Imagine what it’s like to be constantly receiving these subtle messages from your colleagues, that something is wrong with the idea that you work here, that you are attending this event, that you are in this classroom. You wonder if maybe you made a mistake when you thought this profession was a good match for you, because as everyone keeps pointing out, you don’t have the expected background, or the expected personality traits, or the expected opinions about things, or the expected head start. On their own, each subtle message might simply be a harmless doubt, but at the scale with which we’re sending these messages, we might as well be brainwashing people into thinking that they don’t belong here.


user-inactivated:

Tech culture is garbage and it's always been garbage.

Being a minority in tech is like getting a PhD in being ostracized as much as possible. It's like a hatred hamburger with "different than me" labeled condiments.

Sometimes people forget I'm in Computer Science, both in person and on hubski. "You don't talk about it very much 8bit." Yeah that's because I fucking hate being associated with that shit so I just keep my head down, do the work, get the grade, and get on my way.

Besides that, Tech conversations are so goddamn boring. "Python sucks. No, Java sucks. No, PHP sucks. No, Ruby sucks." Either that or they're talking about League of Legends. It's a culture that fosters "I know what I'm talking about better than you", even though there's no right way to handle any situation considering it's a concept that never ends. Codebros compare lines of code like its penis size in the Comp Sci help room so damn often that I started asking my professors if I could meet them outside of that room for help just so I could get away from it.

The reason why the stereotype is that you have to be a white male nerd that loves videogames and programming is because you have to be a white male nerd that loves videogames and programming, or else they don't take you seriously. I've been to enough start-up meetings and "code camps" and all that other bullshit to know that I don't belong there. I wanna gag every time I walk in the room. And if I don't want to gag the minute I walk into a room, having some dude come up to me and say "what's up, my brother from another mother" not only makes me want to gag, it makes me feel like I'm in a fucking Key and Peele sketch.

My brother recently asked why I don't have any friends in college. He's only half right. I do have friends, they're just not in CompSci. They're in English, Philosophy, Anthropology, hell, even Business. But it completely destroys your thoughts and trust about these people when one minute you're playing Smash with a CSCI Major one minute, and the next minute you overhear him saying that Trevyon Martin "probably deserved it." Or when they ogle at my female friend so hard that she comments on how uncomfortable she feels around them.

Fuck that noise.

insomniasexx ping because I remember when she took a programming class and had to take a month-long shower afterwards.


posted 3203 days ago