A while back there was a post about the “Programming Hero Syndrome.” This is a small extension to it, from a female perspective to provide a different view.
When I started EAGLE, in those first weeks and months, I’d join internship talks or MSc defenses, listen to what people did, watched my peers presenting complex workflows and handling EO data like it was a piece of cake. I just felt overwhelmed and intimidated. I thought I wasn’t “naturally” good at programming or earth observation in general, that my place here was not justified. I was convinced that I could never achieve what my older, more advanced EAGLEs had achieved. However, it took me a few months to actually see that I was wrong about my conception. And those who showed me that I do have a place here and my skills are good and valuable are my fellow female colleagues.
Before EAGLE, I genuinely felt like I wasn’t trusted to handle a lot of complex science, not just in Earth Observation, but in general. But then I started watching my Earth Observation classmates. What I could see is one quality they all had in common: commitment and support. Not giving up and especially helping each other out, so that all can achieve the higher goal has really made a shift in my way of thoughts. Not just motivation, but a sense of belonging. Understanding, that this space is actually mine too. They showed me you don’t have to be the loudest person in the room to be the most capable one in it. It didn’t happen in one big moment, though. It was a bunch of small moments that slowly added up.
I realized confidence is a muscle. The first time I shared a script (or rather a full R package) I’d written for a programming project, I braced for impact. Nothing bad happened, it actually got praised. That sounds small, but it wasn’t. It rewired something.
And the support system? Everything. The women in EAGLE didn’t treat me like a “beginner” who needed managing. They pulled me into the conversation as an equal. That kind of inclusion doesn’t just feel nice, it changes how you see your own work. And the EAGLE lecturers and EORC staff, especially the women, never made me feel like a topic or internship might be “too complex” for me. Instead, they supported me in finding my place in research and pushed me a bit beyond my level of confidence, so I could realize I was capable of more than I thought. That I could do research with organizations, in environments, I never would have dared think about before starting EAGLE.
Here’s something I’ve been thinking about lately: the support and encouragement you experience are exactly what enable you to perform beyond what you thought possible. Collaborative, supportive, useful people around you push you to become a better scientist. I want to be that for my younger peers soon.
If you’re someone who doesn’t like taking center stage, that’s fine, everyone’s different. But EAGLE taught me that I could take the center stage if I needed to, or at least that I’m just as capable as the person announcing he can easily take it (and it’s usually a he). Even if I’m never fully comfortable with all eyes on me, I finally know my worth. And that’s not a small thing.
To the women in EAGLE who kept paving the way and making room for others: you changed how I see myself in this field. Because of you, I’m not just getting through this program. I’m actually believing in my research capabilities at a level I couldn’t have imagined when I walked in on day one.
(P.S.: thanks to AI for helping to improve the post with a matching image)
