I've just scanned several of the postings, but I wanted to get my thoughts out first and then go back through and read fully. From my experience and from the experience of some of my colleagues, the consensus would be that women shouldn't act like men. The reason why? Women get it all wrong. It should be that women should act like themselves, as a person and not a gender. And I'm not saying this because I'm being idealistic ot have my head in the sky. I'm sating it in a practical sense. Not all women in IT or in the working world in general don't try to act like men.

The question should be "Should women lie, cheat, and be fake to get ahead?". This is what men do as well. To make the question a gender question downplays the entire argument.It amazes me that some women feel and think that they have to act like men to get ahead. It assumes that all men act alike when it comes to getting ahead in a job, and it's simply not true. And what's really interesting to me is that some women do the same things as some men do-lie,cheat, pretend to be something they aren't (knowledgeable, experienced, etc), etc, but do it to a much extensive degree and are more dramatic about it. And more often than not, it's at the expense of a co-worker/colleague who isn't like them.

What's so amazing is that these women pull the ruse off. They are totally believable to the people above them; But, to the people below the,. so transparent. Toni, for you and the other women who may read this article, here's a secret. It's just as hard for some men to be able to make it up the ladder as well. YES!!!! It is so true. For most men, when they climn the ladder, they want to go all the way/ For most women, they only want to go to a certain upper rung...and stop. While men and women approach the ladder different, there is one thing they both have in common: they will try their best to keep anyone else from coming up along with them or to go higher than they are. While some men do this in a very directly obvious way, women are more directly or indirectly coy. The ol smoking mirror routine and misdirection.

I read the entire comment that Toni referenced in the last paragraph of the article. I agree with it, as I agree with a couple of those comments that say the same thing. But Toni, because you intentionally did not want to face the fire, to me it downplays your entire article and the question you asked. It begs to ask to why you would even write the article in the first place? It's like giving women a free pass to not really get into the meat of the question.