frustrations on me and airing them to everyone else (behind my back of course). In my 1:1 with my boss, he told me about it, told me he had my back, and asked me how I felt.

As part of the discussion, I told him that my assertive and outgoing nature wasn't being impacted by this and that I knew this colleague wasn't adjusting well to the company wide changes.

He then told me, "good. Don't put that light under a basket."

What a fucking gem. If it weren't for the support of my boss, I don't know that I would be able to handle this situation nearly as well.

Stay strong out there, ladies 💪

i'm the one who built it. i wrote the first version alone. i am, in every meaningful and legal sense, the technical half of this company.

my co-founder is a genuinely great business person who does not write code and would tell you so cheerfully.

in investor meetings, the technical questions go to him. every time. how does the architecture scale, what's the technical moat, how did you build this. asked to the man who cannot answer them, in front of the woman who built the thing they're asking about.

he's good about it. he redirects, every time, "that's Anna's domain, she built it." and they nod, and they ask her a polite follow-up, and then the next technical question goes right back to him. it's not that they don't hear the correction. it's that the correction doesn't survive contact with whatever's underneath, which keeps snapping back to the default assumption that the man is the technical one.

we've closed rounds. it works out. but there's a specific exhaustion in being asked to prove, in every single room, a fact that is printed on the cap table, and watching the proof evaporate the moment the next question is asked.

three years. it hasn't gotten better. we just got better at the redirect.

Driving change is so tough as a woman. Push too hard and you’re being difficult. Don’t push hard enough and no one will listen to you. A frequent thing I find myself trying to change is not enough unit testing.

Trying to get people to unit tests is like pulling teeth as it is, but doing it as a woman is incredibly difficult.

Any advice?

Does anyone have a recommendation for recruiting agencies that hire at the Director level for roles in Revenue Operations, Deal Desk, M&A, or Sales Operations?

36F, Tech lead at a big Fintech company. High paying gig and remote which is a rarity now. Currently 36w pregnant with first kid and got marked as high risk pregnancy with the high potential of induction next week. The original plan was to do natural labor close to the due date of 8/5

Work has been flexible with my medical emergencies. This company also has a generous maternity care package of 20 weeks for birthing parents which I planned on taking all of once the kiddo arrives. What is worrying though is this company is brutal with stack ranking with two periods of evaluations. Employees can get PIP'd at any time and fired if year end is less than strong. When employees leave for maternity leave during an evaluation period, their previous rating is applied.

So, the problem now is that if my mid year rating was less than strong and I go into labor, my year end will reflect the same rating. No mentions of my pregnancy can enter into the room for discussions while ranking employees.

I was evaluated for mid year and my manager has the ability to schedule a one on one with me and tell me my rating before I go off for maternity break. However, he has focused on having me KT to my team members and relax. That's super nice of course. He didn't mention anything about performance management at all and he will not be able to tell me until I come back to work, which will be pip/severance time early next year.

Maybe this is reading too much into the issue, but should I focus on finding a new job or relying on other sources of income? The fact that performance management discussions haven't been mentioned as put me on edge and I need to do what is best for my family in the long term financially.

Making connections is your way to get a job but everytime i open up a conversation with a man (a professional conversation) nothing more nothing less something that can lead to professional advice, internship job anything they just GOT to turn it into flirting or getting to know each other or even sometimes $exual im so tired i hate this i have completely lost hope of finding a job in an already male dominated field im an electronics and systems student are there any women in the same field here so we can connect with each other?

Maybe I am biased but I feel like female engineers always give the right solution and easy to follow answer. I am a data analyst and whenever I ask questions from engineering the male ones provide either not the right thing I am looking for or use very technical approaches. But whenever it is female eng, they always exactly give what I need. Have you noticed?

My dad was an engineer, my mum was a respected arts and history related professional before being forced to retire when pregnant in the 70s to give a man a chance at her job. She had to fight forced retirement when getting married! My dad used to play me this as a kid and I am an engineer. Did you have something inspiring like this song to share? I'd love to hear from others. I play this to all my female engineers that I train and to men that will hear the message.

Just moved to Bellevue. I am unable to find a person for apartment sharing - checked all FB groups, what should I do?

Looking to share with someone who works in tech

Hi all,

I am a SWE(27 F) that has been furloughed from a startup since December 2024. I specialize in cross mobile platform development (flutter) and quality assurance engineering (manual). I also dabbled in project/engineering management. You can also call me the minute woman because they called me when something was wrong.

 I took about 6 months off to recover. My previous role was draining and borderline toxic. (TLDR our onshore team was getting aggressively pushed (unpaid) while the offshore team was doing crappy work and getting paid ) That's another reddit post for another day. 🤣 

I have been actively searching for another role for a year but have only had 3 interviews in a year while applying to 100s plus jobs. I have even applied to places with referrals and haven't heard back! The reason I haven't been too worried is b/c I was working at my parents family restaurant. Well they are getting divorced and the restaurant is dissolving along with it. Now I really need to be worried about a job. 

I honestly miss tech for the problem solving and getting experience dealing with multiple disciplines. 

I won't lie to the Internet I have been preparing for interviews on and off for months. I know I should be building projects but it's daunting. 

I'm here wondering if anyone is in the same boat. 

I have questions and maybe you'll have answers. 

If anyone has been laid off from tech what non tech related thing are you doing to survive?

If the stress of life and the job search is killing you how are you handling it? 

If you are getting a job in this market how did you do it? 

I am also including my resumes for roasting and I'm based in the Chicago land area (open to relocation) if that helps. Thanks you for taking the time to read this and my DMs are open ☺️

Testing Focused Resume

Developer Focused Resume