UW CSE Ph.D. alum Anne Condon, Head of the Department of Computer Science at the University of British Columbia, offers thoughts on addressing the gender imbalance in the field.
“It’s still the case today that anybody with a good high school background in science can get into computer science without any programming experience. But people probably think that without a computer background, they will get behind. That really isn’t true …
“High school students get very little exposure to computer science. I think they have preconceived ideas that are not accurate – that it’s not as interesting as science or engineering. But it’s really a very exciting field with huge opportunities. I’m also not sure girls are getting encouragement from teachers, counselors and parents.”
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