I continued coding in 2019 because I genuinely enjoy it. I also continued coding in 2019 because I get paid to do it, and the loans for my Art History degree aren't gonna pay themselves.
I continued coding because I get to be a builder. I get to create things from nothing and watch people use them. This past year I've built things I feel proud of, and things that I don't. I've written great code that never made it to production, and I've written crappy code that did. I've made mistakes, sometimes I've made the same mistake over and over and over. I've also solved problems, I have healed robotic wounds, I have made things better.
I am grateful that for my entire career in tech (which is now coming up on 3 years), I have been surrounded by smart and supportive women. I attended an all-women's coding bootcamp, took accepted the only job I applied to for which I was interviewed by a female engineering manager, and became part of a team which grew to be over 40% women. I have rarely had to feel that my identity was at odds with my profession, or that it was the reason for my mistakes.
My point is, we (women coders) are everywhere. Regardless of whether you have had the pleasure to work with us yet, we exist, and we are as brilliant and as fallible as any other human being trying to give instructions to a machine. I hope that you will see us and know that, regardless of your identity, there is room for you in this profession.
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