What If We Could Alter the Perception of the “Software Developer”?
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Pre-Conference Notes
Abstract
Why are women of Computer Science still reluctant to become developers? How can we influence the perception of a Software Developer to be positive?
This session will raise awareness that a stigma still exists, but in many environments is unfounded. Wouldn’t it be great if we could start to change what a women imagines when she thinks “Software Developer”?
About the Author
Miss Anne Simmons is a Senior Consultant Developer at ThoughtWorks Inc, a Global IT Software Consultancy. She joined ThoughtWorks three years ago as a graduate developer in the UK and has been helping clients all over the world create top quality software using Agile Software Development Techniques. Anne is passionate about creating well functioning teams that produce quality results. She firmly believes that women have a huge amount to contribute to a development team and doesn’t want the stereotypical view of what it means to be a developer to keep women away.
Session Notes
Presentation Slides
Anne J Simmons: Presentation Slides
Notes taken by Molly Bartlet
Anne's Speech (11-11-11)
We're here today to address 'What if we could change the perception of 'The Software Dev? The stereotype is putting people off of picking software dev as a career option.
Talk about it. Acknowledge it. But it doesn't have to be the stereotype - so I want to educate you and leave you with a different impression. For the devs, I want you to share your story and brainstorm about what gives people that impression in the first place. I'm going to talk about my experiences for the first 15 minutes.
Why is this important? Last year was my 1st GH. I couldn't count the amount of girls that were in CS, but when I asked what they wanted to be it wasn't a dev. The usual answer was they didn't fancy what their job entailed. They would be in a basement, a corner, surrounded by people who don't wash. The job can be like that in some companies, but there are jobs that are not the stereotype.
What is the stereotype? What are some characteristics? Male. White dude. Introvert. Really awkward. What came to my mind - unsociable, arrogant, loner, badly dressed, unwashed. This is the first image when I googled the stereotype. I'm not gonna lie - some of these traits are true. Some of the devs I work with are arrogant, but they are also brilliant people.
There are traits I prefer. What would you prefer? Creative. Smart. Funny. Rich. Craftspeople. Broad interests. Problem solvers. Female. (Words from Anne's slides they didn't say) Sociable. Fun. Inventive.
This is computer engineer Barbie. Matel had a survey about what the next Barbie should be and this came out at the top of the survey. Or actually are we more like this? This is a Flickr group for what a computer scientist looks like. They are a diverse group of people, lots of people are doing other things they care about (skiing, running, etc.). Also I like the 'Picture me in computing' thing..
Where did the stereotype come from? A lot of them you don't know where they came from - they must have come from somewhere. It was hard for me to picture who had put this in my head. Movies like Revenge of the Nerd (even though the nerds won..) doesn't help our case (you don't want to grow up thinking you'll be the nerds). [Matrix slide comments] This is an article from Cosmo in 19xx. This article talks about how originally computing was the industry women went into. This used to be the stereotype, but now that has changed.
How is the stereotype changing? Even this year, girls are coming up to me at GH girls are saying they want to be developers. I think that Hollywood & the media are also helping portray devs in a different way. This is Garcia from Criminal Minds (and she doesn't look like that guy), Auggie from Covert AFfairs - he's also a very different kind of person (versus the stereotype). They (characters) are still nerdy, but in a different way. Digital Heroin, companies like (Google, Groupon, Twitter, FB) with developers as founders are changing the way we think about it. Earlier we didn't think devs could start large companies that we use every day. Books & magazines too - last month's Vogue had an article about Rachel Stern (the digital officer of all of NYC).
This is my team environment (of my current team). On the top left, you can see our team space. We sit at one long table, pair program, it's super collaborative, finding bugs together, talking about the problem together. We have story walls, it's bright and colorful. Also, the customer is sitting right with us. This is very near and dear to me, three years ago I was graduating and didn't want to be a developer. I believed my people and communication skills weren't needed in a developer role. It was only when I met ThoughtWorks, when I met real developers I realized they are charismatic, fun, they love their job. It's not just about coding, it's about making people's lives better. I wanted to be able to build these things, I wanted to say 'I built that'.
So now I'd like to hear your experiences. For those of you that are devs- please come and share your story. Maybe tell me if you had that initial impression, what changed your mind, what can we do to change that stereotype and when should someone have told you that to make you go into development?
- For me - I was a PM for 2 years because I thought I wasn't a good enough programmer to be a developer. I hadn't written a line of code until my first JAVA class. One interview the guy interviewing me didn't look at me for the whole 45 minutes. I got more frustrated with the PM job, because I wasn't solving coding problems. So I sucked it up to do the technical interviews (she was scared). I got offers from Google and Amazon. I definitely had the perception I wasn't good enough. When I was at Amazon, I was having fun in the interview. It was interesting (the interview). So if you think you weren't good enough, if you were programming in school you're definitely good enough.
Anne-
- So I got the best e-mail from a girl at a workshop to help girls prep for tech interviews. it said 'i just want you to know I don't want to be a PM'. I usually talk to girls that say, 'I have great communication skills'. I am told I have great communication skills, I said 'that's because I'm surrounded by engineers'. I thought a lot of people thought I was an idiot, did an internship but thought I was ok being an engineer for starting out. But no one is as good as the nerdy, arrogant white guys think they are. [talk about white guys not getting hired at Google]. I spent a year as an 'international hobo' - skiing, traveling, teaching CS. But I had kids that also didn't think they were good enough. One kid started crying... Now I work at Google and I love my job, my job lately is to be the glue between two teams. My communication is valued, but that is not my job. I love our users, I code to help and improve our users. I work on tablet, for 'the human's friend'. It's totally not what I thought would be anything in university. When I was in school I was underestimating myself. I compared my opinion of me to their opinion of themselves.
- I'm not a software dev, but I teach them. All the problems here we also has in Brazil. What I see in my students, I see 2 types. Those who think they are and those who actually are. Those who think they are smart and those who are smart. As a faculty, I try to treat them as well as I can. I try to show them, what we do in school is what is in real life - e.g. if they go to the real world with that attitude they won't be able to make it. We need to teach them that attitude is not right (thinking they are smarter than they are). There are so many guys, at some point during college I found myself acting like one of them. I changed my behavior and it's very hard. I had to let them know 'I'm not one of the guys and I don't want to be treated as one of the guys'. That changed my impression, at least that part [attitude] of being one of the guys. I started being myself, getting the respect I wanted and deserved. I think that's the hardest part for the girls in college - to get respect and know that sometimes they are even smarter than the guys. We have abilities they don't, because the brain is wired differently (it's scientifically proven).
Anne - it's not just a gender thing. There are supportive guys out there, that want to help women in engineering. The more of us that are not the stereotype, the more of us that talk about that it could help.
- I've been working in the industry since 1997, teaching before that. I knew I wanted to be a dev even before writing my first program. I always knew I had done well on tests, logic. I took a FORTRAN class to convert temperature (F-C). It was this real feeling of power, control, success. As a dev you get instant feedback and I like that. It's a very creative act. I talk a lot, send a lot of e-mails, write a lot of code. To change the stereotype, I think we just have to be who we are. But I think we could be more visible. Volunteer, go to summer camps at your alma mater. The great way to break the stereotype is to be a counter example. Those of you who are in school - if you like it, you will like being a developer (and it is really fun).
- I was going to echo what was said earlier. I did a testing and PM internship, but I still felt I wanted to try development. ... It's about how you solve problems, and about your interpersonal skills. I think if you do a lot of interviews, it's easy to figure out what you want in a company. It's not like in school where a professor is going to grade every line of code. It's not like the golden answer is already out there. Just don't be intimidated.
Anne - Yes, that's true. Be yourself. A company that is bringing in entry level developers. We want aptitude, to be yourselves, ability to learn. Don't feel like you have to know everything already. Go to a company that values your attitude and your aptitude.
- I came up here after interviews that made me cry. But I got the job, took the job. But the experience I had was what the interview impression I got. I wouldn't take it back. A lot of the traditional technical training you get are from people that aren't in the industry. ... Once I found a way to get enthusiastic about technical topics, then I could talk to them. I'm on my fourth job (out of 5 years), reflecting on all of my experience you can discover all the pain is very important. One of the things I learned is - if I didn't have fun in the interview, I don't want to work for that company. During my first interview, a guy kept asking me questions that I said I didn't know the technology originally. It's important to prepare people for what technical interviews are like. I have friends that send their resumes to me. People still limit their resumes to one page - don't do that, people look at your skills. The things I wanted to mention about the industry - the stereotypes do fall away. New systems emerge, people are still jerks, you'll get stressed out, there are new stresses/joys. In my current workplace, I am the gamer and the young one. I thought I wouldn't be the young one anymore, after five years. I like being the gamer on the team, it's really funny. We are going to buy a gaming system, but no one knows video games. It changes, you'll meet nerds who are wonderful in ways you didn't expect. I don't want to live in a world of perfect geeky people.
- The reason I'm in this talk is something I talked to yesterday. I went to meet a lady I had only talked to on the phone / email. She builds bicycles. I told her I build software, she said 'oh really, but you don't look like a software developer'? ... I think how I fight the stereotype. I say this is my way of being a software developer, a women.
- I'm a Microsoft engineer. I didn't have an experience like any of you here. I started school in Bulgaria, doing math. As far as I could tell there was no stereotype. So it didn't occur to me there was a stereotype. I acted like there wasn't a stereotype, and my classmates also acted that way. During the interview process at Microsoft I had a lot of fun (at an internship). About the time, during the internship, I realized there was a stereotype - I was surrounded by men. We try to hire more women, when we can. I love my team, my job and I've never been prejudiced against. I think the biggest problem is we start the stereotype early. I think if we act like there is not stereotype or act against it, then we can help fight it.
- I was terrified work would be the same way. I thought I did terrible interviewing for my first job. Two weeks in I still thought, 'why did they hire me'? My boss said I was competing against a guy who had been programming for a long time. But my boss said ... [social skills are important, etc]
- I have so much fun with the stereotype. My name is Logan [something], but when I sign you have no idea I'm a girl. When they're looking for the person to interview, taking role they don't look for a girl. But it's so much fun. Just surprise companies, be better than they think you are. I get e-mails from professors I never met.
- A few people touched on 'feeling like an underdog'. I was pressured with dealing with that. I think we should focus on telling people that it's ok to feel like an underdog.
- I think for myself, I was really good at math & science in undergrad and high school. When it was it was time for university, I went into communications. I took Linear Algebra as an elective. Early intervention in recognizing and acknowledging skills for girls, is important. Eventually I went back after I graduated, it was such a thrill to realize I was doing something I love.
Wrap up: Some of the other things - tech meet ups - encourage girls to go to them. If you're a parent, go to schools and talk about what you do. Talk about software kids actually use, like iPads, and about the fact that people have to build them. So some of the things we have are: be more visible, volunteer, there's travel involved, it's fun, be yourself, be passionate & encourage others, it's alright to be the underdog, be confident in yourself, don't perpetuate the stereotype. Find other tech people, mentor people, take advantage of your support structure. Pick the company you want (look at the culture) if you can fit in with the company you can be happy. You get instant feedback as a dev! One of the thing TW is really into is continuous delivery.
Putting people off- if you're fun you must not be dev. How does programming translate to the real world? We create the stereotype. We didn't do well on exams, classes. Ok at coding, feels like an idiot.
Q&A
- I think what would be really awesome is if we could get more people to start taking AP CS in high school. But even starting with people in AP CS would help. In my AP CS courses, it was about 50/50. I think the courses are a lot less pressure, it doesn't bar you from taking other classes. If women start taking CS courses, they may lose time and then stress about not making a major. If people start early they may realize their passion sooner.
- When I joined SMU (Dallas), I was a TA. My professor has been teaching undergrads for about 10 years. When I was there the first day, one guy submitted his first assignment. His girlfriend was with him and he was telling her not to go into CS because CS girls not pretty, it's too hard, etc. Since I joined SMU the women enrollment is up 70%.
Blogging and Twitter Hash Tags
- TheSoftwareDev @annejsimmons @twthoughts
