am I a woman programmer?

May 22, 2013

I am a woman. I was born this way. I strongly identify with my gender.
I am also a programmer. I started programming when I was 12. Arguably, I was girl then, not yet a woman.

I love writing code. I love problem solving and the shape of ideas. I love it when the pieces fall into place in my head with an almost physical gratification. I believe I am good at programming because I am good at language… when I write code, I just define something, and name it, which creates it. Code is art, or simply craft.

I don’t believe I am good at coding because I am a woman, or in spite of it. I refuse learn how to be a woman programmer.

Every unique part of me influences the code that I write. I bring all of my experience and none of it. Sometimes the code I write benefits from my experience and sometimes I need to open my mind to the discovery of the unknown.

I am a programmer. I am a woman. These are two independent facts.

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