Had a computer in my room. Didn’t become a Woman Developer | Hacker News Reader

Had a computer in my room. Didn’t become a Woman Developer

code.likeagirl.io

1 pointDinahDavis5 comments

This article made me wonder whether the same thing can be said of people of every gender, not just women. I mean, I wasn't particularly good at maths as a kid and thought programming was just something I'd never understand. It was only after creating websites and messing around with CMS systems as part of a hobby that I realised it was a field I could actually work in.

How many people of both genders are in this exact situation?

> I never considered tech as a possible career choice. I was always bad at maths and since my teachers didn’t care, I simply gave up and chose to pursue a literary education.

Web development and programming in general was never exactly a 'suggested' career choice when I was in school or university.

Women may be more affected by this, but I suspect the general issue here (not thinking you can become a developer, having no guidance towards it as a career path, etc) may affect people of all genders and backgrounds.

Nobody told you that you can become a developer?

No woman role models? Ada Lovelace, Rear Admiral Grace Hopper to name two.

Nobody told them they could do it, they worked on computers before feminism etc.

You can do it if you have the confidence, willpower, and don't get upset over making a mistake and learn from it.

Don't forget about the incredible women who helped the Apollo missions happen:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-story-of-nasa...

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That said, I want to respond to the line about being poor at maths. I wasn't. I was a 90th percentile student in the sciences as well. But my teachers made it terribly boring, and I was from a very small town where there were little to no resources to reach out to out of interest. Our library had a computer, though. And my mom had an old 286 -- I think that changed everything. Once the internet arrived out there it was my window to a larger world that television certainly couldn't provide. (outside of literature, of course. And I wound up studying literature... yet here I am currently employed as a programmer because of 20 years of personal interest)

Well I am sad to hear your teachers made it boring for you. Mine did too but I found a way to make it fun when I learned how formulas worked and was able to teach myself BASIC on a Commodore 64 and make video games , etc.

I'm not sure why my parent post was voted down. I've been trying to get more people to learn programming even women and minorities.

I tried to teach my son, but he isn't interested and would rather work on cars. So one has to have an interest and passion for learning programming as well.

I am glad you finally learned and worked for 20 years or so. Good for you!

Oh I haven't been working in it for 20 years, I've just been doing it out of interest from a young age.

It's only been the past few years I've been working in the field.

Outside of most tech fields, or people who like 'nerds' for their supposed money computers and work involving them in any technical fashion still has a stigma attached to it.

I think you're right that one has to have formed an interest, but sometimes that takes an introduction into what's possible and when you have some know how -- the amazing mutability of these very powerful machines is a lot like a car in ways.

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