Girl + Computer = ?

This year, I have noticed several other CS major girls in my classes. This is extremely exciting, although I’m starting to feel settled among my guy CS buddies and my friends of all genders outside of classes - more on that later.

The number of CS girls I’ve seen around has quadrupled! Although I’m not on a first-name basis with one of them, its exciting seeing a little more balance among genders in my classes and finding other girls just as intrigued in programming as I am.

However, I overheard one of these girls talking with someone else after one of our shared classes ended. I hardly caught the whole discussion, but one thing stood out among the rest of the after-class chatter:

“I don’t even like programming.” 

How is it that people get into majors that they don’t enjoy, and then into career paths not meant for them? How might this girl have found herself as a CS major deep into her academic career and was unhappy with it?

Who knows, maybe she was just referencing how dull programming seems now, after a couple years of hard coding assignments. Maybe she was talking about she didn’t like web programming specifically.
I don’t know anything about her or her life, but I know that getting this far in a CS major takes either a lot of love or a lot of raw determination.
Having to go through a program this hard without loving it must be soul-crushing. Heck, I really enjoy the content of my classes but I even find my stress and unhappiness to be overwhelming sometimes! Imagine how much more that would be for someone who dislike the content, no matter what it is!

Again, I didn’t hear much else of the discussion, but I thought I heard her mention something about her parents working in engineering fields, implying that it was expected of her to follow in their footsteps.

If I’ve learned nothing from life and the people I love and admire, its that you can never let another person make a choice for you. It will never be worth it, and it will not be right for you as it was not what you would have done yourself.
Of course, everyone struggles in the balance between serving oneself and being agreeable. In fact, those close to me might know just how rich this comment is coming from me, a person who would much rather sacrifice her own comfort to avoid conflict with someone else.

Still, this is one of life’s major lessons, and upon learning it you will be set free from your own chains and start living your life as you please.

So, Allison, even though you joked about how you should switch to be a Hotel/Restaurant Management major, and I was much happier making the reverse change from HRM to CS, I hope the cosmos tells you this message from me - that following your heart is much more meaningful than following the whims and preferences of others.