Why People Think I’m a Hacker—And Why Secretly I Love It
People think I’m a hacker just because I know how to write code—and honestly? I’m not mad about it.
The first time someone called me a hacker, I was literally adjusting padding in CSS.
There I was, headphones on, fingers flying across the keyboard, dark-themed VS Code open, a few terminal tabs running in the background—and boom: “Whoa, you look like a hacker.”
I laughed. And then I leaned in. Because honestly? I kinda did.
🕵🏻♀️ Why People Think I’m a Hacker
To the outside world, anything remotely technical looks like magic.
You open a terminal, run a command, and suddenly things move or build or deploy. You type fast? Hacker. You use more than one monitor? Super hacker. You mention “JavaScript” and someone’s picturing you breaking into the Pentagon.
My family still doesn’t quite know what I do. To them, I “work on computers” which might as well mean I’m writing code to launch satellites. I once explained APIs and got a blank stare followed by, “So… like...hacking?” Sure, Grandma. Let’s go with that.
👩🏻💻 What I’m Actually Doing
I spend most of my time styling websites, debugging JavaScript functions, creating responsive designs, and connecting to APIs. Sometimes I’m wrangling CSS grid. Other times, I’m refactoring spaghetti code left behind by a developer who clearly hated the world.
Is it espionage-level? Not really. Is it complex and creative and powerful? Absolutely.
🥷🏻 Why I Love the “Hacker” Label
Being called a hacker used to feel like a misunderstanding. Now it feels like a compliment.
People think I know something they don’t. They’re right. I’ve spent time learning a language most people will never understand. I’ve built things from scratch. I can troubleshoot, optimize, and deploy faster than some people can Google “how to screenshot.”
Plus, let’s be honest—being underestimated, especially as a woman in tech, is common. So when someone assumes I’m a hacker, I’m going to own it. That label carries weight. It tells people I’m capable. Maybe even a little dangerous (in a fun way).
👩🏽💻 Let’s Redefine Hacker
Forget the hoodie-in-a-dark-room trope. Hackers are builders. Solvers. Tinkerers. They’re the ones who say “what if” and figure out how. If that makes me a hacker, then so be it.
I’m hacking the idea that tech isn’t for women. I’m hacking away at self-doubt. I’m hacking the frontend to make the web a better, more inclusive place.
🫶🏼 So yes—people think I’m a hacker. And I love it.
Not because I’m breaking into anything (except maybe glass ceilings), but because I’ve worked hard to understand a world that looks like magic from the outside.
If someone sees me coding and thinks it’s something wild and powerful… well, they’re absolutely right.
