Megan Jones

Worst guided meditation ever

Reviewed: 07-11-20

The narrator was fine, but the background noise was not. It was okay for the first 3 minutes or so, then the background sound got louder and more intense. It is like a plane engine and nails on a chalkboard had a grating, horrifying baby. Increased my tension tenfold. I couldn't even finish it and never will.

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Super helpful, but I'm not the intended audience

Reviewed: 06-28-18

Halfway through listening to this book I texted my friend that it felt like I got accidentally let into a boy's club meeting I am not supposed to be at. Don't get me wrong-- I loved this book. It was really helpful, I learned a ton, and it was definitely worth the listen. The extra materials you get access to are also definitely worth it. However...

As a woman who is pursuing a career in software development, I felt as though I am not an intended audience for this book at all and women are an afterthought (and a chapter put in at the end of the production cycle because an editor said something about it). It's primary, intended audience is male software developers, which makes sense because there are more men in the field, but I felt like just a few little things would have made it better and more equitable that don't involve a special segregated chapter with a disclaimer.

For example, at one point he compares trying to get a job to harassing a woman at a bar who has no interest in you and encourages the reader to not take no for an answer. He said that companies, like that woman, actually want you to succeed in picking them up. Now having been a woman harassed at a bar who really just wanted to be left alone (for real- not playing hard to get here), this is a horrible metaphor. I agree that you shouldn't give up on your first rejection when it comes to a job or something like that. But take no for an answer if a woman (or anyone) turns down your romantic or sexual advances. Not taking no for an answer in a potentially romantic or sexual scenario violates consent and is really not okay. Respect women's boundaries. And beyond that, women are not prizes to be won or earned or gained like a job. We are people, and I think most of us would appreciate not being compared to some kind of advancement prize or career gain. I almost quit listening after that, but I didn't.

There's also a section on how to dress for a software development job where he goes into detail about what you should wear, makes a side comment about not trusting women to tell you if your outfit is good for the job or not, and pretty much neglects women entirely. The supplemental materials connected to that chapter have checklists for men's fashion for work and there isn't a corresponding one for women or even an acknowledgment that he knows it's missing and he isn't qualified to speak on it, which is totally fair - I wouldn't go to him for fashion advice anyway- but an acknowledgement that it's missing wouldn't send the message that only men are software developers.
There's also a chapter on women in tech, which was ok I guess, but it felt like an afterthought. I don't expect him to write about that or even devote that much attention to it necessarily, but it felt a little forced.
Now all that said, I listened to the whole thing and read a lot of the supplemental materials. I decided to take the whole sitting in on a boy's club meeting I'm not supposed to be at feeling and use it as practice for when I'm inevitably in that situation in real life in my future career. I still highly recommend the book, but know what you're getting into.

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