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How I got into Computing
Dec. 8th, 2022 07:25 amThis may seem somewhat off-topic in my technical blog, but you cannot address the technical without taking into account the personal.
Recently, someone asked how I got my start in computing. I was late to the party compared to most of my peers in my field. Really, I got here by enrolling in Computer Engineering in university. In retrospect, it was ambitious to start a degree in computers with nearly no background, but I naively assumed that they would teach us what we needed to know.
As far as my background, I was mostly homeschooled and living very remotely, not even electricity some of the time. I did go to regular public school in grades 6, 7, and 10, and I made a point of doing whatever I could on computers as it seemed to me even as a child that was where the future lay. The elementary school in the late 80s had a few Apple IIe machines. We were allowed to use them in library class, learning Logo, and on rainy lunch hours we could sign up in pairs to play games. We had Carmen Sandiego, which I loved, Oregon Trail, which I tried hard to beat, and King's Quest, which I could not comprehend. My child brain could not deal with the abstractness. I actually hated Logo, in large part because I once drew a circle by typing "LEFT 1, FORWARD 1" 360 times and *then* they taught us the repeat command. I was so angry I went back to learning the card catalogue.
In high school (early 90s), they had slightly fancier computers, and I took a business ed class because it used the computers. I learned basic spreadsheets and databases, and of course word processing. And then I did not touch a computer again until university in 1997.
First year (general engineering at the community college) was fine; it was mostly a rehash of high school math and science, in which I had excelled. The intro to programming course for engineers was pretty simple and I did far better than most of the other students.
And then, I transferred to university, which was thoroughly overwhelming. It was my first time living in a city, and the school had as many students as the previous biggest place I had lived had residents. I was lost and terrified. As it turned out, transfer students fell through the cracks. Everyone who had done first year at the university already had an account and had been introduced to the Unix labs, and I guess nobody had ever transferred into computer engineering. I was sitting in my first lab, faced with a completely unfamiliar type of computer (before that, I did not even know that Unix existed). Clearly I was supposed to type SOMETHING in the boxes labelled username and password, but I had no idea what or how to find out.
I always struggled with asking for anything, especially help. My strategy was to look around, see what other people were doing, and mimic them. That was not going to work here, and I was sitting there wide-eyed and frightened, when another student came over and asked if I had a login. "What's a login? No, I guess." He took me to the lab admin, who gave me an account. I was still pretty lost, but he helped me with some simple commands, enough to get started. I HATED having to ask for help, but clearly I was never going to succeed in this program if I did not. I resigned myself to looking stupid (how I saw it at the time; I do not hold that viewpoint anymore) and asked many basic questions over the next year or so.
To sum up, computers were very challenging for me at first. I was extremely lucky to make some very good friends, who got me through second year. There were also a few sympathetic profs who were huge helps. I do not think I would have made it without these people.
There were also people who worked against my success, but not as many as I had expected. I was prepared ahead of time to meet resistance as a woman in a heavily male-dominated field (in my second year class of 65 students, 4 were women). I did not encounter overt sexism, but I did seem to get graded unfairly at first. Honestly, it was far more alienating being a rural person surrounded by city people than it was to be a woman surrounded by men. Sadly, that student who rescued me in my very first lab was a very bad influence, encouraging me to skip class and slack on assignments/labs until the last minute, when he would help me get them done. In the end, he took terrible advantage of me and nearly derailed me from my degree.
One of the reasons I have found working on Codementor so very satisfying is that I get to help people who are in similar desperate situations, and I do so with integrity and honour, never taking advantage of them. I am the person I needed 25 years ago.
Recently, someone asked how I got my start in computing. I was late to the party compared to most of my peers in my field. Really, I got here by enrolling in Computer Engineering in university. In retrospect, it was ambitious to start a degree in computers with nearly no background, but I naively assumed that they would teach us what we needed to know.
As far as my background, I was mostly homeschooled and living very remotely, not even electricity some of the time. I did go to regular public school in grades 6, 7, and 10, and I made a point of doing whatever I could on computers as it seemed to me even as a child that was where the future lay. The elementary school in the late 80s had a few Apple IIe machines. We were allowed to use them in library class, learning Logo, and on rainy lunch hours we could sign up in pairs to play games. We had Carmen Sandiego, which I loved, Oregon Trail, which I tried hard to beat, and King's Quest, which I could not comprehend. My child brain could not deal with the abstractness. I actually hated Logo, in large part because I once drew a circle by typing "LEFT 1, FORWARD 1" 360 times and *then* they taught us the repeat command. I was so angry I went back to learning the card catalogue.
In high school (early 90s), they had slightly fancier computers, and I took a business ed class because it used the computers. I learned basic spreadsheets and databases, and of course word processing. And then I did not touch a computer again until university in 1997.
First year (general engineering at the community college) was fine; it was mostly a rehash of high school math and science, in which I had excelled. The intro to programming course for engineers was pretty simple and I did far better than most of the other students.
And then, I transferred to university, which was thoroughly overwhelming. It was my first time living in a city, and the school had as many students as the previous biggest place I had lived had residents. I was lost and terrified. As it turned out, transfer students fell through the cracks. Everyone who had done first year at the university already had an account and had been introduced to the Unix labs, and I guess nobody had ever transferred into computer engineering. I was sitting in my first lab, faced with a completely unfamiliar type of computer (before that, I did not even know that Unix existed). Clearly I was supposed to type SOMETHING in the boxes labelled username and password, but I had no idea what or how to find out.
I always struggled with asking for anything, especially help. My strategy was to look around, see what other people were doing, and mimic them. That was not going to work here, and I was sitting there wide-eyed and frightened, when another student came over and asked if I had a login. "What's a login? No, I guess." He took me to the lab admin, who gave me an account. I was still pretty lost, but he helped me with some simple commands, enough to get started. I HATED having to ask for help, but clearly I was never going to succeed in this program if I did not. I resigned myself to looking stupid (how I saw it at the time; I do not hold that viewpoint anymore) and asked many basic questions over the next year or so.
To sum up, computers were very challenging for me at first. I was extremely lucky to make some very good friends, who got me through second year. There were also a few sympathetic profs who were huge helps. I do not think I would have made it without these people.
There were also people who worked against my success, but not as many as I had expected. I was prepared ahead of time to meet resistance as a woman in a heavily male-dominated field (in my second year class of 65 students, 4 were women). I did not encounter overt sexism, but I did seem to get graded unfairly at first. Honestly, it was far more alienating being a rural person surrounded by city people than it was to be a woman surrounded by men. Sadly, that student who rescued me in my very first lab was a very bad influence, encouraging me to skip class and slack on assignments/labs until the last minute, when he would help me get them done. In the end, he took terrible advantage of me and nearly derailed me from my degree.
One of the reasons I have found working on Codementor so very satisfying is that I get to help people who are in similar desperate situations, and I do so with integrity and honour, never taking advantage of them. I am the person I needed 25 years ago.
