As a guy, I experienced the same feelings of not being good enough to make it as a programmer, throughout school and my early career.
Of my programmer friends and classmates who quickly landed good jobs, only one ever took the initiative to ask his boss to consider hiring me. The others just smiled and shrugged when I begged for career advice.
Once I had squeezed into my first company, I rarely received support from my coworkers, and mostly advanced my skills through staying at work for extra hours and spending lonely weekends on side projects. I've come a long way, but I still wonder how far ahead I would be today if I'd just received a bit more support early on.
I'm not convinced that there is widespread sexism in the computer industry, because I've worked alongside and been managed by many fantastic women, and witnessed them advance as quickly as me.
However, I think it's a rare individual who can become a great programmer without having strong support, mentorship and encouragement. Women need that support just as crucially as men, and it's important to draw attention to the places where they are not receiving it.
ahris's response to another comment applies here as well:
"While confidence isn't an issue restricted to just women, it is a more prominent issue for them on average."
This is generally an important thing to consider. Just because a particular issue applies to you or you've seen a similar pattern amongst male colleagues doesn't mean that it isn't a more acute issue for women.
> I'm not convinced that there is widespread sexism in the computer industry, because I've worked alongside and been managed by many fantastic women, and witnessed them advance as quickly as me.
Relying on just the evidence you have directly around you is the same as relying on anecdotes. It's possible you've been lucky and work at a particularly un-sexist companies, but that perhaps the industry as a whole has an issue with sexism.
You're entirely correct, though I want to emphasize that while I understand that my own experiences are limited, I haven't found arguments that there is widespread sexism to be more convincing than my own experience. I'm quite open to being convinced otherwise, should a strong argument be made.
Of my programmer friends and classmates who quickly landed good jobs, only one ever took the initiative to ask his boss to consider hiring me. The others just smiled and shrugged when I begged for career advice.
Once I had squeezed into my first company, I rarely received support from my coworkers, and mostly advanced my skills through staying at work for extra hours and spending lonely weekends on side projects. I've come a long way, but I still wonder how far ahead I would be today if I'd just received a bit more support early on.
I'm not convinced that there is widespread sexism in the computer industry, because I've worked alongside and been managed by many fantastic women, and witnessed them advance as quickly as me.
However, I think it's a rare individual who can become a great programmer without having strong support, mentorship and encouragement. Women need that support just as crucially as men, and it's important to draw attention to the places where they are not receiving it.