What It’s Like to Be a Teen Girl in Programming
In 1985, over 35% of computer science majors were women. In 2014, only 18% were women. Prejudice and discrimination are often barriers in software engineering, programming, and other computer science-related fields that females must face — but young programmers are working to change that.
Here are the stories of three teenage programmers who have pursued their passions in the face of adversity and inspired others to explore computer science as well. Responses have been edited for length and clarity!
Nicoleta Ciausu, 17, is passionate about music, reading, and everything IT. She is a high school junior from Romania whose love of coding manifests in her work in C, C#, Java, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. No matter how busy she is, she always dedicates time in her day to reading about IT!
Emma Koslow, 17, is well-versed in over a dozen programming languages. She is the CEO and founder of both Programming Pals, an online service that teaches students with disabilities how to code, and the Jewish Coder Network, an online network to connect Jewish programmers. She’s currently working on creating programs for Amazon Echo!
Briana Berger, 18, is proficient in Java and Python and has experience using ROBOTC, Swift, HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, SQL, PHP, jQuery, and MITAppInventor. She is growing her own nonprofit, coderGirls, which aims to educate and empower girls in computer science across ten countries. She will be studying at Stanford University in the fall, and she aspires to be a founder of a technology company, a leader of a large company, and a writer.
When did you first learn how to program?
Nicoleta: Back in 3rd grade, at a local center for after-school activities. My first programming language was Borland Pascal [Turbo Pascal by Borland] — a widely used tool for teaching programming in Romania. The reason I was attracted to programming was that the IDE resembled a hacker’s screen — or at least I saw it that way at 10! I believe that in order for programming to be more attractive to kids, IDEs should have a “hacker feel” — even if all you’re doing is printing text on a screen. I know it wasn’t intentional in my situation, but it certainly helped!
Emma: I first learned to program when I was six years old when I taught myself how to build a website. To do this I used basic HTML, CSS, and Javascript.
Briana: I first learned to program in Java in middle school.
Why do you enjoy programming?
Nicoleta: I love puzzles — and programming is like an accessible (all you need is a computer!), never-ending puzzle. I also love crafting — when I’m not programming, I’m usually working on some DIY project. Overall, I feel like programming combines many of my interests into one single activity — I get to create something, to fix it, improve it, and face many challenges along the way.
Emma: I love programming because of the idea that I can bring something to life with a few keyboard types!
Briana: I’m a problem solver. It all started when I googled Java tutorials in middle school. I typed in the simple code: System.out.println(“Hello World”). I could barely contain my excitement as my mouse clicked on the run button. An error message popped up, alerting me that I made the classic coding mistake of forgetting a semicolon. Within minutes, I fixed the error and the beautiful message of “Hello World” was printed. The error made me fall in love with code, and since then, my fascination with computer science has been an infinite loop ranging from the simplest troubleshoots to solving real-world problems.
What is the most challenging thing about programming?
Nicoleta: Accepting the fact that whenever something goes wrong with your code, it’s your fault. I’ve seen many of my friends who tried to pick up programming abandon it at the first bug, frustrated that what they spent hours working on is bugged. The key to becoming a successful programmer relies on accepting that frustration and using it to pursue your goal. Programming is empowering because it’s one of the few areas in life where you have total control over what happens. Once you start seeing every bug or mistake not as an impediment but as an opportunity to learn, you’ll start improving the fastest.
Briana: I think the most challenging aspect of programming is how fast certain languages and technologies come and go. With that rapid change, you have to be quick on your feet and willing to adapt to change.
What computer science-related events, projects, and concepts have you explored lately?
Nicoleta: This March was quite the eventful month for me — I participated in the First Tech Challenge competition as the team’s sole programmer. Thanks to this, I had the opportunity to explore robotics for the first time — something I would have never had the chance to do were it not for this contest. I also took part in the National Olympiad in Informatics, the biggest algorithmic coding competition in Romania.
Emma: I just attended the She++ Summit in Silicon Valley. I was one of thirty students selected to receive the fellowship. I am also conducting research by combining psychology with computer science by seeing which coding languages appeal to different learning styles to help introduce unlikely people to computer science.
Briana: Living in Florida, I have limited access to computer science events. Most tech events occur in different states with tech hubs, so I haven’t had the chance to go to something recently. In terms of side projects, I have been working on developing my apps, working with AI and ML programs, and exploring computer vision concepts.
What programming project have you felt the proudest about completing?
Nicoleta: A puzzle game, Pancake Tower, written in Unity, completed in exactly one month of summer. By the end of the month, I ended up knowing much more about both C# and Unity as well as other concepts such as JSON. The game features random puzzle generation, a level editor with saving and loading features, a scoring system, and a Story Mode consisting of 10 levels.
Emma: My first website (about the show Cyber Chase) was my proudest accomplishment. It has been almost a decade since I created it and it still amazes me that I started it so young. It showed me how determined I can be and shows how much one can accomplish with creativity and motivation.
Briana: I built SleepBeep, an app to detect and aid driver fatigue. It has a driver fatigue test factoring in memorization, calculation, and self-diagnosis to determine if a person should keep driving. If the user receives a bad score, an alarm beeps every fifteen minutes to help keep the driver awake until he/she finds a place to rest. It also has a feature in the testing phase that uses machine learning to detect if the car is varying too much in its speed. SleepBeep provides users a list of locations and facilities like hotels, rest stops, restaurants, and gas stations (with their prices) that they can use. The app has won the Congressional App Challenge 2017 and has been a semifinalist in Technovation’s 2016 International Coding Competition.
What is a misconception about programming that you’d like to clear up?
Nicoleta: That to start programming, you need to pick up classes, do certain courses or “coding boot camps.” I’ve noticed works best for me, as well as most other programmers I’ve met so far, is to set a goal in mind and learn in order to fulfill it.
Emma: There is a lot more to programming than just 1s and 0s. It involves a huge deal of creativity and heart to make a successful program.
Briana: Programming is often seen as a “boy thing.” People stereotype programmers as stuck on their computers all day and all night, unclean and square. For most, the stereotype is not a pleasant lifestyle. For myself, I wanted to show girls that code is like poetry. In poetry, you can write words effortlessly painting an image in a person’s mind. Code allows you to create anything you want without the obstacles of class or education. Coding is not simply zeros and ones. Coding is about impacting humanity.
Is it difficult for you to be a female in a male-dominated field? Have you ever experienced discrimination based on your gender or your age?
Nicoleta: It’s difficult because frankly, it’s a bit lonely. I’ve only met one other girl in any other field besides algorithmics, which is the most popular in Romania. Most people I’ve met have been very nice and kind to me, with one or two exceptions. In one contest, however, some of the older judges could not fathom “giving the first place to a woman.” I’ve found it difficult to be taken seriously sometimes, but the fact that I’m confident about my abilities helps me overcome this problem as I prove myself quickly.
Emma: I have always been underestimated for my age and gender — I am a girl who started coding at six. One of the hardest yet most enriching experiences was when I took a graduate course at Harvard last summer in advanced mobile software development. I was the only girl and one of two high schoolers out of the fifty other students in the entire course. I was constantly looked at strangely and underestimated. It took me the entire course to get the others to respect me and treat me as an equal when I presented my final project to the group!
Briana: Completely. It has gotten better over the years as I have educated my peers about gender discrimination, but I’ve heard comments like “I didn’t expect there to be a girl in this class.” Even to this day, my dad still questions my decision to pursue computer science and not something more “grounded.” Yet, the discrimination that I experience only propels me to keep going and to
show girls that computer science is not just a “boy thing.”
Do you have any advice for other teens who are interested in learning how to code?
Nicoleta: Just give it a try! It will be intimidating at first, but incredibly rewarding once you start to get the gist of it. Think of a small project — then break it into parts, and use Google to research how to build those parts! In programming, the internet is your friend, not your enemy! It’s incredible how much you can learn in this way, and with patience. Good luck!
Emma: Do not be intimidated. The main reason why people tend to stay away from coding is because it seems so complicated or boring. If you have any interest in programming, go find a tutorial and give it a try! You will be surprised and proud by the incredible programs coding gives you the opportunity to create.
Briana: Try it. I know that it may seem scary at first. I know that there are infinitely many unknowns. If you don’t try it, you may end up walking out on your passion. You may like it. You may not. But, coding is worth a shot.
You can find Nicoleta, Emma, and Briana on Medium, where they share their experiences and ideas with the world.
