Wogrammer Is Creating a New Image for Women in Engineering

In just four years, there will be an estimated 1.4 million jobs in computer science available.

Now, the question is how many of those jobs will be filled by women? Women only make up for about 25 percent  of the computing world right now but what’s more frustrating than the lack of diversity? The lack of interest in the work that women in computer science and engineering are doing.

Most people are only interested in how someone got to where they are rather than what they are actually producing. This is the case for many women in tech. Most articles we see on the topic usually cover the stats on the diversity issues or other problems of sexism within the classroom or workplace. Why doesn’t anyone want to write stories on the software and programs women are actually building?

Wogrammer  was created by Erin Summers and Zainab Ghadiyal to do just that. They aim to shine a light on the work these women are putting in and not just the struggles they deal with in their careers. There are many stereotypes of what an “engineer” looks like but Wogrammer is focused on highlighting the technical achievements of the women featured on the site. 

Erin Summers graduated from University of California Berkeley with her PhD in electrical engineering and computer science. She has worked for Facebook, NASA, and is currently a software engineer at Oculus VR. Zainab Ghadiyal received her masters in industrial engineering and computer science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and currency works as a software engineer at Facebook.

With over 5,000 followers on Medium, Wogrammer has interviewed over 50 engineers so far. Women are welcome to share their stories or nominate an inspiring woman they think should be featured. The site has featured women working at Apple, Facebook, The White House and even women in aviation and aerospace engineering.

“We are women. We are programmers. We are Wogrammers,” is the message to women posted on their Medium profile. The purpose of Wogrammers is to build up the women who work in computer science and break down the stereotypes that hold them back. These ladies are breaking the “brogrammer” stereotype, one story at a time.