我是女生,我會計算機編程

When she was a little girl growing up in the Bronx, Nikki Allen dreamed of being a forensic scientist. As a teenager, she liked studying science in school, and she thought forensics offered a way to give back to her neighborhood. Not insignificant, the job also looked pretty cool — at least based on the many hours of "CSI" Allen had watched on TV with her aunt.

在紐約市布朗克斯區長大的尼克·艾倫(Nikki Allen)還是個小女孩時，就萌生了當一名法醫學家的夢想。十來歲時，她喜歡上科學課，她認爲法醫提供了一種回饋鄰里的方式。另一個並非無關緊要的原因是，這項工作看起來非常酷，至少《犯罪現場調查》(CSI)給艾倫留下了這種印象——她和姑姑曾經長時間追看這部劇集。

Allen, who is now 16, had considerably less interest in computer programming. But this spring, her chemistry teacher recommended that she apply for an eight-week computer-science program with Girls Who Code, a nonprofit that teaches middle- and high-school girls programming skills. At first, Allen told me, she was skeptical; she didn't really understand what computer science was. The experience, however, got her hooked on coding, and she has even started to teach her sister how to write software. When Allen goes to college, she expects to major in the subject.

對於計算機編程，現年16歲的艾倫就沒有這麼大的興致了。但今年春天，她的化學老師建議她申請參加一個爲期8周的計算機科學培訓項目，其主辦方是一家名爲“編程女孩”(Girls Who Code)，致力於向中學女生傳授編程技巧的非營利組織。艾倫告訴我，她起初持懷疑態度，真的不太明白計算機科學是什麼。然而，這段培訓經歷讓艾倫迷上了編碼，她甚至開始教妹妹如何編寫軟件。她希望將來上大學時主修這門專業。

Computer science is an incredibly promising major, especially for a young woman. That and engineering are among the college degrees that can offer the highest incomes and the most flexibility — attributes widely cited for drawing many women into formerly male-dominated fields like medicine. Writing code and designing networks are also a lot more portable than nursing, teaching and other traditional pink-collar occupations. Yet just 0.4 percent of all female college freshmen say they intend to major in computer science. In fact, the share of women in computer science has actually fallen over the years. In 1990-91, about 29 percent of bachelor's degrees awarded in computer and information sciences went to women; 20 years later, it has plunged to 18 percent. Today, just a quarter of all Americans in computer-related occupations are women.

計算機科學是一個前途好得令人難以置信的專業，對於年輕女性尤爲如此。這門學科和工程學高居收入前景最好，工作靈活性最高的大學學位之列。人們普遍認爲，正是這兩項特徵吸引許多女性進入此前以男性爲主的領域（比如醫療）。此外，相較於護理、教書和其他傳統粉領職業，編寫代碼和設計網絡的可轉移性顯然要高得多。然而，僅有0.4%的大一女生表示，她們打算主修計算機科學。事實上，在主修計算機科學的大學生中，女生的佔比多年來一直呈下降趨勢。在1990至1991年，大約29%的計算機和信息科學學士學位被頒發給了女性；20年後，這一比例已降至18％。如今，在美國所有計算機相關領域的從業者中，僅有四分之一是女性。

One of the biggest challenges, according to many in the industry, may be a public-image problem. Most young people, like Allen, simply don't come into contact with computer scientists and engineers in their daily lives, and they don't really understand what they do. And to the extent that Americans do, "they think of Dilbert," explains Jeffrey Wilcox, vice president of engineering at Lockheed Martin. ("Dilbert" being shorthand, of course, for boring, antisocial, cubicle-contained drudgery, conducted mostly by awkward men in short-sleeve dress shirts — a bit like "Office Space," only worse.) "I think it's just about telling our story better," Wilcox said. "We as engineers, and I'm guilty of this, we're not great storytellers."

許多業內人士認爲，最大挑戰之一可能是公衆形象問題。像艾倫一樣，大多數年輕人在日常生活中壓根沒有接觸過計算機科學家和工程師，他們確實不清楚這些人的具體工作。在許多美國人的印象中，“他們就是一羣呆伯特(Dilbert)，”洛克希德·馬丁公司(Lockheed Martin)工程事務副總裁傑弗裏·威爾科克斯(Jeffrey Wilcox)解釋說。當然，呆伯特是用來簡單指稱那些無聊、孤僻、被封閉在隔間的苦差事，幹這些活的多是穿短袖襯衫的“笨拙男”——有點像電影《上班一條蟲》(Office Space)的場景，只不過還要更糟糕。“我認爲當務之急就是更好地講述我們的故事，”威爾科克斯說。“我對此感到內疚，我們是工程師，不善於講故事。”

Public narratives about a career make a difference. The most common career aspiration named on Girls Who Code applications is forensic science. Like Allen, few if any of the girls have ever met anyone in that field, but they've all watched "CSI," "Bones" or some other show in which a cool chick with great hair in a lab coat gets to use her scientific know-how to solve a crime. This so-called "CSI" effect has been credited for helping turn forensic science from a primarily male occupation into a primarily female one.

公衆對一門職業的闡述，往往能產生深遠的影響。在編程女孩項目的申請表中，最常見的職業夢想是法醫學家。如同艾倫一樣，幾乎沒有一位女孩曾經遇見過這一領域的從業者，但她們都看過《犯罪現場調查》、《識骨尋蹤》(Bones)或其他類似劇集——其經典場景是，一位長着一頭秀髮，身穿實驗室白大褂的酷女郎運用她的法醫知識破解了一起撲朔迷離的罪案。業內人士普遍認爲，法醫學的主力軍之所以從男性變爲女性，這種所謂的“《犯罪現場調查》效應”絕對功不可沒。

There is, of course, no pop-culture corollary for computer science. A study financed by the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media found that recent family films, children's shows and prime-time programs featured extraordinarily few characters with computer science or engineering occupations, and even fewer who were female. The ratio of men to women in those jobs is 14.25 to 1 in family films and 5.4 to 1 in prime time. Whenever high-ranking people in the tech industry meet, whether at the White House or a Clinton Global Initiative conference, one executive says, "we almost always walk away from the discussion having come to the conclusion we need a television show." Nearly every tech or nonprofit executive I spoke with mentioned their hope that "The Social Network" has improved the public's perception of programmers. They also mentioned how bummed they were that the hit film didn't include more prominent female characters. Meanwhile, the National Academy of Sciences now offers a program called the Sciencesand Entertainment Exchange that gives writers and producers free consultation with all kinds of scientists. Natalie Portman's character in the superhero movie "Thor," for instance, started out as a nurse. After a consultation with scientists introduced through the exchange, she became an astrophysicist.

當然，對於計算機科學來說，這種流行文化效應是不存在的。一項由吉娜戴維斯媒體性別研究所(Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media)資助的研究發現，近期上映的家庭電影、兒童節目和黃金檔節目中幾乎看不到從事計算機科學或工程類職業的角色，由女性扮演的此類角色更是少之又少。在家庭電影中，從事這些工作的男女比例爲14.25比1，黃金檔節目爲5.4比1。無論是在白宮，還是在克林頓全球倡議(Clinton Global Initiative)的峯會上，每當高科技產業的高層人士聚在一起攀談時，“我們幾乎總是會得出一個結論，那就是我們需要一檔電視節目，”一位高管如是說。幾乎每一位接受我採訪的高科技企業或非營利組織高管都希望，電影《社交網絡》(The Social Network)已經改善了公衆對程序員的看法。這些高管也提到了一件讓他們特別沮喪的事情：這部賣座電影沒有更爲突出的女性角色。與此同時，美國國家科學院(National Academy of Sciences)現在開設了一個名爲“科學與娛樂交流”(Sciences and Entertainment Exchange)的項目，編劇和製片人可藉助這一平臺免費諮詢各類科學家的意見。比如，在超級英雄電影《雷神》(Thor)中，娜塔莉·波特曼(Natalie Portman)原本計劃出演一位護士。與這個交流項目引薦的科學家協商之後，她最終扮演的是一位天體物理學家。

Casting Sofia Vergara as a hacker with a heart of gold may seem an eye-roll-worthy suggestion, but the Labor Department has estimated that there will be 1.4 million job openings for computer-related occupations this decade. The skills required to fill these jobs can be imported from places like India and China, or they can be homegrown. And right now, kids are not learning about them in school. Most elementary and public schools don't teach computer science, said Cameron Wilson, the chief operating officer at , a nonprofit that advocates for greater access to computer-science education. The few that do usually only teach how to use technology (creating a PowerPoint presentation, say) rather than how to create it. There is also the issue of recruiting teachers. The median job for people with a computer-science degree pays around $80,000 to $100,000; the typical teaching salary is closer to $45,000 or $55,000.

讓索菲婭·維加拉(Sofia Vergara)扮演一位心地善良的黑客，似乎是一個可能會遭人白眼的建議。但據美國勞工部(Labor Department)估計，在2010-2019年，美國將出現140萬個與計算機相關的就業缺口。填補這些職位所需的技能可以從中國和印度等國進口，或者在美國本土培養。但美國的孩子現在並沒有在學校學習這些技能。編碼基金會()是一家倡導加大計算機科學教育力度的非營利組織，首席運營官卡梅隆·威爾遜(Cameron Wilson)指出，現在大多數小學和公立學校不教計算機科學。極少數開設這門課的學校通常只傳授如何使用技術，比如製作一個PowerPoint演示文稿，而不是如何創建技術。此外還有招聘教師的問題。擁有計算機科學學位的職場人士年收入中位數爲8萬至10萬美元左右；普通老師的年均工資則低得多——接近4.5萬或5.5萬美元。

There are skills gaps throughout sectors of our economy, particularly in health care and advanced manufacturing. But nowhere, arguably, are workers leaving more money and benefits on the table than computer science. The young girls at home watching "CSI" represent a sizable American talent pool that has yet to be tapped.

美國經濟的各個部門都存在技能缺口，醫療保健和先進製造業的情況尤爲嚴重。但計算機科學領域有潛力提供的薪水和福利，大概是其他任何產業無法比擬的。那些正在家裏觀看《犯罪現場調查》的年輕女孩所代表的，是一個龐大但還未被挖掘的人才庫。