Nevertheless, Angelfirenze Coded

Equality in tech looks like the first episode of Blackish that I ever saw. Before people started ramming all their opinions and biases onto the show and its characters, I remember thinking 'This is something I would have written'.

I can't remember the name of the episode, but the constant infringing upon other people's personal space and the complete obliviousness of the dude trying to befriend Dre was absolutely hilarious.

For me, this sort of thing happens online CONSTANTLY, which is why I bring it up.

I've had to apologize and retract posts on Livejournal and other places in the world so often I can't keep count. I have had to learn what others' boundaries are, which is still an ongoing project, but when I look back to even a couple of years ago, much less high school, the difference is very stark.

Equality in tech is being able to study from both male and female tutors, which is always great. My idea of it isn't having a woman or a man sitting in front of a team of the opposite gender.

To me, it's having samples of every race, religion, cis, trans, gay, straight, asexual, aromantic, romantic, demisexual employees and superiors alike and having them work together in a harmonious workflow that is free from strife most of the time.

I’m an expert at…research and Git, though I'm always finding more to learn, like from @TimBerglund; I'm also an expert at pronouncing medical jargon, which is just fun research into infectious disease (the specialty, not a singular mention of a singular disease) that I did way back in high school, for example.

When I start watching a show like DaVinci's Demons or Mr. Robot, I seem to research it to death and then get kind of annoyed because they can't mention it all, even in passing...which is me kind of paraphrasing [the character] Leo's words about the lack of memories he has of his mother. Anyway.

My advice for allies to support self-identifying women and non-binary folks who code is...start with something simple -- don't go jumping off the deep end because you'll find you've come to a halt rather quickly. Always search for the easiest way forward because you will be glad you got to the harder stuff without all the confusion.