Trajectory of hispanicwomen professionals: Challenges and strategies

Abstract

By virtue of being underrepresented in computing, Hispanic women completing a Ph.D. face additional challenges starting their new careers. Completing the dissertation, applying for jobs, interviewing, and negotiating job offers are made more difficult by the lack of a community of mentors that fully understands their intersectional identities. This panel presents the challenges faced and the accomplishments of three recent Hispanic women Ph.D. recipients as they navigated the last stages of the dissertation, applied for jobs, considered job offers, and started their professional careers in computing. While all three panelists have Ph.D. in computing and jobs in different computing fields, they nevertheless have very different trajectories. The panelists have diverse academic backgrounds, come from different Hispanic/Latinx cultures, studied at different institutions, some had Post-Docs, others went straight to their first post-PhD jobs, and two are in academia and one in industry. In this panel, we will share their experiences navigating the road of professional advancement, highlighting the challenges faced as well as the strategies they found useful to continue moving ahead.