Girls Who Code Synchrony 2019 Graduation Ceremony - Teacher Speech
‘The bug is with the code. The bug is not with you.’
Thank you Synchrony and thank you Girls Who Code. Wow, it’s been quite a summer! It’s been only seven weeks but I feel like so much has changed. For instance, before this summer, I was afraid of public speaking, but then…I took this job! And I had to speak in front of 20 teenagers everyday, including my TA. So now…I’m not afraid of public speaking anymore. And I have my students to thank for that. Thank you all.
I have to say: I don’t know if I’ll ever be part of another coding class like Girls Who Code. I’ve taken a lot of coding classes, and most of them only emphasize the tech parts of coding. They’re filled with men, they don’t focus on sisterhood, and they aren’t sponsored by a major finance company that can teach them about the larger world of tech, let alone a major finance company where both the CEO and CIO are both women. Girls Who Code has very unique and innovative program and I thank you Synchrony for making it happen.
As a millenial, I believe one of the biggest challenges of our modern age is learning to manage stress in a world of endless distractions.
As many of you know, I start my first software engineer job at Wayfair this fall. As a coding bootcamp graduate, I can tell you that coding changed my life in the best way, so I relish the opportunity to teach others how to code. To me, coding doesn’t just offer a path into a vibrant, well-paying industry. It doesn’t just offer a pipeline into a decent upper-middle class living. To me, coding is also a way of life that improves our lives in the modern age.
As I’m sure the parents in the crowd know, we live in a world of distractions. Everytime we face some stress or anxiety, we can open our phones, go online, and then basically never be seen again until we want to be. In many ways, this is a good thing. We have an endless amount of information and entertainment at our fingertips - but this also means that we have endless ways to avoid challenges instead of facing them head-on. As a millenial, I believe one of the biggest challenges of our modern age is learning to manage stress in a world of endless distractions.
When you code, you can’t beat yourself up for all the bugs you make, because that would be a hell of a lot of bugs…You have to learn how to manage your mistakes and keep going without self-blame.
Coding, believe it or not, is a good way of doing that. Coding teaches logic, creativity, and very deep focus, but most importantly, it teaches grit. When you code, you can’t beat yourself up for all the bugs you make, because that would be a hell of a lot of bugs. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a newbie or an experienced dev. You have to learn how to manage your mistakes and keep going without self-blame.
As I always tell my students, “The bug is in the code. The bug is not with you” - and that’s especially important for girls. As we know, a lot of young girls are taught to internalize mistakes, to internalize their bugs. They’re held to extreme standards where they’re taught they’re “not good enough” if they make the slightest mistake. And that’s BS.
That’s why I think it’s very important to teach girls to code. Not just to fight the gender gap in tech, but to fight all the negative ways that girls are taught to think about themselves. So thank you Synchrony, thank you Girls Who Code for giving me the chance to run this class.