I never wanted to be called a “webmistress”. But in the beginning of my career, when few women worked the web, this is what the label often was.
Men were, of course, webmasters. And if you happened to enter an online club in those days, sometimes they called themselves, “Stallion”.
Thirty Years – Toodles
I began the process of going into partial retirement and recently announced it on Facebook. Although my consulting business closed 4 years ago, I kept a dozen or so website clients who are friends. One by one they are finding someone to replace me.
The process has been an emotional one for me and them. It had to be done so that I can focus on my work for my employer and miraculously have a life when I log off. Before I stepped into my new less hectic life, I archived and documented my 30 year history because nobody will remember what I did, including me.
I’m writing because a discussion in LinkedIn triggered a memory from the 90’s. I started out in 1995 by teaching myself how to make web sites. I learned HTML and nested tables from listserv’s and clubs, DejaNews and dark online caves with men who had amazing tolerance for the single mom trying not to lose her apartment and live in her car.
In 1996 I was hired to build websites and do their SEO, which I did because I loved it and had those caves to go to for help. But it didn’t matter how good I was because I was told the following:
“website work should only be $5 an hour”
“HTML isn’t programming”
When I asked for a raise, I was let go and replaced by the office manager.
Four years later, he and I managed to find ourselves working for a famous-at-the-time .com, assigned to the same UX design team until someone figured out what I sucked at and where I rocked. I was still a single mom, but now I owned a car and had a place to live for myself and kids.
Some peope like AI because they say it makes their jobs easier. I learned the human way, in digital hiding places where people had nicknames that hid genders and ages, and problems were opportunities to explore, create with and make better things.
I think I was worth more than $5.
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