Thoughts On Parenthood In The Software Industry

I have been thinking some about parenthood in the software industry, in particular, of frameworks and technologies. Men that have been the driving force behind, invented, or founded a particular technology or framework, are often referred to as “The Father Of…”.

Is this really a fair and accurate metaphor?

The father usually gets away easy with the easy part (of just bootstrapping the whole process).

While it is the mother that:

• has to carry the baby for nine months (product development)
• has to do all the labor and go through all the pain in the delivery (shipping and release) process
• usually has to do most of the maintenance

I would like to suggest switching to using the metaphor “The Mother Of…” (regardless of the sex of the subject).