A rant about inclusion in the tech industry

Carina Viljoen
Aug 24, 2017 · 4 min read

I’m sure many people are a tired of hearing and reading about the diversity and inclusion issues in the tech industry. Despite working in the tech industry for nigh on 8 years now and experiencing many cases of sexism, I’ve never written about them publicly (excluding a tweet here and there).

I’ve worked for small and not-so-small companies during my tenure in industry. Inclusion and diversity have been true passions of mine since I attended the Grace Hopper Women in Computing Conference in 2013. Before that, I thought I was “special” since I was a female in tech. Ugh.

Yesterday, an incident took place that really stoked the rage in me all over again regarding gender diversity issues in tech. Someone took a photo of my colleagues and I at work gathered around a computer and uploaded it to our internal Slack. A senior manager who knows me commented on the photo saying clearly it was a “stock photo” and it even had the “token female” in it.

YES. DON’T ASK ME TECH SHIT BECAUSE I’M JUST HERE TO INCREASE YOUR DIVERSITY.

Some might think I am overreacting and should just take it lightly. But consider this: what if someone made such a comment about another minority? How would you react then?

After I gave a negative reaction, the manager edited the comment: “removed bad joke”. I didn’t get an apology, though some of my coworkers expressed support and agreed the comment was in bad taste. And this is not about hurt feelings. I’ve worked in many different teams and companies and, despite experiencing imposter syndrome at times, my confidence in my skills and training is not shaken by this. It took me a long time to get here. I just cannot stand the injustice of such attitudes and the hostile environment they create.

I tweeted about it, but even that caused my heart rate to skyrocket. Another senior manager from my company read my tweet and asked me whether he should escalate it and a part of me regretted the public rant because I’m afraid to create waves. I don’t want to be seen as a troublemaker.

The thing is, over the years and the many experiences of sexism, I’ve been too scared to make it a real issue. And I have had a lot of opportunity to do so.

Edit: In fact, the only reason I feel ok sharing this now is because I have already resigned from the company (not over this).

In university I was told by a lecturer not to take on coding assignments and rather focus on research because “well, let’s face it, your code just isn’t so good”. My peers claimed I only did well because teaching assistants had crushes on me and that women aren’t meant to work in tech. Yes, despite graduating with distinction.

At my first job out of university, a team lead made comments about wanting to do “naked photo shoots” with me and wanting to see my sister and I in mudfights. I was told by a peer that I was not “smart enough” to be working there. I made no formal complaints.

While working at a big American tech company *cough* AWS *cough*, I was told by a male coworker to “just accept that I would never be as good at tech as my male peers”. A manager told me that I had extreme opinions and that I was unreasonable, even when I argued using data. I got feedback that I was too harsh in code reviews and emails when I was communicating directly and succinctly, so I started adding emojis to everything and the negative feedback disappeared. I was suddenly more likeable and agreeable because of smiley faces. A senior manager laughed at me when I attempted to negotiate for more salary. Yet another senior manager made inappropriate romantic gestures towards me. My ideas were ignored in meetings and the same ideas shared moments later by male colleagues were applauded.

When expressing rage or frustration over these incidents to support groups, I was told by female colleagues not to take things so personally, to “grow thicker skin” and “have a sense of humour”. Often minorities are pitted against each other and don’t stand united. We are told we need to change ourselves to fit in to the culture.

While at the American corporate, a female coworker lodged a complaint of sexism against our manager. She wanted my input but I was too terrified to stand by her since I was still working there (she had resigned) and I was worried it would impact my ability to get promoted (I was still ranked as an entry-level engineer at the time). The manager was recommended to take some management training which covered unconscious bias. That’s it.

In my current home in Norway, where I expected gender equality to be more of a norm than a pipe dream and good PR, I’ve received many comments and jokes from my colleagues about getting pregnant and having children.

On the other hand, I have had so many supportive male colleagues and advocates over the years for whom I am incredibly grateful. I don’t want terrible repercussions to rain down on those who have (perhaps inadvertently and not maliciously) expressed sexist views. I don’t want to shame them. It’s not even about the apologies.

I want to be able to share my experiences without being terrified or told how I should be feeling. Ideally, I don’t want to experience these attitudes at all. I want my track record of skills, hard work and quality deliveries to be the true measure of my competency that qualify me to work in this industry. I want the tech industry to walk the talk and act like the meritocracy it claims to be. And I want us all to work together to build an inclusive and diverse tech industry.

/rant

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Carina Viljoen

Written by

A South African in Norway

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