Shifting attitudes towards IT careers.

• Author: Faye, Donna
• Position: Information technology

A familiar nursery rhyme tried to capture the essence of what it means to be a little girl: Sugar and spice and everything nice.

But that recipe needs to be updated for 2001 to include competence with mainframes, Web applications and URLs.

While men still largely dominate the field of information technology (IT), more women today are following career paths in IT than they did years ago.

Marjorie MacDonald, an information systems professional (ISP) is a senior systems analyst for Algonquin Automotive/Hidden Hitch in Huntsville, Ont., and when any of the company's 200 computer users need help, MacDonald is the one to call.

What does a systems analyst do?

"The question is what do I not do," MacDonald says.

Working the help desk phone line is just one of her tasks. In a company with about 200 computer users, the phone can get quite busy.

On a really good day, the help desk gets about nine calls, but on a bad day, such as the shutdown of the network for even a few minutes, MacDonald has received up to 40 calls. At least half of the problems can be solved over the phone.

There are five systems analysts, each having their own specialties. MacDonald's specialties include wiring, programming, phone and voice mail.

Several of MacDonald's high school friends now have careers in health care, a field that has traditionally attracted more women than men.

High school experiences may partly explain that trend, MacDonald says. But it wasn't what teachers said that made the difference. It was what they didn't say.

"In high school, if a girl gives up on math and sciences, no one's there to encourage them," she says.

Fortunately, math and science came easily for MacDonald. Her parents also held no stereotypes about what career paths were most appropriate for women or men.

"I've got to credit my mom and dad for never allowing us to have that attitude," MacDonald says.

MacDonald was introduced to the world of computers in Grade 4 when her school purchased VIC 20 computers.

"We couldn't do much with them, but we had fun," she says.

It seemed like an "amazing leap" when her parents bought a Commodore 64 computer.

While pursuing math and computer science degrees at the University of Waterloo, MacDonald was fortunate to find a fair number of women in the program, both as students and faculty.

"If I remember back to my classes, they were about one-third women," MacDonald says.

Despite being surrounded by men in the university program and later in the field, MacDonald...