When she was a little girl growing up in the Bronx, Nikki Allen dreamed of being a forensic¹ scientist. As a teenager, she liked studying science in school, and she thought forensics offered a way to give back to her neighborhood. Not insignificant², the job also looked pretty cool — at least based on the many hours of "CSI" Allen had watched on TV with her aunt.

在纽约市布朗克斯区长大的尼克·艾伦(Nikki Allen)还是个小女孩时，就萌生了当一名法医学家的梦想。十来岁时，她喜欢上科学课，她认为法医提供了一种回馈邻里的方式。另一个并非无关紧要的原因是，这项工作看起来非常酷，至少《犯罪现场调查》(CSI)给艾伦留下了这种印象——她和姑姑曾经长时间追看这部剧集。

Allen, who is now 16, had considerably³ less interest in computer programming. But this spring, her chemistry teacher recommended that she apply for an eight-week computer-science program with Girls Who Code, a nonprofit that teaches middle- and high-school girls programming skills. At first, Allen told me, she was skeptical⁴; she didn't really understand what computer science was. The experience, however, got her hooked on coding, and she has even started to teach her sister how to write software. When Allen goes to college, she expects to major in the subject.

对于计算机编程，现年16岁的艾伦就没有这么大的兴致了。但今年春天，她的化学老师建议她申请参加一个为期8周的计算机科学培训项目，其主办方是一家名为“编程女孩”(Girls Who Code)，致力于向中学女生传授编程技巧的非营利组织。艾伦告诉我，她起初持怀疑态度，真的不太明白计算机科学是什么。然而，这段培训经历让艾伦迷上了编码，她甚至开始教妹妹如何编写软件。她希望将来上大学时主修这门专业。

Computer science is an incredibly promising⁵ major, especially for a young woman. That and engineering are among the college degrees that can offer the highest incomes and the most flexibility⁶ — attributes widely cited for drawing many women into formerly⁷ male-dominated fields like medicine. Writing code and designing networks are also a lot more portable than nursing, teaching and other traditional pink-collar occupations. Yet just 0.4 percent of all female college freshmen⁸ say they intend to major in computer science. In fact, the share of women in computer science has actually fallen over the years. In 1990-91, about 29 percent of bachelor's degrees awarded in computer and information sciences went to women; 20 years later, it has plunged⁹ to 18 percent. Today, just a quarter of all Americans in computer-related occupations are women.

计算机科学是一个前途好得令人难以置信的专业，对于年轻女性尤为如此。这门学科和工程学高居收入前景最好，工作灵活性最高的大学学位之列。人们普遍认为，正是这两项特征吸引许多女性进入此前以男性为主的领域（比如医疗）。此外，相较于护理、教书和其他传统粉领职业，编写代码和设计网络的可转移性显然要高得多。然而，仅有0.4%的大一女生表示，她们打算主修计算机科学。事实上，在主修计算机科学的大学生中，女生的占比多年来一直呈下降趋势。在1990至1991年，大约29%的计算机和信息科学学士学位被颁发给了女性；20年后，这一比例已降至18％。如今，在美国所有计算机相关领域的从业者中，仅有四分之一是女性。

One of the biggest challenges, according to many in the industry, may be a public-image problem. Most young people, like Allen, simply don't come into contact with computer scientists and engineers in their daily lives, and they don't really understand what they do. And to the extent that Americans do, "they think of Dilbert," explains Jeffrey Wilcox, vice¹⁰ president of engineering at Lockheed Martin. ("Dilbert" being shorthand, of course, for boring, antisocial, cubicle-contained drudgery¹¹, conducted mostly by awkward men in short-sleeve dress shirts — a bit like "Office Space," only worse.) "I think it's just about telling our story better," Wilcox said. "We as engineers, and I'm guilty of this, we're not great storytellers."

许多业内人士认为，最大挑战之一可能是公众形象问题。像艾伦一样，大多数年轻人在日常生活中压根没有接触过计算机科学家和工程师，他们确实不清楚这些人的具体工作。在许多美国人的印象中，“他们就是一群呆伯特(Dilbert)，”洛克希德·马丁公司(Lockheed Martin)工程事务副总裁杰弗里·威尔科克斯(Jeffrey Wilcox)解释说。当然，呆伯特是用来简单指称那些无聊、孤僻、被封闭在隔间的苦差事，干这些活的多是穿短袖衬衫的“笨拙男”——有点像电影《上班一条虫》(Office Space)的场景，只不过还要更糟糕。“我认为当务之急就是更好地讲述我们的故事，”威尔科克斯说。“我对此感到内疚，我们是工程师，不善于讲故事。”

Public narratives¹² about a career make a difference. The most common career aspiration¹³ named on Girls Who Code applications is forensic science. Like Allen, few if any of the girls have ever met anyone in that field, but they've all watched "CSI," "Bones" or some other show in which a cool chick with great hair in a lab coat gets to use her scientific know-how¹⁴ to solve a crime. This so-called "CSI" effect has been credited for helping¹⁵ turn forensic science from a primarily male occupation into a primarily female one.

公众对一门职业的阐述，往往能产生深远的影响。在编程女孩项目的申请表中，最常见的职业梦想是法医学家。如同艾伦一样，几乎没有一位女孩曾经遇见过这一领域的从业者，但她们都看过《犯罪现场调查》、《识骨寻踪》(Bones)或其他类似剧集——其经典场景是，一位长着一头秀发，身穿实验室白大褂的酷女郎运用她的法医知识破解了一起扑朔迷离的罪案。业内人士普遍认为，法医学的主力军之所以从男性变为女性，这种所谓的“《犯罪现场调查》效应”绝对功不可没。

There is, of course, no pop-culture corollary for computer science. A study financed by the Geena Davis Institute on Gender¹⁶ in Media found that recent family films, children's shows and prime-time programs featured extraordinarily¹⁷ few characters with computer science or engineering occupations, and even fewer who were female. The ratio of men to women in those jobs is 14.25 to 1 in family films and 5.4 to 1 in prime time. Whenever high-ranking people in the tech industry meet, whether at the White House or a Clinton Global Initiative conference, one executive says, "we almost always walk away from the discussion having come to the conclusion we need a television show." Nearly every tech or nonprofit executive I spoke¹⁸ with mentioned their hope that "The Social Network" has improved the public's perception of programmers. They also mentioned how bummed¹⁹ they were that the hit film didn't include more prominent female characters. Meanwhile, the National Academy of Sciences now offers a program called the Sciencesand Entertainment Exchange that gives writers and producers free consultation²⁰ with all kinds of scientists. Natalie Portman's character in the superhero movie "Thor," for instance, started out as a nurse. After a consultation with scientists introduced through the exchange, she became an astrophysicist.

当然，对于计算机科学来说，这种流行文化效应是不存在的。一项由吉娜戴维斯媒体性别研究所(Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media)资助的研究发现，近期上映的家庭电影、儿童节目和黄金档节目中几乎看不到从事计算机科学或工程类职业的角色，由女性扮演的此类角色更是少之又少。在家庭电影中，从事这些工作的男女比例为14.25比1，黄金档节目为5.4比1。无论是在白宫，还是在克林顿全球倡议(Clinton Global Initiative)的峰会上，每当高科技产业的高层人士聚在一起攀谈时，“我们几乎总是会得出一个结论，那就是我们需要一档电视节目，”一位高管如是说。几乎每一位接受我采访的高科技企业或非营利组织高管都希望，电影《社交网络》(The Social Network)已经改善了公众对程序员的看法。这些高管也提到了一件让他们特别沮丧的事情：这部卖座电影没有更为突出的女性角色。与此同时，美国国家科学院(National Academy of Sciences)现在开设了一个名为“科学与娱乐交流”(Sciences and Entertainment Exchange)的项目，编剧和制片人可借助这一平台免费咨询各类科学家的意见。比如，在超级英雄电影《雷神》(Thor)中，娜塔莉·波特曼(Natalie Portman)原本计划出演一位护士。与这个交流项目引荐的科学家协商之后，她最终扮演的是一位天体物理学家。

Casting Sofia Vergara as a hacker²¹ with a heart of gold may seem an eye-roll-worthy suggestion, but the Labor²² Department has estimated that there will be 1.4 million job openings for computer-related occupations this decade. The skills required to fill these jobs can be imported from places like India and China, or they can be homegrown. And right now, kids are not learning about them in school. Most elementary and public schools don't teach computer science, said Cameron Wilson, the chief operating officer at Code.org, a nonprofit that advocates for greater access to computer-science education. The few that do usually only teach how to use technology (creating a PowerPoint presentation, say) rather than how to create it. There is also the issue of recruiting teachers. The median job for people with a computer-science degree pays around $80,000 to $100,000; the typical teaching salary is closer to $45,000 or $55,000.

让索菲娅·维加拉(Sofia Vergara)扮演一位心地善良的黑客，似乎是一个可能会遭人白眼的建议。但据美国劳工部(Labor Department)估计，在2010-2019年，美国将出现140万个与计算机相关的就业缺口。填补这些职位所需的技能可以从中国和印度等国进口，或者在美国本土培养。但美国的孩子现在并没有在学校学习这些技能。编码基金会(Code.org)是一家倡导加大计算机科学教育力度的非营利组织，首席运营官卡梅隆·威尔逊(Cameron Wilson)指出，现在大多数小学和公立学校不教计算机科学。极少数开设这门课的学校通常只传授如何使用技术，比如制作一个PowerPoint演示文稿，而不是如何创建技术。此外还有招聘教师的问题。拥有计算机科学学位的职场人士年收入中位数为8万至10万美元左右；普通老师的年均工资则低得多——接近4.5万或5.5万美元。

There are skills gaps throughout sectors²³ of our economy, particularly in health care and advanced manufacturing. But nowhere, arguably, are workers leaving more money and benefits on the table than computer science. The young girls at home watching "CSI" represent a sizable American talent pool that has yet to be tapped.

美国经济的各个部门都存在技能缺口，医疗保健和先进制造业的情况尤为严重。但计算机科学领域有潜力提供的薪水和福利，大概是其他任何产业无法比拟的。那些正在家里观看《犯罪现场调查》的年轻女孩所代表的，是一个庞大但还未被挖掘的人才库。