In Her Own Words: Learn from those around you
By: Girls Who Code Alumni, Kamile Demir
Growing up, I pictured myself in several different roles: a painter, a zoologist, an actor, a doctor. Indecisive, I felt frustrated about being able to choose only one. It wasn’t until my last year of high school that I even thought about a role in tech.
By that time, I had already started a path towards a medical career. When I came home at the end of the day, however, I relieved my exhaustion by watching animated films with my little brother, marveling at their beauty and pointing out the drastic improvements in animation graphics.
One afternoon, I watched a TED Talk where the presenter, a Pixar artist, spoke about the significant relationship between art and technology that turned an animated film into a masterpiece. I was blown away once she pointed out how software was used to make the art come alive.
More research convinced me that a career in tech was in the making my entire life. As a kid, I had performed in theatrical school shows in Turkey, spent my summers painting ice-capped mountains in Kazakhstan, and wrote short stories upon immigrating to New York City. I often played around with our desktop computer, watched behind-the-scenes footage of my favorite animated movies, and later in high school, began participating more in theatrical shows, a 3D printing club, and our Girls Who Code club. My eureka moment was realizing that tech was the art medium that brought all of my passions and experiences together.
The support I gained from Girls Who Code and my research inspired me to apply to colleges directly as a Computer Science major before even taking my first computing class. Considering how exhilarating the last two years have been, it was one of the best decisions I ever made.
Once I dived into the tech world, I began exploring web and game development at hackathons, learning the significant role of data in my courses, and reading about computer graphics in animation on my own time. Through the empowerment of women-in-tech communities, I felt encouraged to try everything that seemed interesting to me. And for now, that’s exactly what I’m doing: exploring intersecting fields of tech while mixing in theater, digital art, and other art mediums. If we want tech to make a positive impact on the world, we need to study it through every perspective possible.
As exciting as it is, a career in tech is difficult to navigate at times. I cannot count the amount of times I have felt displaced in my classes after counting the women to men ratio, and not smart enough to do well in rigorous courses. However, organizations such as Girls Who Code are the reason why many women can continue to explore possibilities that seem large and intimidating at first. Attending women’s tech conferences, women’s hackathons, and meeting peers have helped me learn about their many unique yet relatable experiences. Over the last year, I have realized that this support system can only exist with the collaboration of its members.
This year, my former high school’s Girls Who Code club asked me to speak at their first ever tech conference. It was incredible to witness the impact the Girls Who Code club had had on my primarily humanities-based curriculum at Bard High School Early College Queens: there were more computer science courses offered than ever before, more members in the GWC club, and their first ever tech conference, organized completely by the GWC club students!. As an alum, I spoke about my own experiences and gave advice to seniors who were worried they wouldn’t fit into the field or that their mathematical skills weren’t good enough. I would encourage anyone that has the opportunity to learn from and share with those around you; it only helps our communities grow stronger.
This summer I have been fortunate enough to witness more of this while interning for the Girls Who Code Alumni team. Three weeks in, I have been able to learn about and contribute to the immense behind-the-scenes efforts of Girls Who Code to bring new opportunities to women around the world. I cannot wait to discover even more ways to support my peers and to explore my own pathway through the intersection of technology and art.
Kamile Demir is currently the Alumni Team intern at Girls Who Code as well as an alum of her high school’s Girls Who Code club. She is going into her third year at Stony Brook University, as a Computer Science major and a Digital Arts minor.
