The Patriarchy Has Been Hacked:
Women who run the world of computer science, and why you should too
Silicon Valley is not just a man’s world.
In an industry previously reserved for “boy geniuses”, girls are beginning to take back the field. At companies like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and Amazon, more and more women are starting to hold powerhouse positions. These women are reminding the world what has been clear from the start: girls kill at comp sci.
It’s only been relatively recently that women’s “place” in computer science has been questioned. In fact, the invention of programming is often attributed to a woman (shout out to Ada Lovelace). Throughout history, women have been integral to the invention and exploration of comp sci. However, female leaders in technology are not a thing of the past.
Here are a couple of current female head honchos in the computer science field. Prepare to be inspired.
1. Parisa Tabriz
Aka “Security Princess” of Google. Often referred to as Google’s “secret weapon”, Parisa Tabriz manages the Information Security Engineering Team. Tabriz at just 31-years old is charged with protecting the most-used Internet browser in the world: Google Chrome. As the superior of 30 male co-workers, Tabriz is the perfect example of women in the field showing the world who’s boss.
2. Marissa Mayer
As President and CEO of Yahoo, Mayer is a big deal for girls in the tech industry. She is at the helm of one of the largest companies in the industry at a time when women in tech are still underappreciated. Forbes recently listed her as one of “The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women” (at number 22!) and in 2013 she was the only person to ever make all three of Fortune magazine’s annual lists in the same year (Businessperson of the Year- #10, Most Powerful Women-#8, and 40 Under 40- #1).
3. Jessica McKellar
McKellar is the director of engineering at everyone’s favorite life-saving company: Dropbox. As of last week, McKellar was listed as #4 on Business Insider’s “26 of the Most Powerful Women Engineers in 2016”. She was also the founder of Zulip (an open-source group chat) and KSplice (a way to update Linux OS without disruption).
4. Emily Ratliff
She is Linux Foundation’s senior director of security and #15 on Business Insider’s “26 of the Most Powerful Women Engineers in 2016”. She also heads Linux Foundation’s “Core Infrastructure Initiative”- a major project working to find pre-emptive open-source software security strategies.
I could go on and on…
It actually seems like an injustice to stop the list there, as there are so many more successful present and future lady programmers. Computer science is only increasing in popularity as a major for female undergraduates. In 2014, women officially outnumbered men as computer science majors at UC Berkeley. As of this year, computer science is the most popular major for girls at Stanford University!
With President Obama’s “Computer Science for All” initiative (a plan to increase the availability and inclusiveness of CS courses in grades K-12), the number of girls interested and working in comp sci can only grow.
So why should you be interested in this growing, exciting field? We thought of a couple reasons, and would also love to hear yours (in the comments below!)
- It’s the language of the future — and a way to make an impact in a unique way
- It’s a problem solving based discipline at heart
- It promotes self-starting, self-motivated individuals
- And why the hell not?!
Of course, for the computer science queens of the future, one need look no further than the group of extremely talented, creative, and ambitious women we have here at Code the Change! We’re pretty proud of our lady developers and project managers and can’t wait to see them become the future female leaders in the tech world.
— Gabrielle Roberts, Communications Team
