4 ms·

As an under represented minority in tech, I couldn't agree more with the parent post. I never want to bring up my race because I want to be judged on the output

As an under represented minority in tech, I couldn't agree more with the parent post. I never want to bring up my race because I want to be judged on the output of my skills and not be propped up because someone thinks I add diversity points to the team. Sadly I've had to bring up my genetic background recently as a pure survival mechanism because people keep telling me to my face that they don't want to hire white men so I need to let them know I'm not white so I don't get instantly filtered out. The whole situation is ridiculous as I never had any problems with my race before "diversity" became talking point #1 (as a developer, raising money is another story).

OpieCunningham 8y ago
I could be misunderstanding what you are stating, but it sounds like you are saying that when you were mistaken for white, and diversity practices did not exist, everything was good. But now that diversity practices exist, you need to preemptively point out that you are not white. Now that the conscious or subconscious race pre-determinant is shifting from "this person is white, ergo good" to "this is a person of color, ergo good", you are finding you benefit from clarifying that you fit the latter category, even if it appears as though you fit the former. This may be a "best of both worlds" situation for you. In any case, diversity hiring may mean that you will be excluded because you are mistaken for white - but that doesn't mean whomever you were excluded for wasn't more qualified than you.
- malvosenior 8y ago
  I don't like it because I find the judging people based on their skin color extremely racist, yet I'm forced to support it due to the need to put food on the table. > diversity hiring may mean that you will be excluded because you are mistaken for white I consider this racism and it pains me to to have to play the game of the people committing it.

OpieCunningham 8y ago

I could be misunderstanding what you are stating, but it sounds like you are saying that when you were mistaken for white, and diversity practices did not exist, everything was good. But now that diversity practices exist, you need to preemptively point out that you are not white. Now that the conscious or subconscious race pre-determinant is shifting from "this person is white, ergo good" to "this is a person of color, ergo good", you are finding you benefit from clarifying that you fit the latter category, even if it appears as though you fit the former. This may be a "best of both worlds" situation for you. In any case, diversity hiring may mean that you will be excluded because you are mistaken for white - but that doesn't mean whomever you were excluded for wasn't more qualified than you.

malvosenior 8y ago
I don't like it because I find the judging people based on their skin color extremely racist, yet I'm forced to support it due to the need to put food on the table. > diversity hiring may mean that you will be excluded because you are mistaken for white I consider this racism and it pains me to to have to play the game of the people committing it.