12 Biggest Misconceptions about Coding: Part One
Software engineering has a long list of benefits. Some of them include:
- High salary
- Lots of job opportunities
- Very appealing benefit packages encompassing health insurance, gym stipend and others.
- Either a work from home policy or flexible work time (which is ideal for working parents)
And yet women developers still only clocks at 20–25% of the workforce.
Three years ago, a coworker and I went to our old high school to attend career day and answer questions students might have about software engineering. While the boys were fairly excited about the subject and its opportunities, I often heard the same thing from girls:
I can’t code because I suck at maths
I like talking to people. Is there anything I can do apart from coding?
Taken back, I reached out to my network to see if my experience was unique. Not only was I not the only one to have heard these from students but even female developers I knew had these misconceptions even though they persisted and got a CS degree.
There is clearly a great divide between what people think coding is and what it actually is like. I gathered all the misconceptions female developers had before coming to the tech industry so we could go over them together.
Note: As the final version was quite long, I decided to split it into two parts. Part two will be published soon.
1. You need to be good at math to code
This one is probably the most prevalent and most debilitating one for women. I am not too sure where it comes from, but let me say this:
You do not need to be good at math to code.
Let me say it louder for the people in the back.
You do not need to be good at math to code!
One of my friends put it in a way that I really enjoyed: “Coding = writing + logic”. A programmer writes a list of instructions for a computer to follow the same way a doctor would write them for a patient. Here a piece of code:
a = 200
b = 33if b > a:
print(“b is greater than a”)elif a == b:
print(“a and b are equal”)else:
print(“a is greater than b”)
You passed grade 10 math? Amazing! You can code. More than mathematics, logic and your ability to come up with different scenarios to approach a problem is far more valuable.
More than “How do I solve a quadratic equation”, you will find yourself thinking “I need my code to do this particular thing when this condition happens but not when that condition does”. For example, I need an error message to appear if the user forgets to fill a field but hides it when he does. If the field only accepts numbers, then another error message is displayed when the user inputs letters. So on and so on.
To the math nerds out there, do not despair! There are subsets of the tech industry that require a high proficiency in math. Among them, machine learning, data science, cryptography and computer graphics are included.
Here is an a journalist’s account on learning to code: You Don’t Have to Be Good at Math to Learn to Code
2. I don’t want to be a developer because I like talking to people
Who do you picture when I say programmer? Neo from the Matrix? The IT Crowd? Maybe the dudes from Silicon Valley? Nerdy men with questionable hygiene and little social skills? Can we blame people, men and women, from being turned off by this stereotype? Unfortunately, the myth of the programmer as an antisocial awkward nerd is still very much part of our culture and it’s an harmful one as it does turn off quite a bit of people from tech.
From my own experience, I have interacted quite a bit with others. To start with, coworkers. The aspect I enjoy the most in startups is gathering around a whiteboard and throwing ideas on how to approach a problem. Even while I worked for Telus, a big telecom company in Canada, every project required talking to 5–10 teams. As tech products become more and more complex, various parts get split off between teams which can result in many meetings (whether that is a good thing is up to you).
Then, there are customers. The smaller the company, the closer you will get to them. In startups, developers have to wear many hats and I, personally, have been in charge of gathering feedback and customer support.
My point is that the myth of the programmer coding in his little cubicle is just this: a myth. Nowadays, everyone has to collaborate and being a team player with effective communication skills makes for a smoother work environment.
3. Programmers code in 0 and 1
This one is usually said as a joke to me by my non-tech friends but I am adding it anyway because it’s a fun one.
It is true that computers work with 0 and 1 as they are easy for them to understand. However, as you can imagine, 0 and 1 are not human-friendly. No human is going to bother learning that a is 0000 and b is 0001. As a result, we have invented what are called high-level languages. These have syntax and rules and are far closer to human languages. You might have heard of HTML or CSS. Both of which are high-level languages. Today, there are hundreds of these whether it’s for web, mobile, Mac, Windows, and so on.
So, no. Programmers do not code in 0 and 1.
4. You need to be obsessed with coding to be a programmer
A couple of years ago, a post in my local tech community Slack group created quite a debate. Google’s developer conference had given its attendees t-shirts saying “Eat Sleep Code”. The item divided our community in two groups: on one side, people who thought it was just a silly t-shirt and on the other, people who considered that this t-shirt sent the wrong kind of message to people in and outside the tech community. Considering a few women brought up this misconception to me, I am leaning more toward the second group.
There is nothing wrong with being in love with your craft. You do you! However, if you don’t find yourself thinking about code every waking moment, that is also completely ok.
My friend group includes many developers who have interests outside of coding. Among them:
- A tap dancer
- a jazz player
- a board game designer
- a photographer
Others take dancing and painting classes or take up gardening, rock climbing, … Don’t forget that nowadays, tech is everywhere. Therefore, you can be a developer and work in sports, charity, movies, video games, government, finance or wellness. Name an industry and you will find tech in it.
Having different interests doesn’t make you a bad programmer. It makes you an interesting one.
5. You need to like IT to be a programmer
I generally avoid telling strangers I am a programmer so I don’t end up in situations where I have to install their printer/ fix their phone settings/ link their domain name / [insert any random computer tasks that relatives can think of]. The idea that because I am a programmer, I enjoy IT work or vice versa is unfortunately ingrained in our psyche.
You can enjoy coding even if you die inside every time you tell your relatives to turn their computer off and on. I know I do.
6. You need to be crazy smart to code
Like any industry, some people are brilliant. Some are mediocre. Most are average. The tech industry is no exception.
As mentioned above, part two will be published very soon. In the meantime, did you have any of these misconceptions? What’s been your experience? Let me know in the comments section.
