After reading "Code Red" in The Eye today, which presented viewpoints of women in tech that I encounter amidst many of my peers, I wanted to present a slightly different perspective that I feel is too often left out of the conversation.
Hi, my name is Sara Garner and I'm SEAS '15 and a computer science major.
For those of you about to say, "Hi Sara" because you think I must be a part of some kind of "Majors Anonymous" program for being in computer science, I ask you to read on.
After telling someone my major, I'm often asked, "What is it like to be in a major so dominated by men?" and always respond, "To be honest, I don't even notice." In fact, until I was asked this question last year, I hadn't noticed all of the boys in my classes or even thought about how many of them there were. All I cared about was doing well, and that meant competing with all of the other 100-200 girls and boys in my classes.
I only see the need to prove myself to well, myself. At the end of the day, when I haven't performed, I have to face myself and know that it's not the professor, the breakfast I had that morning, or the other students' faults that I did poorly---it's mine.
Sure, I'm probably subconsciously constantly proving myself to someone, be it the teacher in the first and last computer science class I took in high school who put my code up on the board when I asked for help and suggested everyone look at it so they could see what not to do, or the boys in my classes, or even the other girls. But the only person I care about is myself.
