My last story was all about Startup Weekend and how it has changed my entire career trajectory. If you read it closely, you might have also noticed that I have a comfort zone issue. Meaning, I really, really like to stay IN my comfort zone. However, this independent study course I’m doing this summer has been really great (awful?) for pulling me out of my comfort zone. For Code Kitty alone (which was the result of attending the Startup Weekend for my independent study) I have driven to three unfamiliar places, in parts of town that I have never before visited. I have HUGE where-am-I-going-to-park-my-car-aphobia, so these were quite stressful for me.
In addition to Code Kitty, I have also been meeting my coding instructor in new and exciting places. We meet on what I like to call field trips. We have attended a “Women Who Code” meetup, a “Girl Develop It” meetup, and I got to meet her at the giant corporate office where she works. All of these trips were wonderful and eye-opening for me because I have spent my entire career, and therefore most of my life, in schools or other education-focused institutions. By stepping out of my education comfort zone I have learned some wonderful things and met some wonderful people.
Our first field trip was to a meeting of Women Who Code. This particular meeting was taking place at a downtown Minneapolis corporate office. We’ll just skip how bad my where-am-I-going-to-park-my-car-aphobia was that day, and move onto when I almost got lost in the skyway. I came out of the parking garage onto the skyway level. There was not one there and no signs indicating which way I should go so I got a little panicky. Luckily, I was able to get my instructor on the phone and she directed me where to go. I made my way to the beautiful elevators and took a moment to reflect on the fact that riding the elevator at my school meant taking your life into your hands, or at least making sure you had your cell phone in your pocket to call someone when it got stuck. That was not going to be a problem here.
When I got to the correct floor I followed the signs and eventually found my way to a lovely conference room on a very high floor of a very tall building. There were windows on two sides of the room looking out onto downtown. There was a large conference table with comfy chairs and about 15 women sitting with their computers, quietly chatting or typing. There were a couple women who were in charge of the group and they warmly welcomed me and pointed me to the name tags and stickers. (Stickers on your computer are a big thing. They seem to indicate you are part of the developer community, at least that was my impression.) My instructor laughed at me as my perfectionist tendencies took over while I tried to decide which stickers I wanted and where to place them on my computer. “Just slap them on!” she said. I couldn’t do it. I carefully chose a “Women Who Code” sticker, a GitHub sticker and one that was just a really cute wolf, which is the symbol for something called Trello. I felt very uncertain putting a Women Who Code sticker on my computer because that meant I was claiming to be a woman who codes. “Of course you are a woman who codes!” my instructor said, “I’ve graded your code.” I guess I am a woman who codes, but I’m still wrestling with why that is so hard for me to claim.
My instructor and I discussed some of the steps I was going to take to complete my independent study while other quietly chatted or typed. There was a pretty good spread of people in terms of age and background. At some point in the evening my instructor and I took an unofficial poll and discovered that only about 2 or 3 of the women there had actually completed Computer Science degrees. Most of them had come into coding and software development from some other avenue. My instructor was an electrical engineering major. It was a pretty tame group, but very kind and I would love to go back again sometime. I have done more coding education since that meeting so I feel more like a woman who codes now, but still a little bit like an imposter. When it was time to go, my instructor and I planned our next meeting at the corporate headquarters for the large Minnesota-based company where she currently works. I was really excited to meet her there because like I said before, I have spent the vast majority of my life in schools, with elevators that are death-traps, so it would be fun to expand my worldview.
Field trip #2 found me in Bloomington, so there was no problem with my where-am-I-going-to-park-my-car-aphobia. I could have chosen any one of about 100 parking spaces less than a football field away from the door. This was more my style. I had to go in the visitor entrance. First I had to show my driver's license and be checked in by the serious-looking security guard complete with shiny badge. There was a problem with the guest logging system that day so my instructor hadn’t been able to put me in the system, so he looked at me extra hard. I must have looked safe enough because he let me pass through the next door into what was clearly the visitor “holding-pen.” It looked friendly enough, with comfy couches and large windows looking into the mall-like atmosphere beyond, but you couldn’t go anywhere else until your escort came and got you and badged into the secure area. The two women at the holding-pen check-in desk were much more friendly, but they too were a little confused why I wasn’t registered.
My instructors boss decided they were going to release some website updates that morning without any warning, so she was a bit delayed in coming to get me, but I was able to use the wifi and work on learning command line while I waited. When she finally got me we had a long discussion about how this work environment was so different from a school. First of all, there was a constant stream of people walking in every direction, didn’t they have work to do?? Second, they were all in jeans. Third, why do they need such a giant coffee shop, and cafe tables, and large walking areas that looked like a mall? I thought people went to work, to work, not drink coffee and wander around in their jeans. The school where I worked was just about to institute a uniform policy for teachers when I left! This all had nothing to do with the actual purpose of our meeting, but it sparked some really good conversation about the differences between schools and businesses, and how the world is changing.
At this meeting, I also got to meet one of my instructors co-workers and I learned about FreeCodeCamp. It’s really awesome and I highly recommend it, although I think it was easier for me because I had some background from previous beginner courses I had taken (I guess I am a woman who codes). It was around this time that I started thinking, maybe I had entered the wrong profession, maybe I should go work somewhere that I can get paid better and be allowed to wear jeans. It won’t happen because teaching is in my blood, but it is certainly interesting seeing what else is in the world.
Our final fun field trip was at a Girl Develop It meeting. By this point, with several events sending me to new places all over town, I was a tiny bit better about my where-am-I-going-to-park-my-car-aphobia, but street parking is still a little rough on this suburban girl. I found the coffee shop where the event was to take place and I wandered in a bit early. I was pleased to find a familiar face. One of the woman who had been in charge at the Women Who Code meeting, is also apparently active with Girl Develop It. She again invited me to get a nametag and add a few more stickers. This one only took about half the time to place as the others had. It was again a very friendly group of people who mostly chatted quietly and worked on projects. You are always welcome to ask questions of other people, but it’s just intended to be a friendly environment for females working in a male-dominated field. The only major event at this meeting was the poor woman who came to the meeting by herself via an Uber. She accidentally left her wallet and phone in the back of the car, but to get ahold of her driver she had to put in a “friends” cell phone number for the system to call. She was very relieved when my instructor volunteered to be her friend. This was also a group that I would be willing to visit again when I find myself wanting to increase my coding skills.
I have learned there are many free learning opportunities for all different types of coding and very kind people who are interested in helping women succeed and become a larger part of the tech community. I think what might be interesting next is to attend a meeting that is not expressly for women to see the difference. I’ll let you know if any more adventures ensue!