Software engineering specifically is about designing, writing, testing, implementing and maintaining software. In 2017 and beyond, it is about much more. Software doesn’t affect any one group of people; rather, software plays a massive role in our lives from the moment we wake up, travel to work, school or wherever we spend significant time during our lives. This talk delivered in November 2017 to high school students in Australia, aims to introduce teenagers to the wide range of opportunities in software engineering and information technology-related majors at university and careers upon graduation. #STEM #sofwareengineering #robotics #AI #GirlsCanCode

1. WHY
CONSIDER
SOFTWARE AS
A CAREER?
https://about.me/bernadettehyland
Bernadette Hyland, CEO & tech
startup founder
~ St Peters Lutheran College ~
9 November 2017

2. At its core, software engineering is concerned with designing, writing, testing,
implementing and maintaining software …

3. Software is in everything we touch … our TVs, music, mobile devices, to
services that impact us … healthcare, banks, transportation, home & school
From the moment we wake up, until we sleep, we are using software in our
daily lives.

4. OPPORTUNITIES FOR
IMPACT

5. COLLABORATION & TEAMS

6. CREATIVITY &
PERSONAL GROWTH

7. DEMAND FOR SKILLED SOFTWARE
ENGINEERS

9. LOTS OF GROWTH IN BRISBANE &
BEYOND!

10. CONTRIBUTE TO REAL WORLD
ISSUES …

11. Benefits of a career in software … working with other bright, creative people.
Opportunities worldwide. Great pay & benefits.

12. STATS ON WOMEN IN SOFTWARE
➤ 1985 - about 37% of U.S.
computer science degrees (BS,
BA) conferred to women
➤ By mid-1990’s, U.S. women
studying computer science fell
below 30%
➤ By 2010, women made up only
17% of CS undergraduates,
though women represent 47%
of the workforce as compared
to 38% in the 1970s.
The Current State of Women in Computer Science, U.S. National
Center for Educational Statistics
https://about.me/bernadettehyland

13. “Computer guys” marketed PCs to guys
just like them…
SO WHAT HAPPENED?!!

14. Occasionally the
marketing department
branched out…
Creating even more
alienating marketing
campaigns…
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15. slide credit: https://image.slidesharecdn.com/girlgeekdinner12-141216210832-conversion-gate01/95/a-brief-history-of-programming-18-638.jpg

17. Dr. Euphemia Lofton Haynes,
mathematician & activist for desegregation
Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, U.S. Navy
ENIAC computer programmer, created a
language compiler, Mark I programmer
Katherine Johnson, NASA
calculated trajectory for the
first American in space to
inaugural Space Shuttle flight.
The movie Hidden Figures
featured her.

18. Annie Easley, NASA, worked on
technologies that led to hybrid vehicles
& software for spaceflight exploration. Margaret Hamilton, NASA lead software engineer,
MIT professor who later coined the term “software
engineering”

19. In software engineering, we
do a lot of “firsts”
First African American
woman to earn her PhD
at MIT (2001)
Professor Latanya Arvette Sweeney, Harvard, privacy technology expert

20. Meg Smith, U.S. Federal CTO

21. “Many young women & men today are
unaware of the variety of jobs that use
software engineering and IT expertise —
including UI/UX design, requirements
analysis, product management, space
exploration, systems engineering, AI &
robotics. My goal is to change that.
-Bernadette Hyland

22. CREDITS
CSIRAC, the first computer in Australia (1949-1964), https://collections.museumvictoria.com.au/
articles/1337
Define diversity in the workplace, smallbusiness.chron.com/define-diversity-
workplace-4926.html
Female Math Pioneers who changed our world, http://www.dreambox.com/blog/female-math-
pioneers-infographic
Queensland Anti-Discrimination Commission Queensland, see https://www.adcq.qld.gov.au/
resources
Rocket Women - NASA’s Female Pioneers, see http://rocket-women.com/2016/03/nasas-
female-pioneers-women-from-history-you-should-know/
She Can Code blog “How Diversity Made My Team More Successful, see https://shecancode.io/
blog/whydiversityimprovesteamwork
The Current State of Women in Computer Science, see http://www.computerscience.org/
resources/women-in-computer-science/