I appreciate my current job more now
A few months ago, my employer went through a reorganization and I had to do some internal job interviews. I took the opportunity to look at a position at a different company. But, I decided to stay in my current job. I am a Senior Principal Software Engineer with a BS, MS, and PhD in Computer Science.
I was introduced to a recruiter from the other company in person without a resume. I expressed interest in their Solutions Architect job opening. Just based on what I looked like, he said to me “That position is fairly technical. We also have Phone Support positions”.
I was totally shocked; he never would have said that to a man. Just a week later, the #ILookLikeAnEngineer campaign started. I really identified with it. I attended the event and was in the photo shoot. Now I appear in #ILookLikeAnEngineer ads such as the one below.
Now more than ever, I really appreciate the diverse and inclusive work environment at my employer, Symantec. My technical opinion is valued and I am considered a company-wide leading expert in scaling distributed data. I am grateful that I have a really terrific manager that takes good care of me.
This is all due to a boneheaded gender-bias comment by a recruiter. So, in the end, I have to thank him for being real.
See the follow-up story: I Reported Gender Bias and it turned out well
