A Little More Seattle

Monday, April 26, 2010

I was in Seattle, WA this past weekend, for the CRA-W Grad Cohort workshop for women in computing sciences. I was at last year's, too, and it was pretty similar. I attend for the networking, [the sightseeing], and so I can better appreciate all the resources I have available to me at my university (listening to women from other universities really drives this point home).

However, repeated, concentrated discussion on women in computing science having problems with self-esteem issues and the impostor syndrome makes me wonder if this focus becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you don't have self-esteem issues, does constantly hearing about it cause them? If you do have self-esteem issues, does constantly hearing about it make the issues worse?

I suppose these thoughts could extend to people in general.