HPR4537: “Elsbeth In IT: Since ’97” (Part 1) Hacker Public Radio podcast

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HPR4537: “Elsbeth in IT: Since ’97” (Part 1)

16h ago

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This show has been flagged as Explicit by the host.

A two-part conversation about what it’s really like being a woman in tech for almost three decades. Content Warning: The F word probably makes an appearance multiple times.

In this episode, Lee sits down with Elsbeth to talk about her long, winding, sometimes ridiculous, often inspiring journey through the IT industry — starting all the way back in 1997. If you’ve ever worked helpdesk, ever had a customer say “my cup holder broke” (yes, the CD tray)… or ever felt underestimated in a room full of engineers, this one’s for you.

Because we throw around some tech terms in the conversation, here are a few friendly definitions so everyone can follow along.

Terms We Mentioned (in plain English)

QA (Quality Assurance)

Think of QA as the people who try to break things on purpose so regular users don’t break them accidentally .

They test software, hardware, websites — you name it — to catch bugs before they cause chaos.

If it’s glitch-free, a QA person probably saved the day behind the scenes.

Content Moderation

This is the work of keeping the internet from turning into the Wild West.

Moderators review posts, comments, images, and videos to make sure they follow community rules and don’t harm users.

It’s a mix of tech tools and human judgment — and yes, it can get intense.

Building PCs

Where many IT careers start! Building PCs is basically grown-up Lego:

picking parts
assembling them
hoping you don’t zap anything with static electricity
praying the cable management gods smile upon you

It’s one of the most empowering skills in tech and often the first time someone realizes,

“Oh hey… I can actually do this.”

Gender Equality & Inequality

Gender equality means giving everyone the same chance to succeed — no matter who they are.

Gender inequality is what happens when that doesn’t happen.

In tech, inequality often looks like:

being talked over
being paid less
being assumed “non-technical”
having to prove yourself twice as hard
being the only woman in a room… again

Elsbeth has seen all of this firsthand since 1997 — and she’s got stories.

End-User

The end-user is simply the person who actually uses the product.

Not the engineer who built it.

Not the manager who approved it.

Not the QA who tested it.

The end-user is the human at the end of the chain who clicks the button, pushes the key, taps the app… and finds entirely new ways to break things no one expected.

Understanding them is the secret superpower of tech.

Neurodivergence

Neurodivergence means brains come in many beautiful varieties — like ADHD, autism, dyslexia, and more.

Neurodivergent people often bring incredible strengths to IT, including creativity, pattern spotting, hyperfocus, and out-of-the-box problem solving.

They can also face misunderstandings in workplaces that weren’t designed with different brains in mind — something Elsbeth talks about openly and honestly in this episode.

Provide feedback on this episode.

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