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'I wrote my first piece of code at seven': women share highs and lows in computer science for Ada Lo
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03146-8COMMENT | 10 October 2023
‘I wrote my first piece of code at seven’: women share highs and lows in computer science for Ada Lovelace Day
Ada Lovelace was a visionary who first recognized the potential of computer programming. Almost two centuries on, six women in computer science and technology reflect on their experiences in the field.
Janet Abbate, Shobhana Narasimhan, Sana Odeh, Farida N. Bedwei, Soraia Raupp Musse & Verena Rieser
Ada Lovelace Day, this year held on 10 October, sees people around the world celebrating the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The celebrations are named after the nineteenth-century English mathematician Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace. Even before ‘computing engines’ were built, she recognized the potential of programming — “a new, a vast, and a powerful language … for the future use of analysis,” she wrote in 1843 in her own additions to her translation of an article on an analytical engine. Her pioneering contributions, however, went largely unnoticed until the 1950s. Here, women navigating computing careers share their stories on the field’s various cultures, consider the gendered biases that permeate technology and offer solutions to improve equity.
JANET ABBATE: Counter the ‘tech bro’ image
“Incompetent!”, “Should be fired!” — the e-mails sent to my manager, the only female technical lead in a prestigious software project, shocked me. I had come to her for advice after a male team leader had questioned my competence to perform some potentially disruptive system changes. When she showed me how our male colleagues had treated her — an extremely experienced developer — I realized the problem was them, not me. My mentor’s example of refusing to be cowed by a belligerently macho work culture helped me to thrive.
[...]
‘I wrote my first piece of code at seven’: women share highs and lows in computer science for Ada Lovelace Day
Ada Lovelace was a visionary who first recognized the potential of computer programming. Almost two centuries on, six women in computer science and technology reflect on their experiences in the field.
Janet Abbate, Shobhana Narasimhan, Sana Odeh, Farida N. Bedwei, Soraia Raupp Musse & Verena Rieser
Ada Lovelace Day, this year held on 10 October, sees people around the world celebrating the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The celebrations are named after the nineteenth-century English mathematician Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace. Even before ‘computing engines’ were built, she recognized the potential of programming — “a new, a vast, and a powerful language … for the future use of analysis,” she wrote in 1843 in her own additions to her translation of an article on an analytical engine. Her pioneering contributions, however, went largely unnoticed until the 1950s. Here, women navigating computing careers share their stories on the field’s various cultures, consider the gendered biases that permeate technology and offer solutions to improve equity.
JANET ABBATE: Counter the ‘tech bro’ image
“Incompetent!”, “Should be fired!” — the e-mails sent to my manager, the only female technical lead in a prestigious software project, shocked me. I had come to her for advice after a male team leader had questioned my competence to perform some potentially disruptive system changes. When she showed me how our male colleagues had treated her — an extremely experienced developer — I realized the problem was them, not me. My mentor’s example of refusing to be cowed by a belligerently macho work culture helped me to thrive.
[...]