Sexism is rampant in the tech industry, but these badass ladies won’t let gender stereotypes keep them from diving into traditionally male careers—or the ocean! These women inspire us to go after our dreams whether they involve blazing new trails in Silicon Valley or just chillin’ at the bottom of the sea. Here’s a list of some of our favorite women who code and are also licensed scuba instructors.
Eleanor Smith, 37, San Francisco, CA
Eleanor is a senior UX designer at one of the hottest start-ups in San Francisco, where she spearheads a mentoring program for young women in tech. But on weekends she lets her fun side show, teaching the mentees how to scuba dive for free because she is a licensed deep-sea diving instructor.
Diana Ng, 22, Palo Alto, CA
Diana recently graduated at the top of her class at Stanford with a degree in Computer Science and is considering positions at tech companies such as Intel, Microsoft, and Google. But no matter where she ends up, Diana instructs scuba freelance in her downtime. “Yeah, I love scuba diving,” she tells us. Cool!
Samantha Tom, 23, Big Island, HI
Tired of always having to choose between her two passions, coding and diving, Sam founded S(C++)UBA: the first underwater coding school. Talk about having it all!
Jacqueline Parsons, 27, Morehead City, NC
Jacqueline was always told she was “too pretty” to be a web designer. But under the sea she’s accepted for who she is—because when everyone is wearing a wetsuit, it doesn’t matter how pretty you are. As she puts it, “We’re all the same when we’re surrounded by bubbles.” Wow!
Bernadette Song, 32, San Francisco, CA
“I have to work twice as hard as my male colleagues to be taken seriously,” Bernadette says of her role as a backend engineer. “It’s definitely a sexist workplace environment. But you know what isn’t sexist? The ocean. And so I dive.”
Cameron Astarita, 53, Los Angeles, CA
Each time she emerges from a dive, software programmer Cameron cries tears of joy into her mask because the dramatic change in pressure “feels like breaking through the glass ceiling.” She is a CEO somewhere. Way to code, scuba girl!
Christine Dunn, 28, Galveston, TX
Christine has actually found the tech community to be much more progressive than the scuba community, which she describes as a boy’s club: “Yeah, my company is super willing to give me all the support I need to pursue a career in software development without compromising my personal goals like starting a family. But those Neanderthals over at the scuba school who think a woman’s place is on land? They can eat my wake.” Go get ’em , Christine!
Francesca “Frankie” Papa, 42, Hollywood, FL
Frankie is known as a live wire, but unlike actual live wires, she’s great at being in the water! As she hurriedly told us via Skype, “I fucking love diving. I love it so much. I wish I could fuck the ocean. If I could fuck the deep sea I would just wrap my vagina around the whole ocean and fuck it, let it fill me up with salt.” Wow! She also designs government healthcare websites.
Meghan Duyssen, 38, San Jose, CA
Meg is actually no longer a licensed scuba instructor following a gruesome but accidental drowning incident during one of her classes, but she still knows Java really well. “I love building websites for my friends,” says Duyssen. ‘That’s all I’m allowed to do these days.”
Brit Charleston, 4, U.S. Virgin Islands
Brit is a freelance web designer and a flounder. She has an Open Water/Adventure Diver certification and is a fish.
If they taught coding classes we would sign up right now, but unfortunately these kickass ladies only teaching diving. If you would like to learn how to scuba dive, feel free to reach out to them, but please do not contact them for instructions in coding. They know how to code, but they do not like to teach it. They like to teach scuba. Women!
