A Tale of Two Men

One of the men held me back. One of them gave me an opportunity to shine.

It was 2011, and I went back to university to finish my degree. There was a new student orientation I went to that had a student organization fair. They had booths for the various organizations around campus. I saw the one for the robotics competition team.

“What’s going to be your major?” asked the person at the booth.

“Computer science.”

“REALLY? We really need more computer science people!”

So I signed up. I didn’t know a thing about robots, but it seemed interesting. I had taken two circuits classes at my first university, so I figured I could probably pick up stuff fairly fast.

I was introduced to Dan*. He was the current software developer there. He had been a part of the team for several years, and single-handedly coded most of the robots for the past few years. I asked him how everything worked and he said he didn’t have time. I asked if I could see the code, and he wouldn’t show it to me. I asked how I could help out and he’d just tell me the robot was already programmed.

I went to the advisor. “Dan’s not really working with me.”

“Give it time.”

I gave it a month. I sat around each meeting doing nothing and not really being shown anything. I went back to the advisor.

“Just stick it out. There will be stuff to do.”

I “stuck it out” for another month of sitting around doing nothing. I went back to her.

“I think it will get better. Please hang in there.”

Ugh.

One day they had a work day. The goal was to clean up the place some and make further progress on building the bot. I tidied up a bit, but mostly sat around. At one point I found a “Beginning Arduino” book. I had heard about Arduinos but had never used one. I sat down to start reading. It made a lot of sense in terms of the code, and was simple enough it was bringing back memories of my circuitry classes.

About 3 projects in, I was interrupted by Greg*.

“Hey. Think you can make this motor run?”

“Uh, maybe?”

“You seem smart, I think you can. Oh and you’ll need a motor controller…”

He looked around, then found the motor controller and handed it to me. I didn’t have the foggiest idea what a motor controller was. But armed with my Arduino, Arduino book, a motor, and a motor controller, I found a spot at a desk and sat down to figure it out.

I did my research online and found the same motor controller online. It had an instruction sheet to wiring it up, then a list of commands to send it to do various things like drive forward full speed, drive backward half speed, etc. I read up on how to send serial commands from the Arduino to the motor controller, and in about two hours, I got this tiny little thing to drive with the press of a keyboard button.

I jumped out of my seat with excitement.

I modified a few things, and with another button got it to go backward when I pushed it.

I looked around for a second motor, and with a bit more tinkering, got two motors to drive together (driving straight) and opposite (turning).

I showed Greg. He was so happy for me.

“Now you know how to program the motors. Now you can help with the robot.”

Greg didn’t do much. He just handed me a part and said “can you make this work?” However, dig deeper and he did a lot more. He knew I was sitting around for months. He knew Dan wasn’t showing me anything. And he knew I likely had the capability to figure it out if I was just given the chance. And my program was incredibly short and took two hours to write. But I wrote it!

Greg gave me a chance. That opportunity helped me become lead software developer the next semester. I learned a ton about robotics, as well as writing, debugging, and testing code in an entirely different environment. I ended up participating in the team for three years and got to go to Denver, Corpus Christi, and Tulsa. I passed it forward too: I brought two more developers onto the team that semester to help me, and gave them opportunities to learn new things and to shine when they worked.

As the only woman on the team at that point, I was out of place. The guys had a choice: they could be inclusive and encouraging, or exclusive and discouraging. I’m glad Greg handed me that motor. It helped me grow into the person I want to be: a good developer, but also someone who actively lets others shine too.

Men, you always have a choice. You can choose to help others and give them a chance to be awesome. You can also be selfish, choose to hang on to your own work, or just ignore others. Everyone​ benefits when you encourage women and let them grow though. Even the smallest positive interactions can make the world a better place.

* Names are changed to protect their identities.