Finding Your Inner Ada

Image from Wikipedia

A few months ago, I signed a pledge to be one of about 1500 bloggers to blog about a woman in technology on Ada Lovelace day (which happens to be today, March 24^th). The reason for this is because amongst the Jobs, Gates, and Wozinaks of the world there are few women, and although this minority in the technology community continues to grow, it is a slow growth which could be helped with the recognition of its many successful members.

While the pledge requests that each blogger recognizes a woman he or she admires in the field of technology, I instead want to spotlight every woman with the courage and perseverance to work towards gaining her chosen technological career. Just the thought of finding and keeping a job in this economy can seem intimidating, and the idea of entering a field dominated by men can make it seem even more so. Luckily, we have Ada to look up to! In learning about Ada’s life, we can learn some tricks to sticking it to the men and standing out in the technological field.

Ada Lovelace is considered to be the “first programmer,” due to her writings about the analytical engine, a machine invented by Charles Babbage, in which she included notes on the potential of such a machine which could exceed basic calculation but could one day run coded programs as well. Later, the U.S. Defense Department would name a computer program after her: Ada.

From Ada’s life we can learn that it is important to:

• Find your passion and your support – Ada’s interest in mathematics dominated her life from a young age thanks to her mother and family friends who supported and homeschooled her in math and science.

• Find a female role model – One of the ideas behind Ada Lovelace day is that women need female role models to look up to. Ada grew up in a male-dominated society, but one of the women who helped teach her was Mary Somerville a notable Scottish scientist and mathematician.

• Learn to Network – Ada was born into a higher class of society and therefore had the privilege of networking and socializing with a number of important people including Charles Babbage, the creator of the analytical engine which would help make her mark on the world. Now, in modern times you can use Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, Friendfeed, etc. to meet, socialize, and network with others in the technological field because you never know, that person you just tweeted or messaged might just be your future employer!

• Pay attention – If Ada hadn’t paid so much attention to Babbage’s work on the analytical engine, she might not have come up with her own ideas of potential computer programs. Pay attention to things that are going on in your chosen field, you never know when an opportunity will present itself!

Just because there seems to be more men in the field of technology doesn’t mean you’ll be the only woman there! If you work hard there isn’t any reason why next year, instead of Ada Lovelace day, we’ll be celebrating [Your Name Here] day to honor women in technology! I want to wish all women currently preparing to enter the field of technology the best of luck and I hope that next year I will be blogging about you and your achievements!