What I do for a living...

Over the last month, I've met a lot of strangers during the PanAm games. At every shift, I would undeniably get the ultimate question: What do you do for a living? 
My answer is usually a variation of 'Java Developer', 'programmer', 'software developer' and/or 'IT person', depending on the facial expressions I get when I say those answers.

I do not look like a typical software developer.
According to TV shows, I should look like:

Abby from NCIS

or, like :

Penelope in Criminal Minds

or like :

Stefanie in CSI: Cyber

Why do they all have to look nonconformist?

Why can't a woman who is good in IT and/or computers look like the average Jane? Why can't they wear normal clothes, wear normal make up and act like it is totally normal for women to be in this profession? And why, why do they all have to have funky hair??!?!

I hardly ever think about it, but there are not a lot of women in my profession.

I also never think about how much the outside world regards software developers as a species of its own. People who understand computers versus those who just use them. The look I get when I say what I do for a living is usually either one of awe because I seem to have found success in a field where women are not supposed to be successful, or one of surprise because I do not conform to the idea people have of software developers. 

Women have brains, some even have brains that are more performing than some men. Then why would people be in awe that I can be a developer? If a man can be good at problem solving and can learn how to use a programming language, then why can't a woman do it? The brain, or rather the intellectual field, is probably the only field where men and women may be compared at the same level, unlike sports where men are naturally inclined to have bigger muscles. I do not consider myself a genius, and I do not deserve to be looked at in awe, as if I have a higher IQ than the average Jane who may be an accountant or of any other profession.

Similarly, I do not think people should be surprised that I do not look like a developer. If they come to my office, they would notice that the few women doing the job do not conform to the image that TV shows paint of women in the profession. We dress business casual, usually in mellow and down to earth colors. None of us has pink-colored or blue-colored hair. 

None of us carry more gadgets that we can carry. 

But also none of us sit at home and program for fun. 

Maybe women with pink-colored hair do sit at home and code for fun.

But what I do is what every other software developer knows how to do. 

In a nutshell: collect requirements, design, code, test and deploy. 

Nothing more, nothing less.

Maybe TV shows need to work more on making female programmers part of the mainstream than trying to paint them as unusually smart women who opted to pursue a career in a field where only men are expected to succeed.