Nevertheless, Aditi Coded

Hello Internet,

My name is Aditi Rajagopal - I'm a software engineer on the IBM Container Service Team based out of Rochester Minnesota! That's right, Minne-snow-ta. The land of hot-dish, cheese curds, craft beer, and the ever-endearing “You Betcha” and “Don'Cha know.” For whatever it's worth, the winters here aren't actually too bad - in fact, the winters in Southeast Minnesota are a walk in the park compared to the winters from my home state of Michigan.

But you aren't here for a discussion on Midwest Seasons are you?

I began coding because...

My first experience with coding was in late elementary school (4-5th grade?). Neopets was all the rage, and I was mystified by users that souped up their profile pages. Neopets gave me my first taste of iterative development and graphic design. I couldn't get enough of it.

Unfortunately, this was my little secret. I didn't know that I was "coding" or what that meant. I didn't share this with my parents because I thought I was just goofing off on the internet.

My school placed a heavy emphasis on AP classes, and seemed to have only two tracks: medicine or business. Coding got lost along the way until I took my first programming class (ENGIN 101) my freshman year at University of Michigan. I wanted to major in Biomedical Engineering, but after taking ENGIN 101, I realized that I should switch majors.

I'm currently hacking on...

I currently work for the IBM on their Container Service organization. If you are wondering, "Containers? What's that?" check out this video. I'm on the DevOps team, focused on illustrating deployment and test information (status, results etc) on an internal dashboard for our internal teams (~100 people) and maybe someday, customers too. My role combines open source, user interface design and operations. The environment is fast paced, the backlog grows like a weed, and there is always something new to learn. Recently, I've been spending a lot of time reading how pluggable architectures work (and how to create one), and painless ways to reskin a UI.

Here are a few "side projects" I'm working on:

• Revamping my personal website
• Polishing up a presentation for the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) Region H Conference (March 10-12)
• Putting together submissions for the SWE annual conference (the deadline is Friday, and the conference is in late October)
• Reviewing SWE freshman scholarship applications

I'm excited about...

• Ripping apart my current project at work to make it a pluggable architecture, and reskinning the UI
• Start Bullet Journaling and joining the #BuJo Community
• Reading more (top 3 books so far: "Modern Romance," "Fresh off the Boat," "I Remember Nothing")
• Writing more patents (I have 6 pending, and a few more along the way), and earning more IBM-internal invention awards
• Presenting at more conferences
• Joining the planning committee for the 2018 SWE Conference in Madison WI
• March Madness

My advice for other women who code is...

1. Start a Conversation - I'm not just talking about sending someone a facebook/IRC/slack message. If you can, actually approach someone and talk to them. If it is someone you admire, all the better. Also, don't pull the "I'm one of the guys, therefore I don't need to befriend the other girl in my class" bullshit. If you are a student, kick the habit before you join a full-time gig, or before you start pursuing a Masters/Ph.D program.

2. Know what kind of "coder"/developer you are - I am not a "slide a pizza box under the door developer." I don't often code in my freetime, and honestly, after work, my brain and eyes are a little fried. I'm also not a "this job pays for my hobbies, and I can check out after I leave the office" type either. Know your motivators and demotivators, and try to maximize your motivators in your life

3. Share your story - We all have unique experiences as developers and humans. You never know who you are going to inspire if you share your story. Don't be afraid of putting yourself out there. Share your story with those who will listen, and most importantly those you can trust. Especially if you are going through a rough patch.

Happy International Women's Day. Remember, you're brilliant, amazing and kickass on March 8th and beyond!