37%

A couple years ago I took the geek test that was going around just because I was bored at work and everyone else was doing it. There were 4 women on my team, which just happened to be part of IT b/c we were technical trainers for a proprietary software product. I have a background in web design but am not particularly geeky, especially when compared to the geeks I know. Isn't that why we keep them around? For comparison's sake?

Anyway, I knew I was different from the other women in my dept, and really from most women in general, but I never knew why - just accepted it and didn't really give it much thought. So we all take the geek test and the scores were emailed around. The women? 4, 5, 6%. The guys? 17, 20%. Me? 37%.

So I hid it for awhile but everyone was REALLY bored that week and eventually demanded to know my score. Now, I was already ostracized a bit b/c I don't wear spiky heels or underwear as outerwear, but now here was a clear division, a quantifiable difference between me and my homegirls. Plus, I outgeeked the men. I had no allies. I may as well have started wearing a Star Trek uniform to work.

One of the IT directors found out, took me aside, and confessed that his score was 8 points higher than mine, and swore me to secrecy when he saw the treatment I was getting. He started sending me instant messages with links to science fiction jokes and started bouncing ideas off me about programming our proprietary product in a different way. It felt like a freak campaign of sorts - admit your freakish nature and get a free toaster. Now, I had no programming background at all, and while I did not think of myself any differently, there is something about having people treat you differently that elicits a different thinking pattern. It's like trying a new style of clothing or haircut. So I started thinking about becoming a programmer, downloaded a free version of VB and tried to teach myself at home. I started looking at different career paths and went out to lunch more with the programmers.

Alas. Apparently my difference from the others was not based on being more right-brained or whatever the predilection is that makes people want to program computers. I was bored and overwhelmed at the same time. So I still did not know why I was different, only that I scored higher. If you analyze the geek test, you will find that if you READ a lot of or have watched a lot of science fiction, your score will automatically be higher. And you do not have to have a philosophical stance on the difference between Trekkie and Trekker to score higher, although knowing there's a difference is worth a couple points. Plus, you automatically score higher if you are female! How empirically sound is that?

I eventually left that job, although not b/c of peer pressure or other ostracizing techniques. I just got a better job. Geekier. Whew.

Check out the geek test- in fact, send your scores and I'll post them:
http://www.innergeek.us/geek-test.html