The future is ours
Dear Women In Computer Science,
Unlike most people in computer science, I didn’t write my first line of code until my junior year.
I put so many efforts to catch up. It took me a while to understand what does “this” keyword actually refer to while most of the class knew it since high school. A boy in my discussion wrote a recursive method in 2 minutes while I was still struggling. I was afraid to ask “stupid” questions because I felt like I was the only one that didn’t understand the material. My feeling got worse when I couldn’t find a partner in class to do exercises together — I wasn’t invited by any boys sitting around me and I had to sit alone awkwardly. Even if I was invited, I still felt isolated sometimes because they just pretended to listen and didn’t take my opinion seriously.
I guess most of you have encountered the similar situation and know the struggle. Then a lot of us don’t feel comfortable in class anymore. We become less confident. We convince ourselves that we got a 40/40 on the quiz just because of luck. Eventually, some of us start to have the feeling that they are not supposed to be here and end up quitting.
But hey do you still remember those happy moments of finding a bug, cracking a program, learning how to use a new API and building a nice project on your first hackathon? We enjoyed these every single moment. And we create more of them by overcoming challenges every day. We know being programmers is what we want to do. And we all made progress since day one. Don’t underestimate yourself and start recognizing what you have achieved.
Trust me.
We all have doubts.
It’s okay to feel frustrated but it’s not okay to give up.
We all feel lonely sometimes.
But you are not alone.
Women have done it for decades and they helped us to get here. More and more women will follow us and enter tech fields.
Don’t hesitate to reach out for help. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Don’t forget to encourage each other. Let’s hold each other’s hand to start this bittersweet journey. Just remember the fact that we are good enough as who we are and unleash our power. Don’t give up. The future is ours to create. And one day our contribution will be recognized.
With lots of love,
The Girl From Your Computer Science Class
