She doesn't like her field and looking at what I do, she thinks this might be the career choice for her.
The small programs where basically a variety of tasks to perform with "for loop" which is quite boring. The reason why you outpul "hello world" is to make you feel you progressed and it's not the case when you spend half a year outputting different numbers after writitng 10 lines of code.
However, University of Warsaw is one of the best unis in these kind of competitions and also the biggest source of graduate employees for Google, etc. Therefore, even though maybe doesn't prove you are a perfect programmer, it proves you are smart and capable of learning.
The problem with big companies such as Google who have offices in Australia is that they just ignore your application or will direct you to the European recruiter.
Thank you for the info about Working Holiday, I will indeed check it out.
I am a female programmer and I would like to add a different view on this. I am reading quite a bit of these kind of blogs these days. I have never encountered this kind of behaviour, I am usually treated nicer because I am a female. It is easier for me to find a job, which pisses of my computing friends. Basically, I have only ever took advantage of my gender. I am showing my opinion about few of those comments.
“Most girls aren’t into this kind of stuff.” - if you are a programmer you should know that statistically, yes, most girls are not into "this kind of stuff". Nothing offensive.
“You got it! Clever girl!” - I could see myself going to a colleague tapping him on his head and saying "Clever boy."
“You don’t mind if we call you a ‘chick,’ do you?” - I don't imagine anyone asking. That's quite over-polite. Male equivalent - "dude".
“How did you learn to do all this?!” - don't see any gender bias whatsoever. Pretty impressive. Compliment.
“Wow, you’re pretty strong!” - again, compliment. Guys talk about their muscles all time, this only shows gender equality!
“No, when I complain about ‘geek girls,’ I don’t mean you. You’re a real geek.” - ok, this one, he's just trying not to offend you.
“He told me it sounds like we’ve got a new hot chick working here. I was like ‘yeah, man.’” - hot = good!
“But—you’re way too nice to be a lesbian!” - probably haven't met any lesbians. You're first and creating the image, you should be proud of yourself. Next time he meets one he won't say that.
“You know about making coffee, right?” - I have no idea how to make coffee, I make men always do it for me.
“Let me know when you want to do that so I can help you. No offense, but you just don’t know enough about it to try it on your own.” - why would you assume he is saying that because you are a women. It only means you are insecure about that fact.
“I had this female boss once, and I know I’m not supposed to say this, but I could totally tell when it was her time of the month.” - I am sorry, but I am really fucking annoying when on period and I do go around telling people: "Sorry if I'm pissed off, it's the time."
“See, that’s the great thing about you, I know I can tell ‘offensive’ jokes around you and you won’t care.” - why are you smiling then, if you are offended? I'm sure they'd stop if you told them.
“You and my wife could mud-wrestle naked.” - I am bi and I'd take that as a compliment.
“You’re a girl, but you’re not, like, a girl-girl, y’know?” - the fact that someone is not attracted to you is not the end of the world.