Female Software Engineers and Startup Founders?
The tech industry is male dominated. And while people's sex/gender shouldn't matter, after a while one can't help but notice. Lately I've been wondering about the prominent female software engineers, programmers or startup founders that are out there and I realised that I know of none. Do you guys know of any? As a female teen who's interested in programming and who wants to found a startup one day, the gender disparity makes me more hesitant to want to go deep into the industry. So however cheesy it may sound, having people like me that I could "look up" to would make me feel more encouraged about my ambitions.
12 comments
From personal experience, the gender disparity can feel daunting but it gets easier once you start building your network in the industry and getting more experience. In my days as an intern, some of my first mentors were women software engineers with exceptional technical abilities who were indispensable to their teams. Lots of colleges have clubs for women in tech where you can meet and be mentored by other women, and many tech companies have placed a heavy focus on hiring and retaining strong talent from underrepresented groups including women.
As for women to look up to, I don't have an exhaustive list but here are a few that come to mind:
- Sandi Metz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bZh5LMaSmE
- Melanie Perkins, co-founder of Canva
- Ella Ehrlich: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P974enLU6XE
Also, YC keeps a list of all of their women-founded companies (there are a lot more than you might expect): https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/women-founders
As for women to look up to, I don't have an exhaustive list but here are a few that come to mind:
- Sandi Metz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bZh5LMaSmE
- Melanie Perkins, co-founder of Canva
- Ella Ehrlich: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P974enLU6XE
Also, YC keeps a list of all of their women-founded companies (there are a lot more than you might expect): https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/women-founders
If most women feel that way, then maybe that's a factor of why it doesn't improve? I'm just saying that basing one's decision on whether or not others have made that decision is self-referential and creates somewhat of a self-fulfilling prediction. There are definitely women-only technical gatherings of all sorts, and I don't doubt there are some companies out there which prioritize as such, which leads to the question of why aren't these efforts fruitful and why is this "problem" so persistent and "unsolvable" (if it is something to solve, which is arguable as well).
I am all for 50/50, and I'm trying to understand why it requires effort or awareness from anyone other than those who want to be in it... it suggests that wanting to work with the technology is not enough.
I am all for 50/50, and I'm trying to understand why it requires effort or awareness from anyone other than those who want to be in it... it suggests that wanting to work with the technology is not enough.
There’s definitely a gender bias but please don’t let it stop you from pursuing your interests!
There are whole organizations and conferences for supporting women in tech (great thing to google btw).
My mentor at my last job was a mother with a young child, and a highly skilled engineer.
The industry is aware of exactly the issue that you’re describing, that representation matters, but the inertia can really only be overcome by… more women pursuing technical roles, this breaking the vicious cycle.
There are whole organizations and conferences for supporting women in tech (great thing to google btw).
My mentor at my last job was a mother with a young child, and a highly skilled engineer.
The industry is aware of exactly the issue that you’re describing, that representation matters, but the inertia can really only be overcome by… more women pursuing technical roles, this breaking the vicious cycle.
I have noticed that female senior technology principles in the military are far more common despite both the military and technology being each male dominated.
In the US military technology principles are uniquely designated by a category of ranks called warrant officers. With the exception of pilots all technical warrant officers require completion of a selection program consisting of prior military experience as an NCO with satisfactory combinations of experience and education. Females appear to comprise about 10-30% of the population of information integration principles (255A) and network infrastructure principles (255N) after examination of required professional education participation.
Female are also far more likely to achieve senior military grades (O6 and above) than become corporate C-suite employees or even startup founders. I don't know why this is because at every level the military appears to be male dominated, yet provided sufficient talent and ambition the odds of maximal success for females appears to be substantially greater in the military than the corporate world.
In the US military technology principles are uniquely designated by a category of ranks called warrant officers. With the exception of pilots all technical warrant officers require completion of a selection program consisting of prior military experience as an NCO with satisfactory combinations of experience and education. Females appear to comprise about 10-30% of the population of information integration principles (255A) and network infrastructure principles (255N) after examination of required professional education participation.
Female are also far more likely to achieve senior military grades (O6 and above) than become corporate C-suite employees or even startup founders. I don't know why this is because at every level the military appears to be male dominated, yet provided sufficient talent and ambition the odds of maximal success for females appears to be substantially greater in the military than the corporate world.
I'm not involved in the military, but it feels like there's an expectation that if you put in the work and meet the requirements, you'll get the promotions. I'm sure there's exceptions, and people problems and all that, but the expectations are there.
There's also (at least) historically been limitations on combat positions for women, which does limit certain types of promotion, because it's hard to meet the requirements if you can't get posted to the right kinds of jobs. That puts you in a situation where a tech job might be a viable path to promotion. And the military is usually good about training, so if you get into a tech job, you'll get trained to do it right, etc. (Or at least, that's what it seems like to an outsider)
There's also (at least) historically been limitations on combat positions for women, which does limit certain types of promotion, because it's hard to meet the requirements if you can't get posted to the right kinds of jobs. That puts you in a situation where a tech job might be a viable path to promotion. And the military is usually good about training, so if you get into a tech job, you'll get trained to do it right, etc. (Or at least, that's what it seems like to an outsider)
The tech industry as a whole is really diverse -- what you see in the news or promoted on Twitter, Facebook, etc is just a small part of it. Some parts of the industry are male-dominated, but there are lots of sectors and companies that aren't -- particularly if you step outside of Big Tech.
Here are a couple lists of female founders:
* https://femalefoundersfund.com/portfolio/
* https://www.fearless.fund/portfolio
And a couple lists of prominent female programmers:
* https://blog.codersrank.io/12-female-developers-you-should-f...
* https://www.fullstackacademy.com/blog/female-identifying-cod...
Here are a couple lists of female founders:
* https://femalefoundersfund.com/portfolio/
* https://www.fearless.fund/portfolio
And a couple lists of prominent female programmers:
* https://blog.codersrank.io/12-female-developers-you-should-f...
* https://www.fullstackacademy.com/blog/female-identifying-cod...
> The tech industry is male dominated. And while people's sex/gender shouldn't matter, after a while one can't help but notice. Lately I've been wondering about the prominent female software engineers, programmers or startup founders that are out there and I realised that I know of none.
From a personal experience, back in 2002 I have had the honor to share team projects with some great minds during my university years, all of them were incredible problem solvers.
Those girls were out of our Computer Science league, so to speak; they were straight 'A's or '4's as we were graded at my uni, with incredible minds solving problems in no time, whereas the rest of the classroom would extend our deadline so we can deliver something even half-baked.
I would love being around them to learn so much, how to organize a project, how to take notes, how to learn to listen, and so forth...only to see them sadly changing major before the end of the first semester...EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM!
We would panic and ask them what happened, whether was someone that cause them pain or anxiety and felt threatened that had to change major.
Their answer, ALL OF THEM, was the same: "this is so stressful that I cannot think of myself handling this non-stop task of meeting the deadlines every week or so, plus the mandatory task of learning new techie things every day or so! Not to mention the headaches of thinking non-stop to figure things out; as a woman I already think non-stop, but things that are important to me, not to a computer!".
I still think about it and occasionally we discuss this with old co-students / friends of mine and we express our sadness for losing such great minds from the Computer Science field.
I'm sure you can become the source of inspiration of other young minds that are hesitant to give it a try.
From a personal experience, back in 2002 I have had the honor to share team projects with some great minds during my university years, all of them were incredible problem solvers.
Those girls were out of our Computer Science league, so to speak; they were straight 'A's or '4's as we were graded at my uni, with incredible minds solving problems in no time, whereas the rest of the classroom would extend our deadline so we can deliver something even half-baked.
I would love being around them to learn so much, how to organize a project, how to take notes, how to learn to listen, and so forth...only to see them sadly changing major before the end of the first semester...EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM!
We would panic and ask them what happened, whether was someone that cause them pain or anxiety and felt threatened that had to change major.
Their answer, ALL OF THEM, was the same: "this is so stressful that I cannot think of myself handling this non-stop task of meeting the deadlines every week or so, plus the mandatory task of learning new techie things every day or so! Not to mention the headaches of thinking non-stop to figure things out; as a woman I already think non-stop, but things that are important to me, not to a computer!".
I still think about it and occasionally we discuss this with old co-students / friends of mine and we express our sadness for losing such great minds from the Computer Science field.
I'm sure you can become the source of inspiration of other young minds that are hesitant to give it a try.
I hope you pursue your dreams! If they change then so be it, but if they continue to be about tech, I hope you don't let this stop you. The industry needs motivated women!
Women are not interested in being around toxic nerds with behavioral problems. Just to enter the job you have to survive hazing and humiliation and it only gets worse after.
I'm a guy and I'm disgusted, I couldn't imagine a woman succeeding in this field.
I'm a guy and I'm disgusted, I couldn't imagine a woman succeeding in this field.
>And while people's sex/gender shouldn't matter...
Always has mattered and always will. Sun and Moon. Yin and Yang. Shiva and Shakti. Men and women are each gifted with unique powers and no amount of postmodernism will take that away from them. We compete differently, we desire differently, we sacrifice differently.
>As a female teen who's interested in programming and who wants to found a startup one day
If you knew what they meant, what you'd be sacrificing, you wouldn't want that. It's a lot of risk and a lot of pain.
Someone said, "men have the gift of pain". The pain of low status becomes unbearable and the only way out is to prove, upward and onward. That's why we take on great risks. We go out into the desert and brave the elements. Many of us die, most of us come backed empty-handed and beaten. A lucky few come back with great riches.
And that's why you see so many men founders. This is what we do - our lower status manifests as pain and we go to great lengths to escape that pain. We don't ask for permission or consensus, we just go out into the desert because it's the only way for us to go.
Women don't go out into the desert because they don't have to. Their status is already high enough, much higher than the average man's. Why risk getting killed out in the desert just for the opportunity to come back scarred, poor, and old?
I would wager you don't actually want to go out into the desert. I think you, like many, just want the status of being a startup founder. But you don't want to bleed and burn for that status. You don't want to do what it takes, because you don't really understand what it takes, and if you did, you'd realize that the powers and status you already have, as a woman, are much more desirable.
Further, it's telling that you don't even know what it is you want to make a startup for. You haven't said you have a burning desire to make efficient the payment processing for SME's, you haven't said that you see a great opportunity in a particular industry to make a lot of money with which you can use to enrich your clan and community, you haven't said you lament the dental industry and want to make dental care actually affordable for those in poverty and a startup is how you'll do it, you simply said "I want to found a startup one day", which translates to me as "I just want the status of having a startup".
A startup is a means to an end, it is not the end, and you may find the ends you truly desire do not involve founding a startup.
Go ahead and try it though. I would imagine, as you embark, you'll observe the women who play more traditional, less risky games as happier and higher status than you.
That said, here's a woman founder: https://www.dartagnan.com/dartagnan-founder-ariane-daguin.ht...
Good luck.
Always has mattered and always will. Sun and Moon. Yin and Yang. Shiva and Shakti. Men and women are each gifted with unique powers and no amount of postmodernism will take that away from them. We compete differently, we desire differently, we sacrifice differently.
>As a female teen who's interested in programming and who wants to found a startup one day
If you knew what they meant, what you'd be sacrificing, you wouldn't want that. It's a lot of risk and a lot of pain.
Someone said, "men have the gift of pain". The pain of low status becomes unbearable and the only way out is to prove, upward and onward. That's why we take on great risks. We go out into the desert and brave the elements. Many of us die, most of us come backed empty-handed and beaten. A lucky few come back with great riches.
And that's why you see so many men founders. This is what we do - our lower status manifests as pain and we go to great lengths to escape that pain. We don't ask for permission or consensus, we just go out into the desert because it's the only way for us to go.
Women don't go out into the desert because they don't have to. Their status is already high enough, much higher than the average man's. Why risk getting killed out in the desert just for the opportunity to come back scarred, poor, and old?
I would wager you don't actually want to go out into the desert. I think you, like many, just want the status of being a startup founder. But you don't want to bleed and burn for that status. You don't want to do what it takes, because you don't really understand what it takes, and if you did, you'd realize that the powers and status you already have, as a woman, are much more desirable.
Further, it's telling that you don't even know what it is you want to make a startup for. You haven't said you have a burning desire to make efficient the payment processing for SME's, you haven't said that you see a great opportunity in a particular industry to make a lot of money with which you can use to enrich your clan and community, you haven't said you lament the dental industry and want to make dental care actually affordable for those in poverty and a startup is how you'll do it, you simply said "I want to found a startup one day", which translates to me as "I just want the status of having a startup".
A startup is a means to an end, it is not the end, and you may find the ends you truly desire do not involve founding a startup.
Go ahead and try it though. I would imagine, as you embark, you'll observe the women who play more traditional, less risky games as happier and higher status than you.
That said, here's a woman founder: https://www.dartagnan.com/dartagnan-founder-ariane-daguin.ht...
Good luck.
There are some truths in this, but they're unfortunately smothered in what will understandably be seen as sexist condescension.
Perhaps it would be good to extract out the core sentiment and rephrase it in a more politically acceptable way:
- Men in tech launch startups to stop being losers (yes, I know, this too is a gross generalization).
- Women in tech aren't losers.
Perhaps it would be good to extract out the core sentiment and rephrase it in a more politically acceptable way:
- Men in tech launch startups to stop being losers (yes, I know, this too is a gross generalization).
- Women in tech aren't losers.
Now, wasn't it helpful to have a man explain to you why you don't want the things you want? Whew, talk about a bullet dodged! I'm sure you'd be much happier just getting married, and staying at home, rather than doing icky work stuff! (The /s is hopefully redundant.)
For what it's worth, yes running a business or startup is hard work. But that's gender neutral. We promoted a staff person to CEO [1], not because of her gender but because she was the best person for the job. She's been fantastic at it.
There will unfortunately be arseholes like the above poster - you'll get to deal with them sell your life - but don't let them put you off. Go in with your eyes open (good advice for both genders) but if this is your path then go for it, and become the role model you wish you had. [2]
[1] as founders we're slowly stepping away so the business can flourish even after we retire.
[2] and yes, existing role models exist, so hopefully upu can find ones close to you.
For what it's worth, yes running a business or startup is hard work. But that's gender neutral. We promoted a staff person to CEO [1], not because of her gender but because she was the best person for the job. She's been fantastic at it.
There will unfortunately be arseholes like the above poster - you'll get to deal with them sell your life - but don't let them put you off. Go in with your eyes open (good advice for both genders) but if this is your path then go for it, and become the role model you wish you had. [2]
[1] as founders we're slowly stepping away so the business can flourish even after we retire.
[2] and yes, existing role models exist, so hopefully upu can find ones close to you.