This Is What an Engineer Looks Like

16 Aug 2015 | By Zohar Friedman

In an awesome display of viral feminism, female and minority engineers on Twitter break stereotypes about who works in this rigorous, science driven field.

It’s hard to say how or when it started, but the #ILookLikeAnEngineer Twitter movement is shaking up popular perception of the types of people work in sciences – in the best possible way.

The campaign started after a particularly trying summer for female scientists. This past June, Nobel Prize winner Tim Hunt made headlines when he asserted that women were distracting in the laboratory. More recently yet, Isis Wenger, a female platform engineer at OneLogin, appeared in an advertisement for her company and received feedback on her photo mostly relating to her appearance and undermining her professionally.

In response, Wenger wrote a short essay and included a picture of herself with the hashtag, #ILookLikeAnEngineer – and encouraged other women to do the same.

The result has been a social media celebration, drawing attention to the massive contribution of women to science and engineering, breaking stereotypes, and raising awareness about the importance of creating an inclusive space in the sciences for professionals of all kinds.

ENGINEERS ARE WOMEN – OF ALL BACKGROUNDS

I’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, 2015

I 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, 2015

I worked as an engineer at @Intel + @Twitter, now I build features for Windows at @Microsoft #ILookLikeAnEngineer pic.twitter.com/ttGUnHseYH

— dara (@daraoke) August 4, 2015

#ILookLikeAnEngineer because no matter how I dress, I still can code. pic.twitter.com/DPlCLXvpg7

— julia ferraioli (@juliaferraioli) August 4, 2015

#ILookLikeAnEngineer who could use more sleep. No need to run my creds, I’ll still be an eng without your validation. pic.twitter.com/KhCBh8LPNL

— ¯_(?)_/¯ (@EricaJoy) August 4, 2015

ENGINEERS ARE MOMS

I’ve put Java, C#, Ruby, Golang, JavaScript, & a baby into Production this year. #ILookLikeAnEngineer pic.twitter.com/NDuZeVFkpv

— Lisa Smith (@lisariendeau) August 4, 2015

#MomOps to 3 {autism, T1 Diabetes, & Tethered Spinal Cord} Ops, Infrastructure, Full Stackaroni #ILookLikeAnEngineer pic.twitter.com/zcr3NrmfEK

— Carmen Caelestis (@Caelestisca) August 4, 2015

My mom, Perl hacker, 20+ years sys analyst. Nuclear physicist. Started coding on punch cards! #iLookLikeAnEngineer pic.twitter.com/0VhMB56ps6

— Marcos Caceres (@marcosc) August 4, 2015

ENGINEERS ARE MINORITIES
Minority men also took to Twitter to promote other kinds of diversity in the sciences.

I’ve written software to protect and break into networks. I also like math. #ILookLikeAnEngineer pic.twitter.com/XPYVoTO7e5

— Bryan Liles (@bryanl) August 4, 2015

#ILookLikeAnEngineer Love to build with Ruby on Rails & Ember.js, currently helping build Skynet at my 9-5 job, nbd. pic.twitter.com/6qXs4BzcK6

— Iheanyi Ekechukwu (@kwuchu) August 4, 2015