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February 17, 2003
A: FROM MENTOR KRISTIN TAGHON
IN IL
I was going to go into teaching when I first graduated from
high school. I
finished my second year of college and had taken a FORTRAN
class, which was my
first computer programming class. I realized that I really
enjoyed that class
and felt I could be creative in it. I became a Park Leader
that summer and
worked alot with kids programs at parks. I HATED it! I love
kids, but I
ideally wanted to run programs, not discipline kids! And it
frustrated me to
have kids that didn't care about others or made it hard to
have a good day. So,
I rethought my career choice. I thought back on the year and
realized that
Computer Science was a good field - more money and growing.
One of my teachers
had suggested that I might think about that field, even before
I decided I
didn't want to teach. I knew that there would be more boys
in the classes, and
THAT also appealed to me! I hadn't heard that the career would
be harder for
women or that there would be competition between men and women.
All I wanted to
do was do something I probably would enjoy and make enough
money to take care of
myself. That is what attracted me to this career. I was lucky
that I rethought
my choices and changed my major to Computer Science from Elementary
Ed!
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A: FROM MENTOR SHEILA ENGLAND
IN PA
Software Engineering is a fantastically satisfying field to
be in. I have
performed every job involved with the Software Engineering
life cycle, which
has included analyzing and writing down what is required to
produce a
product, a process or a system. I have interviewed customers
on what job
they do so that I can produce a product that will help them
do their job
more efficiently. I have drawn diagrams to help others and
myself to write
programmatic instructions to solve a problem or to help someone
perform
their job better or more safely. I have designed processes
that have enabled
my colleagues and I to work together more effectively. I have
written
testing plans and testing tools used to test my software and
other
engineer's software. I have followed test plans to test software.
I have
been a part of software implementation in the field in the
US A and in
Europe where different nationalities produced different pieces
of a software
system that had to be integrated. I have sometimes performed
the job of
someone for whom software was to be developed so that I could
understand how
they perform their job. I have learned about medical systems,
medicine,
medical products, research, transportation, manufacturing,
databases,
networks, graphics, user interfaces, wireless communication,
all types of
data communication and more. I have worked with focused teams
to produce a
product. I have worked independently. I am always challenged
and learning
new processes, tools and languages. I am never bored. Software
engineering
requires excellent communication skills, both verbal and written
as well as
logical, mathematical and analytical thinking. Software projects
need to be
well managed, tracked and directed. We females are well-equipped
to excel
in the diverse jobs required in this field.
My experience in a male-dominated field has taught me that
males often put
one another down as a way of competing and going forward with
their
careers - beating a competitor out of the game. It looks like
that kind of
the hill game played as children where the ones on top do
everything they to
keep the others down and to keep their team up. We females
handle
competition in other ways and are not well-equipped for the
game. What is
said about females not being logical, mathematical and technical
is
information disseminated by males and propagated by females
raised in a
patriarchal culture where women's roles have been limited
and where females
need to be protected. This is changing slowly and fact is:
It is just not
true like many other myths used to enforce and preserve the
known culture.
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