"People are especially attuned to the beliefs and behavior of powerful others in their environment"
- Muenks et al., 2020: "Does my professor think my ability can change? Students' perceptions of their STEM professors' mindset beliefs predict their psychological vulnerability, engagement, and performance in class"
Pretty much once a week I think about the software guy I encountered who scoffed "you can't learn anything about engineers from research in classrooms." Whenever I learn from research that started in classrooms and think through the theories that no one is studying with engineers but that maps on more than anything else
Just because nobody is funding the right research here doesn't mean it's not possible here. It is possible here. It is absolutely possible to build from the foundation of these types of studies, adapt them appropriately for the context of what developers experience, and test them in the context of real technology work experience
The fact that we've mostly refined these theories in the service of helping marginalized learners and women in STEM probably is a huge blocker to their transference even though this IS the cutting edge, it's treated as mushy service work. It's incredibly hard to get interventions to be successful in these domains and with these groups under such systemic threat and then when you do it (e.g. in education) you just get ignored
I was consulting once on a very large STEM focused campus with a program in a computer science department. I had done a big lit review to advise them on interventions to lift student retention. The best evidence, the most impressive effectiveness, is from programs that succeed with marginalized learners (of course! Because it's so hard they fail unless they're the best).
The high up admin I was talking about research with was massively concerned if it would "work for everyone"
Now it's not a bad question to be asked, interventions do have to work for everyone, but the fact that you can prove it seven thousand ways backward and forward gets exhausting when you're always having to fight the implication that these theories are somehow LESS applicable because they are in such challenging circumstances
Now, developers constantly tell me: "oh you don't understand, we're judged for performance, we're afraid of being fired" like I haven't worked with students who....
...were in constant fear for their own survival. Like I wasn't one of those students myself. Obviously we don't have all the answers and we need more but it would be nice if things could be put a little bit in perspective once in a while.
Like you in your job, I do have compassion for your stress, but you are NOT the ONLY PERSON in the entire world who has EVER experienced stress about evaluation! Maybe we know some things that help!
