“STILL AROUND”: Experiences and Survival Strategies of Veteran Women Software Developers
The intersection of ageism and sexism can create a hostile environment for veteran software developers belonging to marginalized genders. In this study, we conducted 14 interviews to examine the experiences of people at this intersection, primarily women, in order to discover the strategies they employed in order to successfully remain in the field. We identified 283 codes, which fell into three main categories: Strategies, Experiences, and Perception. Several strategies we identified, such as (Deliberately) Not Trying to Look Younger, were not previously described in the software engineering literature. We found that, in some companies, older women developers are recognized as having particular value, further strengthening the known benefits of diversity in the workforce. Based on the experiences and strategies, we suggest organizations employing software developers to consider the benefits of hiring veteran women software developers. For example, companies can draw upon the life experiences of older women developers in order to better understand the needs of customers from a similar demographic. While we recognize that many of the strategies employed by our study participants are a response to systemic issues, we still consider that, in the short-term, there is benefit in describing these strategies for developers who are experiencing such issues today.
Thu 18 MayDisplayed time zone: Hobart change
11:00 - 12:30 | Studies on gender in SESEIS - Software Engineering in Society / Technical Track / SEET - Software Engineering Education and Training at Meeting Room 101 Chair(s): Ita Richardson Lero - The Irish Software Research Centre and University of Limerick | ||
11:00 15mTalk | “STILL AROUND”: Experiences and Survival Strategies of Veteran Women Software Developers Technical Track Sterre van Breukelen Eindhoven University of Technology, Ann Barcomb Department of Electrical and Software Engineering, Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary, Sebastian Baltes SAP SE & University of Adelaide, Alexander Serebrenik Eindhoven University of Technology Pre-print | ||
11:15 15mTalk | The ABC of Pair Programming: Gender-dependent Attitude, Behavior and Code of Young Learners SEET - Software Engineering Education and Training Pre-print | ||
11:30 15mTalk | Engaging Girls in Computer Science: Do Single-Gender Interdisciplinary Classes Help? SEET - Software Engineering Education and Training Kai Marquardt Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Lucia Happe Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Ingo Wagner Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) Pre-print | ||
11:45 15mPaper | Fundamentalists, Integrationists, & Transformationists: An Empirical Theory of Men Software Engineers' Orientations in Gender Inequalities SEIS - Software Engineering in Society Yi Wang Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Xinyue Zhang Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Wei Wang Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications | ||
12:00 15mPaper | Draw a Software Engineer Test - An Investigation into Children's Perception of Software Engineering Profession SEIS - Software Engineering in Society Claudia Maria Cutrupi Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Irene Zanardi USI Università della Svizzera italiana, Letizia Jaccheri Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Monica Landoni USI Università della Svizzera italiana | ||
12:15 15mFull-paper | Benefits and Limitations of Remote Work to LGBTQIA+ Software Professionals SEIS - Software Engineering in Society Ronnie de Souza Santos Cape Breton University, Cleyton V. C. de Magalhaes CESAR School, Paul Ralph Dalhousie University Pre-print |