Being Trans in Tech

Tech likes to think of itself as a meritocracy, judging the commit and not the committer. In my experience it judges both, and the second judgment is just quieter. I have watched a room take an idea seriously only after a man repeated it, and I have learned to read the temperature of a stand-up before I decide how much of myself to bring to it.

I am good at this work. Two decades of infrastructure does not care what is on your ID. But being trans in this industry means doing the job and then doing a second, unpaid job on top of it — managing other people’s comfort with your existence while you are also trying to ship.

I am not asking for special treatment. I am asking for the same thing the meritocracy claims to already offer: look at the work. The work is right there. It has always been right there.