Ohhh…! I was reading as it was my own story. I hope if I add a few points about why women who code quit coding at start-ups and start cursing programming jobs, you all agree.
What I go through every day is Impatient Nature of Managers — if I am alive, I have to finish work and does not matter if I am sick or suck. A person who does not have any idea about programming comes and says — you took more than usual time just to add one small feature in the project. better be strong in fundamentals. Seriously ???? Why the heck I have to take comments from that person? Irritates a lot. No respect. They all think we just type and treat like a typing machine. They listen to us just to respond and not to understand. I sit at my workplace thinking this is my last day in this hell!
But.. You know, beyond all these insults, irritations, I just enjoy the joy of coding, reading articles, dreaming about that one day I can swim in this ocean of programming. I think all(especially women) should love what you code. You must work as if you are a student of this programming world and not as an employee of your boss. Then… only then you can overcome all these difficulties.
It is one of the best articles I have read so far. You have executed it so well and so true. You are absolutely right on your every point especially -
” Importance of having a portfolio, side projects, and open source contributions”. Yes, in the end, they add to our career.
Thank you for such an inspirational article, keep writing and teaching :)