Why we need to break the programmer stereotype

Who do you picture when you think of a stereotypical programmer? You will likely think of a social awkward male who loves to spend their free time in a darkened room coding and/or playing computer games. The issue with this stereotype is that it doesn’t exactly inspire the younger generation to go into this field, especially females.

A moment of inspiration

I remember the first time that I ever did any coding. My older brother and I had a simplistic children's laptop that had the option to run BASIC (one of the earliest computer languages). He showed me how to create a program where you entered your date of birth and it calculated your age. I was fascinated! Being part of the early millennial generation, programming wasn’t something that was taught in schools; most women who went into programming probably had a moment like mine, where someone inspired them. I remember telling my friends I was going to be a web developer as a young teenager and they looked at me like I was crazy; even my IT teacher wasn’t enthusiastic about me going on to do Computer Science at university. I wasn’t the stereotypical programmer and although I was determined, I’ve had to overcome many hurdles along the way.

Inspiring the younger generation

The newest generation have been born into technology; they couldn’t imagine a life without the Internet or mobile phones and they are even taught programming in mainstream schools. This is great, but is it enough? They all use technology but do they want to be part of building it, or would they rather be the famous YouTuber? Sadly this same programmer stereotype still exists today and it’s even more damaging in today’s generation where children seek approval not just from their peers at school, but also from their peers online.

How do companies still encourage this stereotype?

In my previous article, I discussed how companies could be discouraging female developers with their recruitment process but companies are also implicitly pushing this stereotype in other ways.

Programmers are expected to do nothing but programming. Most people get into programming because they enjoy it but it is often expected that all of their spare time should also be spent programming. We’re even asked about our side projects in interviews. This is pushing the stereotype that programmers love nothing more than to be sat in a dark room coding all day and night. In reality, many of us have other hobbies too and also like to fit time in for family and friends.

Programmers are left out of the social side of the industry. I’ve worked in companies where programmers will put their all into projects, often working late nights and then when it comes to the social side of industry, such as celebrating the success of their projects at award ceremonies, they’re often left out. Not all programmers do want to socialise in this way, but some do!

Programmers are sometimes segregated in companies. Many offices will have a section dedicated to programmers where they’ll only ever socialise with other programmers. The problem with this is that if you put a non-stereotypical programmer in there, they’ll hate it, feel out of place and probably leave.

What can we change?

Large corporations always try to take fun photos showing diversity in their workplace but I usually find this a bit annoying because highlighting their few minority employees is just trying to hide the issue.

Encourage hobbies outside of programming. Expecting programmers to never switch off leads to burnout and imposter syndrome. You wouldn’t expect a project manager to go home and manage other projects in their spare time. People are more likely to go into this field if they know that they can still enjoy other things too.

Allow time for other projects/research in work. If it’s important that your programmers keep up to date with technology (which it should be), then allow time in work for them to do this. Send them to conferences, let them contribute to open source projects, etc.

Be inclusive. Don’t assume that all programmers are socially awkward. Even those that are should be encouraged to improve their social skills.

The only way to change the stereotype for good is by changing industry and showing the younger generations that programming can be exciting, rewarding and you can still have a life outside of work too.