I've always wanted to be famous. And interviewed. And appear in some publication. All of that happened, but not to me. It happened to Freia, who's now a celebrity who was interviewed. Well, almost a celebrity.
You can check it out at :
http://www.thehbicproject.com/interviews/tech-talents-freia-lobo-terri-burns/
You can check it out at :
http://www.thehbicproject.com/interviews/tech-talents-freia-lobo-terri-burns/
The Tech Talents: Freia Lobo and Terri Burns
From the moment The HBIC Project launched in June, my mom has asked
me to feature a woman studying computer science. She graduated with a
computer science degree in 1986. I always assumed she was one of the few
women in her classes, but it turns out that couldn’t be further from
the truth. The year before she graduated, 1985, 37 percent of computer science degrees went to women. That number has been on the decline ever since. Today, just 18 percent of computer science degrees are awarded to women.
“Mom, it’s harder to find a woman in computer science than you think,” I kept telling her. But I was about to be proven wrong!
A few weeks ago, two emails landed in my inbox within seconds of each other. Freia Lobo, an NYU sophomore from Mumbai studying computer science and economics, and Terri Burns, an NYU junior from Long Beach, CA studying computer science, each suggested I interview the other one. It turns out they’re both highly accomplished in the tech world — and best friends, too. Since meeting in an Intro to Computer Programming class last year, they’ve been inseparable.
Freia is on the board of Tech @ NYU, where she leads a program for freshmen. She also works for NYU’s Women in Computing, writes for NYU Local, and has interned for Girls Who Code. Terri manages Startup Week, a week-long event kicking off this Saturday run by Tech @ NYU. She also is an RA, founded the blog Hackers of Los Angeles, works at NYU’s Information Technology Services, runs events for NYU’s career center, and is a Google Student Ambassador. (Whew!)
The three of us met up for a conversation about what it means to be a woman in tech today.
HBIC: Your support for each other is so sweet. It must be amazing having such a close friend in the same industry.
TB: I can honestly say I have no idea if I’d be able to survive if it weren’t for Freia. No, seriously. We live in the same dorm and just Facebook-message each other all the time. Do you want to know what she did? She did the sweetest thing. I was sick a few weeks ago. She’s messaging me, like, “Oh, how are you feeling? If you need anything, let me know.” I said, “Actually, I could use some motivation from the outside world.” And then 15 minutes later, my doorbell rings, and I opened it. There was no one there, and I look on the ground, and there’s this bag of candy and chocolate and a little note with a heart on it that says, “Dear Terri, you can do it! Love, The Outside World.” How cute is that?
FL: It’s a very cool thing to a have a peer in your industry or field of study because most of my friends that I know outside of the CS major don’t care. As much as they’re like, “I’m so proud of you for scoring Google technical interviews,” but they don’t really know what it means. ” When I found out about Google, I told Terri and she reacted so differently than my parents or my friends, because she’s gone through the exact same process. So it’s cool to have someone to squeal with.
HBIC: What does it feel like to be a woman in the computer science department at NYU?
TB: I have a good number of women who are in my computer science classes. I would say maybe 40 percent or so. It’s very interesting because I do think there’s kind of this new movement going on about technology and getting people to learn how to code and all of that. But those numbers are still lacking for women. It’s something I personally think about quite a lot.
FL: We’re still in classes that any computer science minor would have to take, so once you make that jump, it apparently drops, but not too much. It’s not like you’re the only girl in the room or anything. But at NYU, you don’t feel it as much because one, there are so many people, and the rest of the school has a skewed to girls ratio, so except for those two hours when you’re in your CS class, you don’t feel outnumbered.
HBIC: Do you see an emphasis on tech programs actively trying to recruit women?
FL: I run a program called Freshman Circuit at NYU. We accept usually 20 freshmen. We get tours of different offices in the city, so we get to visit Microsoft, Kickstarter, and more. I really pushed a lot of girls to apply. While I was like, “Hey, are you a freshman? You should apply,” it was even more so if that person was a girl. When we accepted people, it was name-blind, but it ended up being almost 50/50 anyway.
TB: My initiative that I run is Startup Week. I was very aware of the number of women that applied. It’s always a weird balance to play, right? Because you want to get the best candidate, but I also like very much striving for diversity and different people and different personalities. I got very lucky because I interviewed around 15 people. The majority of them were men, but we did have a good portion – again, maybe like 40 percent or so – that were women, and they were all awesome. My team is now 50/50 exactly.
HBIC: What is Startup Week?
TB: Startup Week is Tech @ NYU’s flagship event. It happens once a semester and its a weeklong series of events related to tech. So we have coding workshops for people who are very beginner to people who are very advanced, we have design workshops, we have entrepreneurial debates, we have networking events where companies recruit and talk to people who they’re interested in, we have a keynote speaker, we’re going to have a huge rager that’s going to be awesome, plus we’re collaborating with a bunch of other tech clubs in the New York City area It’s the biggest Startup Week we’ve ever thrown thus far, we have a lot of events. It starts November 1st.
[Editor's note: Want to get attend a Startup Week event? Buy tickets here.]
HBIC: What do you want to do after graduation?
FL: I really want to be a software engineer when I graduate. I have a family member who worked for an early-stage startup when it was very few people. Then it really blew up and then they retired, but they had enough money so they only code for nonprofits now. So you have your money, so your life is okay, and then you’re also doing social good so someone else’s life gets better. That’s a very ideal combination. I’m on the hunt for a company that’s going to blow up, except every company thinks they’re going to blow up.
TB: I’m interested in product management or program management, which are positions in tech companies that are at the intersection of hardcore technical skills and business and marketing. I cannot be sitting in front of a laptop all day. I’m a people person. I like chatting with people and managing different teams and thinking about the user.
HBIC: What are your dream companies?
TB: We’re Google soul sisters right now.
FL: You should email my recruiter and tell her to hire me.
[Editor's note: Days after this interview, Google hired Freia as a summer intern!]
HBIC: Why Google? I mean, duh, it’s Google, but what specifically attracts you to it?
FL: They have divisions like Google X, which is this sketchy, top secret lab where they work on the world’s biggest problems. They came up with something called Project Loon that’s literally a network of WiFi-providing balloons that they’re planning to deploy in parts of Africa, India, or wherever, because you don’t have to go through the process of building the network and cable towers and all of that to get Internet access to these people.
TB: So how awesome would that be, to be on that team and traveling to Africa and Asia and New Zealand and launching these balloons into the sky?
HBIC: That sounds like such a crazy sci-fi novel.
FL: Last year, as a freshman, I got a coding interview at Google.
TB: We both did.
FL: It was so hard. After my interview, I called my mom and cried and ate chocolate. I thought, “I’m never going to get a job at Google until the day I die.” And then a month after that, I had an interview with Girls Who Code, which is where I ended up working this summer.
HBIC: I’ve heard such cool things about Girls Who Code (a summer academy for high school girls to learn coding skills, sponsored by companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Uber). What was that like?
FL: I still get texts [from my students] at 1 am Pacific Time being like, “Can you help me with my AP CS homework?” It’s like, “Ahhh. I just woke up. Are you still up?” They’re like, “Yes! I’m still awake! I can’t figure this out!” It’s like I’m a TA.
HBIC: Last month, you went to the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Tech conference in Arizona, right? What was that like?
TB: Yeah! Grace Hopper’s like the OG of women in computer science.
FL: There were several early women computer scientists in the military. This was still a lame job within the military, so they were like, “Yeah, we can give it to women, because, you know, it’s them sitting at a desk and literally punching holes, handwriting things.” That’s what computer science was then. One of the computers she worked with had a moth in it, so it wasn’t working. She was like, “Oh, why isn’t this working? There’s a bug.” That’s why we call it debugging.
TB: It’s the largest conference for women in computing in the world, I think. Freia is like the networking queen. We’d be walking around, and every five seconds, Freia’s like, “Oh my God, there’s so and so from this company! You have to meet them!”
HBIC: Networking is such an important skill. How do you do it?
FL: This is my secret. I know, like, five people. But they just always show up at the right time. On my first day at Girls Who Code in San Francisco, I ran into someone I knew from New York. My boss was like, “How do you know everyone in San Francisco? You literally got here yesterday.” The five people that I know are really well-placed.
HBIC: The tech world sounds like a bubble. What’s one thing you love to do with your friends outside the tech world?
FL: Almost every Friday night, my friends from high school and I go to the Times Square AMC to watch whatever new Bollywood movie they have. A few weeks ago, we were watching Khubsurat and the most famous romantic comedy director of all time (in Bollywood, romantic comedies are everything) [Karan Johar] was just casually sitting next to us. We took a picture with him. Bollywood’s become a bigger part of my life now that I’m away from home.
TB: I’m still continuously in awe of New York City, even though I’ve been here for more than two years. One thing that me and my friends like to do is just walk around random places, just wake up in the morning and go for a walk. My top three places to visit are…
Check out Freia’s website and contact her via:
Check out Terri’s website and contact her via:
“Mom, it’s harder to find a woman in computer science than you think,” I kept telling her. But I was about to be proven wrong!
A few weeks ago, two emails landed in my inbox within seconds of each other. Freia Lobo, an NYU sophomore from Mumbai studying computer science and economics, and Terri Burns, an NYU junior from Long Beach, CA studying computer science, each suggested I interview the other one. It turns out they’re both highly accomplished in the tech world — and best friends, too. Since meeting in an Intro to Computer Programming class last year, they’ve been inseparable.
Terri, left, Freia, right.
Freia is on the board of Tech @ NYU, where she leads a program for freshmen. She also works for NYU’s Women in Computing, writes for NYU Local, and has interned for Girls Who Code. Terri manages Startup Week, a week-long event kicking off this Saturday run by Tech @ NYU. She also is an RA, founded the blog Hackers of Los Angeles, works at NYU’s Information Technology Services, runs events for NYU’s career center, and is a Google Student Ambassador. (Whew!)
The three of us met up for a conversation about what it means to be a woman in tech today.
HBIC: Your support for each other is so sweet. It must be amazing having such a close friend in the same industry.
TB: I can honestly say I have no idea if I’d be able to survive if it weren’t for Freia. No, seriously. We live in the same dorm and just Facebook-message each other all the time. Do you want to know what she did? She did the sweetest thing. I was sick a few weeks ago. She’s messaging me, like, “Oh, how are you feeling? If you need anything, let me know.” I said, “Actually, I could use some motivation from the outside world.” And then 15 minutes later, my doorbell rings, and I opened it. There was no one there, and I look on the ground, and there’s this bag of candy and chocolate and a little note with a heart on it that says, “Dear Terri, you can do it! Love, The Outside World.” How cute is that?
FL: It’s a very cool thing to a have a peer in your industry or field of study because most of my friends that I know outside of the CS major don’t care. As much as they’re like, “I’m so proud of you for scoring Google technical interviews,” but they don’t really know what it means. ” When I found out about Google, I told Terri and she reacted so differently than my parents or my friends, because she’s gone through the exact same process. So it’s cool to have someone to squeal with.
HBIC: What does it feel like to be a woman in the computer science department at NYU?
TB: I have a good number of women who are in my computer science classes. I would say maybe 40 percent or so. It’s very interesting because I do think there’s kind of this new movement going on about technology and getting people to learn how to code and all of that. But those numbers are still lacking for women. It’s something I personally think about quite a lot.
FL: We’re still in classes that any computer science minor would have to take, so once you make that jump, it apparently drops, but not too much. It’s not like you’re the only girl in the room or anything. But at NYU, you don’t feel it as much because one, there are so many people, and the rest of the school has a skewed to girls ratio, so except for those two hours when you’re in your CS class, you don’t feel outnumbered.
HBIC: Do you see an emphasis on tech programs actively trying to recruit women?
FL: I run a program called Freshman Circuit at NYU. We accept usually 20 freshmen. We get tours of different offices in the city, so we get to visit Microsoft, Kickstarter, and more. I really pushed a lot of girls to apply. While I was like, “Hey, are you a freshman? You should apply,” it was even more so if that person was a girl. When we accepted people, it was name-blind, but it ended up being almost 50/50 anyway.
TB: My initiative that I run is Startup Week. I was very aware of the number of women that applied. It’s always a weird balance to play, right? Because you want to get the best candidate, but I also like very much striving for diversity and different people and different personalities. I got very lucky because I interviewed around 15 people. The majority of them were men, but we did have a good portion – again, maybe like 40 percent or so – that were women, and they were all awesome. My team is now 50/50 exactly.
HBIC: What is Startup Week?
TB: Startup Week is Tech @ NYU’s flagship event. It happens once a semester and its a weeklong series of events related to tech. So we have coding workshops for people who are very beginner to people who are very advanced, we have design workshops, we have entrepreneurial debates, we have networking events where companies recruit and talk to people who they’re interested in, we have a keynote speaker, we’re going to have a huge rager that’s going to be awesome, plus we’re collaborating with a bunch of other tech clubs in the New York City area It’s the biggest Startup Week we’ve ever thrown thus far, we have a lot of events. It starts November 1st.
[Editor's note: Want to get attend a Startup Week event? Buy tickets here.]
HBIC: What do you want to do after graduation?
FL: I really want to be a software engineer when I graduate. I have a family member who worked for an early-stage startup when it was very few people. Then it really blew up and then they retired, but they had enough money so they only code for nonprofits now. So you have your money, so your life is okay, and then you’re also doing social good so someone else’s life gets better. That’s a very ideal combination. I’m on the hunt for a company that’s going to blow up, except every company thinks they’re going to blow up.
TB: I’m interested in product management or program management, which are positions in tech companies that are at the intersection of hardcore technical skills and business and marketing. I cannot be sitting in front of a laptop all day. I’m a people person. I like chatting with people and managing different teams and thinking about the user.
HBIC: What are your dream companies?
TB: We’re Google soul sisters right now.
FL: You should email my recruiter and tell her to hire me.
[Editor's note: Days after this interview, Google hired Freia as a summer intern!]
HBIC: Why Google? I mean, duh, it’s Google, but what specifically attracts you to it?
FL: They have divisions like Google X, which is this sketchy, top secret lab where they work on the world’s biggest problems. They came up with something called Project Loon that’s literally a network of WiFi-providing balloons that they’re planning to deploy in parts of Africa, India, or wherever, because you don’t have to go through the process of building the network and cable towers and all of that to get Internet access to these people.
TB: So how awesome would that be, to be on that team and traveling to Africa and Asia and New Zealand and launching these balloons into the sky?
HBIC: That sounds like such a crazy sci-fi novel.
FL: Last year, as a freshman, I got a coding interview at Google.
TB: We both did.
FL: It was so hard. After my interview, I called my mom and cried and ate chocolate. I thought, “I’m never going to get a job at Google until the day I die.” And then a month after that, I had an interview with Girls Who Code, which is where I ended up working this summer.
HBIC: I’ve heard such cool things about Girls Who Code (a summer academy for high school girls to learn coding skills, sponsored by companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Uber). What was that like?
FL: I still get texts [from my students] at 1 am Pacific Time being like, “Can you help me with my AP CS homework?” It’s like, “Ahhh. I just woke up. Are you still up?” They’re like, “Yes! I’m still awake! I can’t figure this out!” It’s like I’m a TA.
Freia teaching at Girls Who Code. Photo courtesy of SFGate.
HBIC: Last month, you went to the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Tech conference in Arizona, right? What was that like?
TB: Yeah! Grace Hopper’s like the OG of women in computer science.
FL: There were several early women computer scientists in the military. This was still a lame job within the military, so they were like, “Yeah, we can give it to women, because, you know, it’s them sitting at a desk and literally punching holes, handwriting things.” That’s what computer science was then. One of the computers she worked with had a moth in it, so it wasn’t working. She was like, “Oh, why isn’t this working? There’s a bug.” That’s why we call it debugging.
TB: It’s the largest conference for women in computing in the world, I think. Freia is like the networking queen. We’d be walking around, and every five seconds, Freia’s like, “Oh my God, there’s so and so from this company! You have to meet them!”
HBIC: Networking is such an important skill. How do you do it?
FL: This is my secret. I know, like, five people. But they just always show up at the right time. On my first day at Girls Who Code in San Francisco, I ran into someone I knew from New York. My boss was like, “How do you know everyone in San Francisco? You literally got here yesterday.” The five people that I know are really well-placed.
HBIC: The tech world sounds like a bubble. What’s one thing you love to do with your friends outside the tech world?
FL: Almost every Friday night, my friends from high school and I go to the Times Square AMC to watch whatever new Bollywood movie they have. A few weeks ago, we were watching Khubsurat and the most famous romantic comedy director of all time (in Bollywood, romantic comedies are everything) [Karan Johar] was just casually sitting next to us. We took a picture with him. Bollywood’s become a bigger part of my life now that I’m away from home.
TB: I’m still continuously in awe of New York City, even though I’ve been here for more than two years. One thing that me and my friends like to do is just walk around random places, just wake up in the morning and go for a walk. My top three places to visit are…
- The Upper East Side, starting at 86th and 3rd. My aunt lives there, so my sister and I will often take the subway up there and that’ll be the place where we’ll stop. There’s a Shake Shack and a Victoria’s Secret and a couple of other shops.
- The Highline is just a given, because it’s so close by and it’s also really beautiful. It’s super easy to walk there and just be inspired.
- The Lower East Side is one of my favorite places to go because I feel so New York when I’m on the Lower East Side. I feel young and hip there. I mean, I am young and hip, but whatever.
Check out Freia’s website and contact her via:
Check out Terri’s website and contact her via:
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