Wednesday, 25 March 2009

IT Demographics: Finger Length, Gender and IT


There’s an awful lot more male software developers than women. It’s a truth so self-evident that it would take some-one of delusional levels of political correctness to deny it. Therefore counting the number of ladies of a coding persuasion in your office will lead to blinding obvious results i.e. there ain’t that many. However counting the number of man brains in your office may well be of more importance to the nascent science of IT demographics.

Logic would dictate that if you’re a man then it’s a man brain for you and visa versa for women. Not so Horiatio. A significant minority of men have lady brains and the converse for women.

You will be gladdened to know that there is no need for radical surgery to identify a man brain. A none-invasive technique is available. Simply look at a person’s hand and measure the relative lengths of their forefinger and their ring finger (nearest to the little finger).


  • If the ring finger is bigger than the forefinger – you are a proud owner of a man brain.

  • If the ring finger is shorter than the forefinger – then you are well endowed with a fashionable ladies’ brain.

So get out there and do it. Seize the hands of all the coders in your office and get measuring. I won’t sully the scientific endeavour by speculating on the result however I wouldn’t be surprised if coders of either gender orientation excel at tasks such as reading maps and putting together flat pack furniture.

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