So after working for 38+ years in the same job I 'retired' last Oct and as part of my retirement, my employer is paying for two years of college for me. I am taking IT Management. Since I am old my start in the IT world predates certifications and the like and people got hired because they had an aptitude for it.

When I was deciding on a college discipline I figure, let's just take what I already know and get some certifications and actual training in it.

So, off I got to college. My class consists of 23 people 17 men and 6 women. Unlike me, they are all under 25 and have virtually zero experience in IT or in life for that matter.

We recently started doing networking including but not limited to subnetting, I won't bother with the details but needless to see it does involve some math unless you really know your stuff. For me it was very easy as I have been doing this for years.

Here is where I saw a huge difference in how the women in this class approached these problems and how the men did. When the men ran into issues that they didn't understand they dug into the books or the internet, when the women ran into problems they sat back and sulked about it, I wish I was kidding but everyone one of them would complain about the problem and just wait until one of the guys would come over to help them.

Is this what I can expect from the 'real world'.