I have this same issue. We are a northern US company and one of our programmers is from the deep south. It is so hard to take him seriously with that accent whi

I have this same issue. We are a northern US company and one of our programmers is from the deep south. It is so hard to take him seriously with that accent which I automatically associate with uneducated rednecks. I've literally spent years trying to overcome my bias against the southern accent. One bizarre aspect to this is I was on the interview committee and am the one that convinced everyone else to hire him.