Undergraduate student assistant Karleigh Belli sat down with the executive board of Women in Computing to discuss their experiences in the field, their aspirations for the organization, and the importance of creating community spaces as women in STEM.
Introductions
Katie Jones: I’m Katie Jones and I’m a junior Computer Science major and I’m the President of Women in Computing.
Holly Gray: I’m Holly, I’m the treasurer of Women in Computing, and I’m a junior Computer Science major.
Liya Patel: I’m Liya Patel, I’m a senior, I’m the creative director of WiC, and I’m majoring in Computer Information Systems with a minor in Business Administration.
What is Women in Computing?
Katie: Women in Computing is an organization that is aimed at supporting and empowering women interested in computing fields at USC. We do this through biweekly meetings, hackathons, conferences, and creating an overall computing community.
What led you to pursue Computer Science and the mission of Women in Computing?
Katie: When I was younger, my parents both worked in tech fields. I was always very logical, and I was always fascinated with computers and wanted to figure things out. I watched my mom do IT work all the time, and I decided I wanted to go into that. I took two coding classes in high school, where we did basic Java, which means we learned how to declare variables and write a four loop. And that’s how I got into it.
Holly: In middle school I took some computer classes, and I was pretty good at it, like Microsoft Excel and Word; I learned how to make columns in Word, so it seemed really interesting. Then I took one class in high school, and I thought “chapter closed,” “enough with my computer journey.” My senior year of high school I had no clue what I wanted to do. Every school I applied to with a different major because I had no idea. I think originally, I applied here as an International Business major, but I decided to switch. I looked deep within myself and thought, “what is something I can do well in that also sounds impressive?,” and I decided on Computer Science.
Liya: I was the same way-- I changed my major right before orientation. I applied as a Physics major and I had a brief phase where I wanted to do Astrophysics, but I didn’t see going into academia and research aligning with my goals. I thought comp sci and tech would give me the work/life balance I’m looking for. Tech is nice because you know what your schedule is going to be, and you can have a work/life balance which is important to me.
Why do you think an organization like Women in Computing is important for colleges and universities to have?
Katie: Being in college, a lot of people go and just go to class and they don’t get much out of it. They go to class and they don’t meet new people. I’m a very social person and I love talking to people; I need to talk to people and see their faces. I think a lot of people suffer from loneliness and they feel like they don’t have a place because they don’t have any extracurriclars. Organizations like Women in Computing create a space for people to feel like they belong to something. Especially if you’re a woman in computer science or CIS, you might feel lonely in your classes because many of them are majority male students. In our meetings, people talk and can have conversations outside of class. Our LinkedIn meeting was very fun.
Liya: It really brings a sense of community which is hard to get in a lot of your classes, especially because they’re primarily all-male. For me it was a really big thing, and I will always look back on WiC and be grateful for it, because I feel like I wouldn’t be where I am at this time without WiC. The job offer I have and the internship experience I have is because of the older girls in WiC. When I first joined, they had all these cool internships and seemed so knowledgeable, but they were also very eager to share their knowledge. Being part of WiC gave me the great opportunity to go to the Grace Hopper convention in Orlando, which ultimately led me to get an internship, and a job offer. The community support I got through WiC from the board, the members, and the opportunities WiC offered to me by paying for me to go to the conference definitely shaped my professional trajectory.
What have been your biggest challenges being women in a traditionally male-dominated field?
Katie: I think a lot of men don’t see you as a person. You’ll try to talk to a man as a classmate and they’ll just push you off. My biggest challenge is trying to make connections with male students in the classroom but not being taken seriously because I’m a woman. It’s very frustrating.
Liya: You especially see that when you have a project in class. They don’t see you when they’re building a team. You’ll start searching for the roughly three other girls in the class, hoping they aren’t already in a group. Even in the workplace it can feel isolating. It’s hard to find community, so you always look for the few women that are there.
Holly: Honestly, I think as women in STEM, especially in computer science and other technical fields, we’re held to a different standard than men are. Just in terms of our ability to make mistakes, asking for help is seen as a much bigger deal than if a man asks for help. There’s a different perspective for women. Sometimes if you feel, as a woman, “I did not do well on that,” or “I can’t code,” I feel like I’m playing to this stereotype. However, the stereotype for men is they stay up all night coding because they love to code and they’re so good at it, while women just don’t have an interest in it.
Katie: If you’re a minority in any category you’re held to this standard, and if you mess up you’re reaffirming the stereotype.
Liya: It feels like we have to be exceptionally good at coding or anything we’re doing in the field for them to consider us to be on their level.
“Imposter Syndrome” can be a common occurrence for Women in STEM, have you experienced this and if so, how have you overcome this?
Liya: I feel like I just try to come off as confident. Even outside of the classroom, that’s what is going to get you the interview, that’s what’s going to get you the job. It’s a skill you need to learn to set yourself apart, because it will open lots of doors for you.
Katie: You have to put on a show and be the person you want to be, because you need to be confident and ask questions. I just try to remember I deserve to be here just like everyone else. I’m allowed to be here just as much as anyone else. The things I’m doing will affect my life, so I have to be the best version of me because I’m doing it for myself, not anyone else, but you do need a support system.
Liya: Behind the scenes you can continue to do things that will build that confidence within yourself so that you eventually don’t have to fake it. You will feel confident enough in yourself and your skills and abilities.
What advice would you have for young girls going into this field?
Holly: It’s very easy when something goes wrong to doubt yourself. You’re outnumbered in your classes, you don’t see a lot of other women in your classes, so it’s very easy to be hard on yourself. When I look back on projects I’ve done I think, “Wow, that was a lot of work.” You do so much every single semester and every class, and was it a struggle, yes, but it’s very good to have a sense of accomplishment completing hard things. You have to do your best to stick with things even when it feels like everything is going down.
Katie: You don’t have to understand everything. Computer science is such a broad field, so you’re not going to understand everything. When you go into your career you will specialize, so not understanding one thing is not an indicator of whether or not you will succeed. In school, you might’ve done better in science than English, it’s the same thing in computer science. You might not be very good at building a network, but maybe you’re really good at software engineering and coding. It doesn’t mean you should drop out, it just means you’re good at one thing and not another.
Liya: I think you need to find your strengths and know what you’re good at and not good at. Try to pick a job or internship that’s going to help you build on that. As long as you’re successful in your niche, that’s more important
Concerning the future, what do you have in mind for this organization? Do you have any specific goals that you are looking towards or hope to plan for?
Katie: It would be really cool to have WiC compete in a hackathon together, and I also want us to attend a tech conference next year.
Liya: Those have been our biggest goals for a while. Some of our other goals we have completed, like having different kinds of workshops during our meetings.
Katie: We did go to a conference last semester which was sponsored by the department and it was great. It would be great to place in a hackathon in the future and get our name out there too, or if we could do a hands-on workshop. I would like to have more community in our meetings too, because I like talking to people and meeting members, and I want our members to continue to build community within WiC too.