“Bring anybody!” they said about the WIT luncheon held at the PASS conference yesterday.

“There’s a dearth of young women entering the field of technology,” they cried.

So I took the opportunity to invite my own daughter, who is soon, very soon, to graduate from college with a degree in computer science. I figured it would be a place for her to network, get to know other women in the field, gain some insight into what obstacles she might encounter, get advice on how to get her first job after college, etc.

We got to the door and she was denied access to the luncheon. I protested, and another person was consulted (neither one of these guards were actually members of the PASS organization, I am sure) and she was again rebuffed, rejected, turned away, denied entrance. And I? I was seething with anger and frustration. My co-worker the data architect had attended the morning spotlight session, where it was affirmed that “anyone” could attend the luncheon. The guards apparently concluded that only “anyone” who had paid a couple of thousand dollars to attend the conference qualified. I figured I would get nowhere arguing with them, so we turned around and left. We went out to a very nice lunch and talked amongst ourselves about why young women aren’t entering the field.

The conference continues to be a goldmine of information about, um, information. But I won’t bore you with the details.

Colette stockinette continues while my brain remains engaged in mulling over the insights of the week.