Remember that running joke you had in college about engineering students looking like T-squares? Oh come on, no need to be hypocrites here; you'd be lying if you didn't catch yourself unwittingly laughing at those—that is if you're not one of them.
Well, those people you described as drawing instrument-looking are back with a vengeance...and quite beautifully at that.
Recently, a looker of an engineer from San Francisco named Isis Anchalee—who was featured in a recruitment ad—hit back at critics questioning her merits through a blog entry.
(The highlighted comment reads: This is some weird haphazard branding. I think they want to appeal to women, but are probably just appealing to dudes. Perhaps that's the intention all along. But I'm curious people with brains find this quote remotely plausible and if women in particular buy this image of what a female software engineer looks like. Idk. Weird.) (Photo via Anchalee's blog)
Photo via Anchalee's blog
Anchalee wrote as a response to the issue, "This industry’s culture fosters an unconscious lack of sensitivity towards those who do not fit a certain mould. I’m sure that every other women and non-male identifying person in this field has a long list of mild to extreme personal offenses that they’ve just had to tolerate."
She clarified, "I’m not trying to get anyone in trouble, fired or ruin anyone’s life. I just want to make it clear that we are all humans, and there are certain patterns of behaviour that no one should have to tolerate while in a professional environment."
Anchalee then encouraged other women engineers to post their pictures, along with their achievements and contributions to the field of science, technology, engineering and mathematics using the hashtag, "#ILookLikeAnEngineer."
Just updated my Medium post! #iLookLikeAnEngineer pic.twitter.com/szMTCuRVu0
— Isis Anchalee (@isisAnchalee) August 3, 2015What came next was a Twitter feed filled with both beautiful and brainy ladies:
Don't know how I'm supposed to look but proud to be a woman mechanical engineer #ILookLikeAnEngineer @isisAnchalee pic.twitter.com/7HP3pR1b0B
— Michelle Easter (@MichelleEaster) August 5, 2015Engineering degrees from @MIT #ILookLikeAnEngineer (read: https://t.co/tZpuMu5fwT) pic.twitter.com/kKNEQqd5kq
— Emily Calandrelli (@TheSpaceGal) August 3, 2015I was one of the earliest engs @Pinterest; I've worked on infra, api, web, ads, homefeed & more #ILookLikeAnEngineer pic.twitter.com/vn0aS58JIv
— Tracy Chou (@triketora) August 4, 2015Project Engr. for Major Int'l Oil & Gas Co. 👓📊
Texas A&M Univ. Civil Engineering c/o '13 👍🏻
#ILookLikeAnEngineer ☺️💪🏻 pic.twitter.com/chQYMzxZeV
— HTC_Sarah C (@HTC_SarahC) August 5, 2015I'm from Iran. I'm a senior at @UW studying Mechanical Eng. and I love breaking stereotypes. #ILookLikeAnEngineer pic.twitter.com/0HD80w36Rr
— Leila Asfari (@LeilaAsfari) August 6, 2015I have a B.S. in Chem & Bio Engineering and design fuel measurement solutions for ships. #ILookLikeAnEngineer pic.twitter.com/3TOpZ8cfcx
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— DBC_EmilyM (@DBC_EmilyM) August 6, 2015I worked as an engineer at @Intel + @Twitter, now I build features for Windows at @Microsoft #ILookLikeAnEngineer pic.twitter.com/ttGUnHseYH
— dara (@daraoke) August 4, 2015Love this #ILookLikeAnEngineer campaign. Early on I was afraid to wear dresses to Rails meetups. No more! pic.twitter.com/icLR3eDg7N
— Liz Hubertz (@lizhubertz) August 5, 2015i have undergrad & grad degrees in eecs from mit & have done machine learning research on asimo #iLookLikeAnEngineer pic.twitter.com/c5OxS5wB2F
— sailor mercury (@sailorhg) August 3, 2015I am the iOS eng and co-founder of @EtchForMe, featured as a Best New App by Apple. #ILookLikeAnEngineer pic.twitter.com/ZLZ9E6FREo
— Ahryun (@Ahryun) August 5, 2015I'm Korean, Dominican, Spanish, and five feet tall. I write code all day. I wear lipstick. #ILookLikeAnEngineer pic.twitter.com/XFY3AKjVzj
— Alisha Ramos (@alishalisha) August 4, 2015I defended my PhD in math modeling at Stanford 6 weeks postpartum, 1 year after co-founding FG #ILookLikeAnEngineer pic.twitter.com/hrPQ5HBp1k
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— Ann Miura-Ko (@annimaniac) August 4, 2015#ILookLikeAnEngineer, because I am one. 10 years in FOSS, EECS degree, started programming by learning Z80 by myself. pic.twitter.com/5ebRD1t7r1
— Burcu Dogan (@rakyll) August 4, 2015CS degree, 20+yrs full stack. Started w/ Pascal on an IBM PS/1. Prefer back-end dev & simulation #ILookLikeAnEngineer pic.twitter.com/ibFx5r1ZUq
— Kishau Rogers (@kishau) August 4, 2015I'm a Biomaterials Engineer who is trying to change how the world accesses healthcare. #ILookLikeAnEngineer pic.twitter.com/Td3jxPZQ0f
— B. (@BKuzan) August 4, 2015I love fluid mechanics&engineering, rock, cats, make up, cars, yoga and books, because why not? #ILookLikeAnEngineer pic.twitter.com/An9LOR3Afh
— Jeyna The Warrior (@je_vitamini) August 5, 2015We make holograms! Love this hashtag. #ILookLikeAnEngineer #HoloLens @JoanChao pic.twitter.com/QAe3oTEoKg
— Lauren Bissett (@laurenjbissett) August 3, 2015Here are some of our engineers. #ILookLikeAnEngineer pic.twitter.com/hXStr2VPmX
— Uber San Francisco (@Uber_SF) August 5, 2015I have another photo to share for #ILookLikeAnEngineer. Every single woman in this photo is a software engineer. pic.twitter.com/71soJ8uRLE
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— Becky Standig (@understandig) August 3, 2015
Female engineers - 1, sexists - 0.
