Let's talk inclusivity in the tech industry

This year has been a weird one. After leaving my previous job at the end of last year I have undergone a number of medical procedures:

• 3rd MRI scan at the neurologist for the cyclic weakness and pain in my right leg and arm.
• appointments at the proctologist and gastroenterologist for the abdominal bloating and pains.
• cycle monitoring and laproscopy surgery at the gynaecologist to gather data on my intersex condition.

Even after nearly fourteen years, I still know very little about my body, and finding specialists who got a clue and/or show interest is so hard that I envy those who are merely seeking for needles in haystacks. Currently I'm suffering more and more frequently from nausea during each cycle, though the sciatica (pain and weakness in my right leg) seems to have mostly gone away, indicating that things are changing.

After my body suddenly started undergoing its first proper puberty in 2015, with a dramatic increase in female secondary characteristics, it's been a confusing and harrowing time for me. I do not understand what is happening with my body, and how far it will keep developing like this, or whether there'll be any consequences of such a delayed puberty.

I know that my natural female hormone levels are pretty low for a woman, but adding additional hormones result in the symptoms of estrogen overdosing, so this is apparently the level my body is now comfortable with. I have also noticed old scars changing, wrinkles fading and of course the fat distribution in my body shifting around again, as if the hormone therapy I used to be on did just about almost nothing. Nothing about this makes any sense, and there's nothing in the literature that may help me with this. My best and only help so far seems to be one of those cycle tracking apps, allowing me to at least gather some data on the symptoms while giving me at least some useful hints and tips.


Oh, did I mention that I'm looking for a new job?

It's been eight months now since I started my search for a new job, and collected a few dozen rejection notes in that time. I'm supposed to have a new job by next month according to the lease extension I got for my current apartment, or I'm looking for a new place to stay. Worst case I'd be forced to return to the Netherlands without a job and no place to stay. After the 11 years of horror that I went through there, that's the last thing I want or can deal with.

I'm frantically working to catch up on the deadlines for my upcoming book on embedded C++ development, which I started on earlier this year. Fortunately my second book on C++ multithreading that came out last year is selling well. Combining writing a book with the job hunt and dealing with my medical condition is hard.


So, inclusivity.

It's a big word, which has been thrown around a lot the past years. Basically it means that everybody gets an equal opportunity, regardless of their circumstances. Sounds great, doesn't it?

Naturally, no employer who has rejected an application of mine has said why they did so, or gave any specific reasons. How would one even know whether one got rejected due to one's medical condition, circumstances of birth, or having opted to pursue medical help over a career?

I could be totally wrong about this, but at the same time I cannot exclude the possibility that after doing my best for months now to get hired, and having literally flown around the world for a multitude of on-site interviews, that in the end the primary reason why I do not get hired is because I'm an intersex individual. Someone who is open about it online, even.

Since I have no guarantee that this is not the case, and my professional experience should at least give me a fair shot at a job, it's sadly becoming a question which I and others are beginning to ask more frequently now.

Am I not getting a job because I am open about being an intersex person? Is the very fact that I'm intersex a factor in getting rejected from job applications?


It could just be that I have wasted all those years on not pursuing a career which is coming back to haunt me now, since employers do not like gaps in one's education-to-jobs timeline, but 'maybe' and 'possibly' aren't of much comfort here. With zero feedback from any job interview as a rule, one is left grasping in the dark for clues.

I like to think - and others confirm this - that I'm a highly dedicated person with a keen interest in science and technology, who is friendly and helpful, and more than willing to learn new skills for a project or job, while always being ready for a challenge.


It's hard to not feel like this is where inclusivity in the tech industry falls flat. Someone like me is different, yes. I have taken a course through life unlike what most people will ever experience in their entire life. Yet this should make me a unique asset to a team. Not a liability. Yet that's what it feels like.

Like I'm back in primary school, getting bullied and excluded for being 'different'. Ditto for my later school experiences and so on. Ironically those experiences taught me the value of communicating with others, even if it had to be initiated with one's fists. Some of those bullies actually became my friends later on. Yet back then I didn't know I was intersex, nor did anyone else. Being gifted was already enough of a struggle to deal with.

I got through all of those years. I got through the past thirteen years mostly unscathed, even when it seemed as if my body, doctors, psychologists and the rest of the world were all against me. There was always someone there who offered me that one chance to move on, which I accepted even if it meant more big changes and massive effort on my side.


I just wish someone would give me that chance now.


Maya