Y Combinator: female programmers answer sensitive questions
We (Y Combinator) gathered a group of female engineers with years of experience to try and conduct a joint experiment called “Ask a Female Engineer”.
- If you wanted to start learning programming at school, but changed your mind because you felt that you were treated unfriendly, unfriendly (or you were dissuaded for another reason), would you have alternatives?
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I will answer according to my own experience and the experience of my children. I took a couple of electives in high school programming, it was back in the early 1980s. We wrote on APL (Oh, yes!) And BASIC. I chose them because my brother, a few years before, had also selected them and brought various materials home. Then I was 10 years old, and I thought “Cool!” I quickly realized that I was good at working out. My husband and I are both software developers, so we demanded from our three children to go through the same school and take at least one programming class (half-year class). We told them that they did not have to love this item or did not have to be Kurt in it, but they most likely have a genetic predisposition to it. And so far two of the three in CS-related areas. The third is a freshman now and enjoys programming.
Our daughter took a semiannual C ++ course, then AP CS, and was on the high school programming team (she was the only girl). None of her classmates at school took a programming class or a similar direction. They all took additional classes of physics, mathematics, chemistry, and the like; they believed that they would be good in any natural sciences, but not in technical sciences. One of her friends chose the Python introductory class last spring (one of the first courses) at the insistence of my daughter. This girl understood that she not only likes programming, but also gives it to her easily and perfectly. Now she is trying to get a CS minor qualification in her liberal arts college. If she only tried to start early ...
In recent years, there have been many active debates about women in technical professions. Sometimes they could be unpleasant, if only by the fact that not everyone who wanted to speak out, felt comfortable in discussions, often overly polarized. We want to try to create a place where readers will feel comfortable by participating in the discussions of women in the technical industry, and also female programmers will be able to openly discuss their experience.
In order to start the project, we asked Y Combinator employees to send in their questions, and received many more letters than we could have expected. We selected three of the submitted questions for this publication. In order to make the discussion of sensitive and frank all the more active, we preserved the anonymity of all the participants, giving them fictitious names.
In fact, I recommend that women interested in computer science go to study at universities in Australia, education is affordable and of high quality. You can get an excellent job in the field of development both after graduating from university in Australia, and even while studying there. It is important to remember that each country is different in its cultural norms. Work in different countries really open your eyes to this.
I would like someone from my family to offer me programming when I was still a teenager. But this did not happen, and I did not have the opportunity to try and understand that I like it. And programming, of course, was not something that my friends were doing or what they were discussing, so the development was simply not on my radar until I went to college.
- On your usual day, how do you feel yourself as a female engineer? Can you tell how you feel or what you do to feel or feel like that?
Differently, it depends on many factors. When I work in a team or company where there are other women programmers, it’s easier for me to feel just a developer. But the fewer women in the team, the more I feel like an extra, “black sheep” in everything. My appearance, body language, voice timbre, every detail in personal communication with colleagues. It becomes difficult to understand, other employees react so much to what I say, or, so to speak, my “packaging”.
In my current job, where I am the only woman, this is what I almost always think about. I listen to video bloggers and podcasts when I work, the only way I can hear not only men's voices. Otherwise, I return home in the evening and understand that I have not heard any other female voice except mine all day.
I realize that I am a woman every day. The main thing that reminds me of this is probably my voice. For example, one of my male leaders once said that I would be treated with great respect at meetings if I spoke in a deeper voice and lowered his timbre. And one day, one of my leaders advised me to take a pill of HNP (stop whining, princess) when I went to the hospital because of a hand injury. Over the years, I learned to avoid leaders who would not respect me or women in general. It may take some time to figure this out, but as soon as I understand that this is the case, I immediately transfer to another department. Working as an engineer when someone constantly pushes you down is a waste of time. It is simply meaningless.
In America, I first of all am a foreigner, and more often everyone pays attention primarily to this. But in both countries I had managers and fellow engineers who asked me if I was going to leave work soon to have a child. I began to receive questions from my colleagues when it was hardly possible to think about having children. 8 years have passed since then, I still have not had children, and this is my deliberate choice. But then it wasn't even something I wanted to think about.
I am well aware of what sex I feel when I come to meetings where I am the only woman. Based on our past interactions, I immediately understand who is more likely to listen to me. Then I deliberately choose a place to sit next to such “allies”. If I feel insecure when I say, I will look at them first of all at this time. Most likely, I will not even say anything at the meetings if I do not feel that there are people on them who support me. I do not often feel unheard at meetings, but I think this is precisely because I carefully choose when to speak.
I constantly remember that woman. Especially when a colleague turns to a male colleague - a newcomer to the team, instead of me - a senior engineer. Or when someone adjusts my code in such a way as to show that they think that by default I don’t know something rather than make a mistake because of inattention. At the same time, I feel that guys are more inclined to share their opinions and assumptions with each other, that their mistakes are just mistakes, and not a gap in knowledge.
Once I represented my company at a job fair with a male colleague. We stood next to each other, ready to accept resumes and answer questions, but all the candidates lined up for him. I tried to write in big letters on my badge with the name “ENGINEER”, but even then I had to tell people “I am also an engineer and I can also answer your questions!”
- What non-obvious things can people do to improve the situation and the lives of women programmers?
Do not be afraid to talk to a woman that she is a woman. She knows it, it is not a secret. I found that my managers and employees often avoid related topics because they feel that this is one of the “uncomfortable" topics, and this behavior is incredibly striking. But whenever someone talks about it openly with me, I am glad! If I heard more often something like “Hey, I noticed ... .., wouldn't it make you feel uncomfortable at work?” Or “I know, it's very strange to be the only woman in the team, how can I help you feel would you be more comfortable? ”that would make a big difference. Just to know that people around you treat you with sympathy and on your side, this is very important.
Offer us a mentor. Encourage us to take on new projects, take initiatives and propose new opportunities. Invite the women you work with for coffee and ask what they like or dislike in their daily lives. If they tell about any problems, ask if you can do something to help solve them.
Invite them to join the company of active colleagues, even if you think that women will not be interested. Try to find some common hobbies and interests that they could share with others. I am the only woman in the team and my male colleagues tend to have more common interests with each other. And, since they make up the majority of the team, we usually spend time together in a way that is more interesting and comfortable for them, for example, playing Call of Duty or StarCraft (although, of course, some women also love these games very much!). I feel pressured when I try to fit into a company that is completely made up of men. In the end, I feel a contradiction in myself: on the one hand, the older I get, the better I understand how valuable it is to build good relationships at work. But on the other hand, now I give in to pressure less: on the days of such joint activities, I just take a position that I don’t give a damn, and instead of trying to match them, I just don’t participate.
We thank the project participants for the answers and YC employees who sent us questions. As well as those who helped in various ways: Dan Gaykle, Scott Bell, Aaron Stein, Colleen Taylor, Kevin Hale, Kat Manalak and Craig Kennon.
We are glad that we have created a new opportunity to develop this theme, but we also understand that the opinion of just a few people does not fully reflect the experience of all women programmers. We would like to receive feedback and more information on these issues, so we continue to discuss our experiment on Hacker News.
I am Kadranov Kovansage , I work as a software engineer at YC and I will moderate incoming messages. If you have questions that you would like to ask anonymously, or you are a female software developer and would like to participate in the project, please write me at ask@ycombinator.com.
For the translation, thanks to Kristina Streletsova and the Edison company (which develops an internal personnel testing system and an application for recording staff time ).
Question
- If you wanted to start learning programming at school, but changed your mind because you felt that you were treated unfriendly, unfriendly (or you were dissuaded for another reason), would you have alternatives?
')
Gin
I will answer according to my own experience and the experience of my children. I took a couple of electives in high school programming, it was back in the early 1980s. We wrote on APL (Oh, yes!) And BASIC. I chose them because my brother, a few years before, had also selected them and brought various materials home. Then I was 10 years old, and I thought “Cool!” I quickly realized that I was good at working out. My husband and I are both software developers, so we demanded from our three children to go through the same school and take at least one programming class (half-year class). We told them that they did not have to love this item or did not have to be Kurt in it, but they most likely have a genetic predisposition to it. And so far two of the three in CS-related areas. The third is a freshman now and enjoys programming.
Our daughter took a semiannual C ++ course, then AP CS, and was on the high school programming team (she was the only girl). None of her classmates at school took a programming class or a similar direction. They all took additional classes of physics, mathematics, chemistry, and the like; they believed that they would be good in any natural sciences, but not in technical sciences. One of her friends chose the Python introductory class last spring (one of the first courses) at the insistence of my daughter. This girl understood that she not only likes programming, but also gives it to her easily and perfectly. Now she is trying to get a CS minor qualification in her liberal arts college. If she only tried to start early ...
about the project
In recent years, there have been many active debates about women in technical professions. Sometimes they could be unpleasant, if only by the fact that not everyone who wanted to speak out, felt comfortable in discussions, often overly polarized. We want to try to create a place where readers will feel comfortable by participating in the discussions of women in the technical industry, and also female programmers will be able to openly discuss their experience.
In order to start the project, we asked Y Combinator employees to send in their questions, and received many more letters than we could have expected. We selected three of the submitted questions for this publication. In order to make the discussion of sensitive and frank all the more active, we preserved the anonymity of all the participants, giving them fictitious names.
Grace
In fact, I recommend that women interested in computer science go to study at universities in Australia, education is affordable and of high quality. You can get an excellent job in the field of development both after graduating from university in Australia, and even while studying there. It is important to remember that each country is different in its cultural norms. Work in different countries really open your eyes to this.
Francesca
I would like someone from my family to offer me programming when I was still a teenager. But this did not happen, and I did not have the opportunity to try and understand that I like it. And programming, of course, was not something that my friends were doing or what they were discussing, so the development was simply not on my radar until I went to college.
Question 2
- On your usual day, how do you feel yourself as a female engineer? Can you tell how you feel or what you do to feel or feel like that?
Hell
Differently, it depends on many factors. When I work in a team or company where there are other women programmers, it’s easier for me to feel just a developer. But the fewer women in the team, the more I feel like an extra, “black sheep” in everything. My appearance, body language, voice timbre, every detail in personal communication with colleagues. It becomes difficult to understand, other employees react so much to what I say, or, so to speak, my “packaging”.
In my current job, where I am the only woman, this is what I almost always think about. I listen to video bloggers and podcasts when I work, the only way I can hear not only men's voices. Otherwise, I return home in the evening and understand that I have not heard any other female voice except mine all day.
Grace
I realize that I am a woman every day. The main thing that reminds me of this is probably my voice. For example, one of my male leaders once said that I would be treated with great respect at meetings if I spoke in a deeper voice and lowered his timbre. And one day, one of my leaders advised me to take a pill of HNP (stop whining, princess) when I went to the hospital because of a hand injury. Over the years, I learned to avoid leaders who would not respect me or women in general. It may take some time to figure this out, but as soon as I understand that this is the case, I immediately transfer to another department. Working as an engineer when someone constantly pushes you down is a waste of time. It is simply meaningless.
In America, I first of all am a foreigner, and more often everyone pays attention primarily to this. But in both countries I had managers and fellow engineers who asked me if I was going to leave work soon to have a child. I began to receive questions from my colleagues when it was hardly possible to think about having children. 8 years have passed since then, I still have not had children, and this is my deliberate choice. But then it wasn't even something I wanted to think about.
Clara
I am well aware of what sex I feel when I come to meetings where I am the only woman. Based on our past interactions, I immediately understand who is more likely to listen to me. Then I deliberately choose a place to sit next to such “allies”. If I feel insecure when I say, I will look at them first of all at this time. Most likely, I will not even say anything at the meetings if I do not feel that there are people on them who support me. I do not often feel unheard at meetings, but I think this is precisely because I carefully choose when to speak.
Francesca
I constantly remember that woman. Especially when a colleague turns to a male colleague - a newcomer to the team, instead of me - a senior engineer. Or when someone adjusts my code in such a way as to show that they think that by default I don’t know something rather than make a mistake because of inattention. At the same time, I feel that guys are more inclined to share their opinions and assumptions with each other, that their mistakes are just mistakes, and not a gap in knowledge.
Once I represented my company at a job fair with a male colleague. We stood next to each other, ready to accept resumes and answer questions, but all the candidates lined up for him. I tried to write in big letters on my badge with the name “ENGINEER”, but even then I had to tell people “I am also an engineer and I can also answer your questions!”
Question 3
- What non-obvious things can people do to improve the situation and the lives of women programmers?
Francis
Do not be afraid to talk to a woman that she is a woman. She knows it, it is not a secret. I found that my managers and employees often avoid related topics because they feel that this is one of the “uncomfortable" topics, and this behavior is incredibly striking. But whenever someone talks about it openly with me, I am glad! If I heard more often something like “Hey, I noticed ... .., wouldn't it make you feel uncomfortable at work?” Or “I know, it's very strange to be the only woman in the team, how can I help you feel would you be more comfortable? ”that would make a big difference. Just to know that people around you treat you with sympathy and on your side, this is very important.
Grace
Offer us a mentor. Encourage us to take on new projects, take initiatives and propose new opportunities. Invite the women you work with for coffee and ask what they like or dislike in their daily lives. If they tell about any problems, ask if you can do something to help solve them.
Clara
Invite them to join the company of active colleagues, even if you think that women will not be interested. Try to find some common hobbies and interests that they could share with others. I am the only woman in the team and my male colleagues tend to have more common interests with each other. And, since they make up the majority of the team, we usually spend time together in a way that is more interesting and comfortable for them, for example, playing Call of Duty or StarCraft (although, of course, some women also love these games very much!). I feel pressured when I try to fit into a company that is completely made up of men. In the end, I feel a contradiction in myself: on the one hand, the older I get, the better I understand how valuable it is to build good relationships at work. But on the other hand, now I give in to pressure less: on the days of such joint activities, I just take a position that I don’t give a damn, and instead of trying to match them, I just don’t participate.
We thank the project participants for the answers and YC employees who sent us questions. As well as those who helped in various ways: Dan Gaykle, Scott Bell, Aaron Stein, Colleen Taylor, Kevin Hale, Kat Manalak and Craig Kennon.
We are glad that we have created a new opportunity to develop this theme, but we also understand that the opinion of just a few people does not fully reflect the experience of all women programmers. We would like to receive feedback and more information on these issues, so we continue to discuss our experiment on Hacker News.
I am Kadranov Kovansage , I work as a software engineer at YC and I will moderate incoming messages. If you have questions that you would like to ask anonymously, or you are a female software developer and would like to participate in the project, please write me at ask@ycombinator.com.
For the translation, thanks to Kristina Streletsova and the Edison company (which develops an internal personnel testing system and an application for recording staff time ).
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/310748/
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