Solid article with some great points. Sexism in industry is something that clearly needs work. With that said, I couldn’t help but notice how many of these issues are nearly universal regardless of gender, sexual orientation or skin color. The truth of the world is that the world is unfair, and in my experience you get nowhere by asking for anything. I’ve seen great women go overlooked just as I’ve seen rockstar straight white males go overlooked, and generally for the same reasons. Don’t get me wrong, companies should do whatever they can to remove bias in their promotion processes, but people often get in their own way. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not always their fault, sometimes talented engineers end up at shitty companies. In these instances the best answer is leave your company, not leave the industry. I regularly mentor and sponsor underrepresented individuals, and aside from all the technical learning they get from me, I generally encourage 2 behaviors that seem to make all the difference. First, no matter how skilled you get, you will never know everything and will never be better than your peers, so speak kindly, listen actively and be most of all be patient. I’ve seen men get the same vague “watch your tone” reviews as women, and it’s often actually because they tend to have an “I’m better than you” tone to their voice. Second, I always suggest to never ask for permission, because it’s always better to ask for forgiveness than permission. Not getting that greenfield project that you know will be huge for the company? Listen to Nike and just do it. Don’t ask for permission, just do the project. If it’s really valuable it’s unlikely you’ll ever need to ask for forgiveness and you’ll likely get that promotion you’ve been looking for. This world promotes those that do instead of those that wait to be recognized. So go out there and do, do things unapologetically, do things without concern for politics, and for god sakes if you have a great idea stop telling your peers before telling those with approval power.

Let’s work on sexism in industry, but I think it is equally important to discuss what can be done to improve chances of succeeding so that women and minorities can be have the best chances at being their own advocates.