I work as a Technical Project Manager at Amazon.com in Seattle. I came into this career not from a technical angle, but rather had a Japanese language degree - more "liberal arts" than "institute of technology."

Two things I would advise for girls going into the high-tech field, aside from you don't necessarily need a technical degree (but it helps), are:

1. You are more competent than you think you are. One of the main differences I have noticed between men and women in the business world is that, given a task that a man and a woman of equal background have never done before, the man will be confident, certain that he can do it - "yeah, I can do that"; and the woman will be more self-deprecating about the task - "I have never done that before, but I have done similar things which make me think I can do it, and I am willing to give it a try."

These differences in styles make a manager have more confidence in the man than the woman, even though either would do the task equally. The woman prehaps better if she wasn't underestimating her abilities.

2. Women have a lot to add to a technical environment. Almost everything about a modern technical development environment requires collaboration, cooperation, and concensus -- no one person works in solitude to create or maintain software. Women are more inclined toward this type of collaborative environment, and will therefore enhance progress toward a common goal.

So, two phrases to remember are "I can" and "I can work with others." Both are important things.