On working in tech.

March 4, 2019

I’ve been on a semi-permanent instagram hiatus to try and get back on top of my mental health, and I am basking in the irony of this post, but I feel it’s worthy of celebration to excuse a momentary relapse.

Since coming out, I’ve been feeling various intensities of disenfranchisement and discouragement with my work in the San Francisco technology bubble. As a leader and visible intersectional minority within a heavy tech company, I struggle to reconcile my professional interests and passions with the hollow meritocratic positing of a supposedly progressive yet important sector of global business.

Behind the noble missions of connecting us all and disrupting this-and-that lies a wake of social destruction that is shaping the world without proper foresight towards the lasting consequences. Exacerbation of wealth inequality through rapid gentrification of urban centres, inciting hateful rhetoric and political tribalism by giving platform to the vocally racist and homophobic minority, and breeding a public health epidemic of loneliness by denigrating our biologically necessary ability to connect and communicate with one another are just a few things on the dystopian menu.

That’s why my weekend spent at Lesbians Who Tech was so profound. Being surrounded by and learning from 6,000 queer individuals — especially those siblings of color and different ability — who are putting their blood and tears into tech day in and out was a necessary personal lifeline to remind me why this brutally hard work matters.

Technology is not going away, nor should it. But as builders, leaders, and users in this new digital age, we need to recognize a collective responsibility to wield this power with empathy, compassion, and the impact on every last one of us considered as equally important.