Michael and I had a really cool conversation about the barriers we’ve experienced while in STEM a bit ago. Technical language is a major one. Often times my courses are made so much more complex and impossible because teachers want us to interpret technical jargon on our own https://twitter.com/michaelcrits/status/1265760100460793856">https://twitter.com/michaelcr...

Not to make this a long thread but one example I’m experiencing while in quarantine is in my Computer Architecture class. Very valuable information/skills but in the midst of quarantine and immense workload we are expected to do massive projects with no lectures or instruction.

This project I’m on has not been covered in the textbook. There are no lectures. There are tons of initializations and terms that I don’t even know. How can you build something like a car if you don’t know what a car is much less what the engine is?

Anyways not to complain too much but I think in STEM there is a lot of the energy of “figure it out on your own or fail”. That or be willing to put up with lots of judgement about what you do or do not understand. Often as a woman Imust choose between condescending help or none.

I also write this thread in the midst of massive stress about these projects due in an insane timeline that has made me cry multiple times. So I guess it’s a relief to see others in my field that I respect struggle with the same thing.