This 22-year-old just shut everyone up with her #ILookLikeAnEngineer campaign

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How does an engineer actually have to look? Well, that’s exactly what 22-year-old Isis Anchalee, a platform engineer working in San Francisco ended up asking when a recruitment campaign she did for her company, One Login, got her the kind of attention she never expected, and more importantly didn't deserve. Isis didn’t stay quiet after that. She ended up writing on Medium, her experiences on working as a female in the engineering field . Her picture evoked various responses with many discussing her appearance. According to Business Insider, comments on social media began questioning if her looks were catered to draw attention of male software engineers. Many threads also discussed whether she "looks like an engineer". Image courtesy: Medium.com Pointing out that the kind of attention she received was one of her biggest nightmares, she wrote in her post: "I’m pretty blown away at the amount of attention my ad particularly has received. Friends have messaged me screenshots of their friends (who don’t know me) who have posted photos of it followed by discussion threads where it has received both positive and negative attention. Some of the responses warm my heart while others I consider to be kind of shocking… I didn’t ask for any of this attention, and I’m rather uncomfortable with all of it." Writing about dealing with unwarranted attention in the professional field, she wrote about dealing with men who threw dollar bills at her or suggested ideas of being "friends with benefits". I would like to add that both men responsible for these unfavorable experiences are not bad people. They are both socially-accepted, "smart" and "normal" guys. This illustrates one of the industry’s deep underlying issues. There is a significant lack of empathy and insight towards recognizing that their "playful/harmless" behavior is responsible for making others inappropriately uncomfortable. This industry’s culture fosters an unconscious lack of sensitivity towards those who do not fit a certain mold. I’m sure that every other women and non-male identifying person in this field has a long list of mild to extreme personal offenses that they’ve just had to tolerate. I’m not trying to get anyone in trouble, fired or ruin anyone’s life. I just want to make it clear that we are all humans, and there are certain patterns of behavior that no one should have to tolerate while in a professional environment. By talking about uncomfortable experiences she had faced in her industry, she appealed to others to "help" redefine what it meant to look like an engineer. Just updated my Medium post! #iLookLikeAnEngineer pic.twitter.com/szMTCuRVu0 — Isis Anchalee (@isisAnchalee) August 3, 2015 And the Internet did not fail her. The idea has taken off, with women from various backgrounds around the world showing their support. I'm a Biomaterials Engineer who is trying to change how the world accesses healthcare. #ILookLikeAnEngineer pic.twitter.com/Td3jxPZQ0f — B. (@BKuzan) August 4, 2015 I'm from Benin, West Africa. I'm Black. I have short hair, and I smile a LOT. #ILookLikeAnEngineer pic.twitter.com/3g0osIQxZ8 — Pamela Assogba (@pam_yam) August 4, 2015 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 #ILookLikeAnEngineer, because I am one. 10 years in FOSS, EECS degree, started programming by learning Z80 by myself. pic.twitter.com/5ebRD1t7r1 — Burcu Dogan (@rakyll) August 4, 2015 I run the npm registry. #ILookLikeAnEngineer pic.twitter.com/hfpdDRfYRp — Ceej engine (@ceejbot) August 3, 2015 #ILookLikeAnEngineer because I am one. (In support of @isisAnchalee and diversity in tech: https://t.co/WkWlMd4fcL) pic.twitter.com/L3CgsVdWwE — Michelle Glauser (@MichelleGlauser) August 3, 2015 I have another photo to share for #ILookLikeAnEngineer. Every single woman in this photo is a software engineer. pic.twitter.com/71soJ8uRLE — Becky Standig (@understandig) August 3, 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 #MomOps to 3 {autism, T1 Diabetes, & Tethered Spinal Cord} Ops, Infrastructure, Full Stackaroni #ILookLikeAnEngineer pic.twitter.com/zcr3NrmfEK — Carmen Caelestis (@Caelestisca) August 4, 2015 What's next? According to her post on Medium, Isis is in the process of setting up a website http://www.ilooklikeanengineer.com/ where people can share and discuss issues relating to diversity issues in the tech field. Want to share your own image? Alisha Ramos came up with her own Twitter photo generator to support the cause. Read Isis' Medium post here.

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