The Long Road

11/14/2003 Archived Entry: "Stereotypes"

I think I need a new major. Not because CS is a lot of work (which it is) but because CS majors come preloaded with a whole bunch of stereotypes. We’re thought to be unwashed, unkempt, unsociable, dorky, and are poorly read and written. All the others I can take, but the poorly read and written part? That hurts. I need to be in a Sexier major.

When you introduce yourself to someone (read: a girl) and that well-used icebreaker comes around and you tell her you’re in CS, you can quickly see the expression on her face of “oh, you’re one of THOSE guys”. So right off the bat you’re fighting an uphill battle against all these stereotypes associated with CS guys. It’s happened quite a few times now that a girl (an arts girl) has commented that my English is much better than what they would expect from a CS student. That’s such a frustrating comment to hear since pretty much all the CS students I know are much better writers than people in other programs. In any case, all (most?) of these stereotypes eventually melt away after a decent conversation but the fact that they have to be debunked at all bugs me.

In talking to math girl Amy about this, she mentioned that Mech Eng was a sexy major because it’s a given that you’re smart (like in CS =D ) but you also work with your hands. I don’t know how well I could pass for a Mech Eng though, the majors that I had thought to pose under were either Poly Sci, Economics, just plain Math or a combination of those, I’m certain I could pretend to be in those majors pretty successfully for a while.

Replies: 9 comments

Physics seems to scare people too. I tend not to talk about my major at all. That way I can avoid a laborious conversation. I just say I’m a science student.

Posted by Hyperion @ 11/16/2003 05:00 AM EST

I usually end up saying i fix computers. When i tell people i'm in "Computer Systems Technician" they usually go "whoa, say that again". But that doesn't usually stop conversations =P

Posted by Anonymous @ 11/16/2003 11:53 AM EST

two comments. and sort of an funny intro story.

at phil's, hanging out with some of leanne's friends, a girlfriend of some guy there took pity on me and talked to me for a bit. you know, seeing that leanne had gone off and left me with near strangers :P anyway, she asked if i had a girlfriend, and if i was seeing anyone, or anything like that, and after repeated no's, she said i should go buy a condom and try to pick up tonight. so THAT came out of no where. we kept talking for a bit more, and she asked what i was in. usually when i get asked this, i play with the stereotypes, knowing that a girl will immediately get disappointed. so i say cs, in sort of a begrudging saddened voice, and cast a shameful sidelong glance at her. then she's like NO! that won't help anything! be proud that you're smart enough to be in cs, don't be ashamed of it! when i told leanne about it, and said she was x person's girlfriend, leanne said didn't even know the girl's name :)

another time, after that, this girl i went out with in a group of friends asked me what i was in. she totally should have known this cause i'd know her for over four months by then, but whatever. i said i was in cs, but heeding the advice of the other girl, i didn't ashamed or anything. then the girl said she thought i was in engineering or something, cause i seemed totally not like a typical cs guy. she said i was easy to talk to and seemed normal. ha ha! i could pass myself off as something else also if i wanted too apparently :)

Posted by shawnathan @ 11/16/2003 03:17 PM EST

I'd say that most CS students don't fit the CS Stereotype...its just those few CS-club, Comfy lounge-DnD people that ruin the rep for the rest of us.

Hyperion, not being in physics I'm not too aware of any stereotypes associated with it. Are they pretty much the same as what I have to deal with?

Posted by Rayne @ 11/17/2003 03:49 AM EST

there are definitely some cs stereotypes that i have actually seen perpetuated (stereotypes do originate from a truth about at least one individual, right?) ... for example, the preview night for reloaded .. boy it smelled bad there ...

but as for your chosen posing subjects .. i'd say nay for math (they're perceived as geeks too) ... as for economics ... well, as a titulary economist, i can tell you that ppl think economics is rather dull and stuffy .. poly sci might be the way to go, ppl will assume that you're knowledgeable, articulate, etc (although, knowing some poly sci students, i must say the opposite can often be true) ... but then, in the end ... do you want to moonlight as something that you're not? if someone (i.e. a girl in rayne's case) is so easily turned off by a silly thing such as a major that should land you a good job (or, that was the thought when you entered the program during the dotcom boom, hehehe ... sucker) ... then do you really want to talk to her?

Posted by melpie @ 11/17/2003 11:09 AM EST

bah! you're assuming that it was all CS'ers on preview night? more stereotypes...tsk tsk tsk.

I wouldn't mind posing under an assumed guise just to meet randoms and strike up a conversation. It'd be fun. And first impressions are all about superficialities anyways, why would you want someone's first impression of you to be based on all these bad stereotypes? why not a lie instead? hahaha

But honestly, no, I wouldn't want to truly know someone who's turned off by something minor like one's major.

Posted by Rayne @ 11/17/2003 05:04 PM EST

no .. not everyone on preview night was in cs ... i know myself and two of my room mates were all from laurier ... and definitely not in the laurier cs program ... although, our other room mate that was with us was in cs ... and i think i saw a cs textbook or two open there ...

but ... are you trying to tell me that all the cs stereotypes aren't true? please say it's not so!

(although, i was at a new years party once, and my friend's brother and friends were there and they were all in cs ... oh, what a sad night that was)

Posted by melpie @ 11/18/2003 10:58 AM EST

When I tell people I'm in Actuarial Science they kind of pause a second, think about it and then realize that they really don't know what it is. I'd try to explain it but most of the time it just comes down to "I'm in insurance (or consulting)". Half the time they don't really associate it with being math at first. And as for the math stereotypes, if you spend enough time in MC they pretty much all seem to show up in numerous amounts of people in that building. And I'm not just talking about CS clubbers or math soc people (since they really don't make up very large numbers, even the double degree club has more people than them), there are just a ton of them, and sometimes you see new people every time. It's just scary.

Posted by Mike @ 11/18/2003 05:23 PM EST

You did NOT see a CS textbook open!

I'm not saying that the CS stereotypes aren't true... I simply think that they're not true when it comes to my friends and I. Most of us anyways. And its tough to fight against such an ingrained perception

Posted by Rayne @ 11/20/2003 10:54 PM EST