#83 “He then asked me, 'oh are you a software engineer?', with surprise.”

“I was looking for new teams to join and was casually chatting with a male software engineer I've talked to a few times before. We were discussing what he works on, technologies his team uses, and what he likes about it. We were talking about somewhat technical topics. I told him it sounded interesting and I might be interested in joining. He then asked me, ‘oh are you a software engineer?’, with surprise.

In that moment I knew that if I was a white male he wouldn't be asking me this. It would be assumed that I was also a software engineer, just like he was. It are small interactions like these that confirm people don't see me as technical and I don't fit in with their idea of what a software engineer looks like. It is hard to feel like you are taken seriously when this happens repeatedly, over and over.”