Jessica Garson is a Python programmer, educator, and artist. She currently works at Elastic as a Developer Advocate. In her spare time, she is on a never-ending quest for the perfect vegan snack.
I sadly know hundreds of individuals from under represented populations this description applies to. For many they need to connect to APIs occasionally at work, creating an app, or pull some data from a database every so often but they don't see these tasks as part of a career in software development. Whenever I teach classes I meet people who are learning how to code, but don't see a career in software development as a path that is available to them.
I imagine I'd be part of one of those underrepresented populations. I did pursue a career as a developer, but I've been slowly moving away from that over the last few years.
There has definitely been some discrimination at play before, but my reasons for moving away from it were less racism (which I did face) as much as it was good, old-fashioned parsimony. Being underpaid, constantly reminded of being young and therefore ignorant (yet being an "expert" when it suited them), and the companies' excuses about "hands being tied" while telling me I should be thankful for it is what did it. Sadly, these practices came from other underrepresented groups, too.
At this point, I would say software development is still an available path, but not really a worthwhile one.
Jessica Garson is a Python programmer, educator, and artist. She currently works at Elastic as a Developer Advocate. In her spare time, she is on a never-ending quest for the perfect vegan snack.
Thanks for sharing your story, this sadly happens more than it should. I look about 10 years younger than I actually am and that creates some very interesting scenarios in this regard.
Jessica Garson is a Python programmer, educator, and artist. She currently works at Elastic as a Developer Advocate. In her spare time, she is on a never-ending quest for the perfect vegan snack.
I sadly know hundreds of individuals from under represented populations this description applies to. For many they need to connect to APIs occasionally at work, creating an app, or pull some data from a database every so often but they don't see these tasks as part of a career in software development. Whenever I teach classes I meet people who are learning how to code, but don't see a career in software development as a path that is available to them.
I imagine I'd be part of one of those underrepresented populations. I did pursue a career as a developer, but I've been slowly moving away from that over the last few years.
There has definitely been some discrimination at play before, but my reasons for moving away from it were less racism (which I did face) as much as it was good, old-fashioned parsimony. Being underpaid, constantly reminded of being young and therefore ignorant (yet being an "expert" when it suited them), and the companies' excuses about "hands being tied" while telling me I should be thankful for it is what did it. Sadly, these practices came from other underrepresented groups, too.
At this point, I would say software development is still an available path, but not really a worthwhile one.
Thanks for sharing your story, this sadly happens more than it should. I look about 10 years younger than I actually am and that creates some very interesting scenarios in this regard.
How did you cope with that and the usual problems in the field?
Teaching helps a lot. In my classroom, I get to create the welcoming environment where anyone could build anything that I wish I had in my career.