Cracking the Code

Senior Lauren Delwiche breaks down gender barriers in computer science, becoming the first female lead sysadmin at Jefferson

by Sai Mattapalli and Robert Stotz

Entering the program for the first time was terrifying. It wasn’t the content. It wasn’t the nerves. It was the environment. To walk into a lab full of men, you don’t see yourself anywhere.

Three years ago, Lauren Delwiche was a freshman navigating the predominantly-male conditions of Jefferson’s sysadmin program. Today, she is has secured her spot as not only the 38th lead sysadmin, but also the first female sysadmin lead in the program’s history.

Computer science was a fairly new concept to Delwiche as she entered Jefferson. Having only had a year of experience, Delwiche went out on a limb and self-studied her way to the top, and eventually, higher.

“I ended up taking the skip test kind of on a whim, and I actually passed. It was my APCS teacher freshman year who told me sysadmins were looking for people. Showing up to the sysadmin event was the beginning of a deeper investment into the areas I was interested in,” Delwiche said.

This pursuit slowly but surely progressed. Joining clubs such as CyberPatriots, this investment in computer science led to the development of a passion in Delwiche.

“I think my entire freshman year I wouldn’t have called myself a ‘CS kid.’ Once I hit sophomore year, it was a combination of participating in Cyberpatriots and my work with the sysadmins: my motivation kept accelerating,” Delwiche said.

Delwiche works on hardware and manages the servers in the syslab. “As sysadmin leads we’re also in charge of directing the team and spending more time with the hardware,” senior and sysadmin co-lead Shreyas Mayya said.

PHOTO //Christina Lu

ONE OF A KIND

Even as Delwiche moved up in the sysadmin program, she couldn’t shake the feeling of individuality within the space. Both as an understudy and a sysadmin, the lack of females in her line of work made any personal end goals entirely uncharted.

“That is a big thing for me, to be that representation. For some younger females who are interested in CS, having that model is very important,” Delwiche said.

According to her, the lack of female sysadmins in the past isn’t because of a gap in knowledge or skill, but because students are anxious about treading into environments where they aren’t represented.

“If you’re a freshman or sophomore interested in becoming a sysadmin, then do it. Females are just as good at CS as guys. There’s no actual difference in skill, only in confidence. We just had our understudy program last year, and had one female who joined us there: I want to see that number grow,” Delwiche said.

The responsibilities of a lead sysadmin include the constant monitoring of sites and requests. “When I was a sysadmin, I was in charge of Ion, so if the mail servers went down, that was somebody else’s problem. Now, as a lead sysadmin, I’m responsible for both,” Delwiwche said.

PHOTO //Christina Lu

SETTING AN EXAMPLE

Despite not having a female role model to work towards, Delwiche managed to make history within Jefferson. Now, she strives to be that role model for rising female leaders to look up to.

“I am living proof that if you’re passionate about something, then it doesn’t matter what gender you are. You can work hard. You can be in that position. You can do it,” Delwiche said.