The latest articles on DEV Community by Holger Blank (@hblank). https://dev.to/hblank https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F361711%2F5156fca8-84c9-453f-9d2e-3da4af1b8a20.jpeg https://dev.to/hblank en Holger Blank Mon, 08 Mar 2021 13:51:00 +0000 https://dev.to/studio_m_song/dealing-with-discomfort-change-3boo https://dev.to/studio_m_song/dealing-with-discomfort-change-3boo <p>I rarely, if ever, talk or write about my personal journey in public. Mainly because I feel uncomfortable while doing so. Time to change.</p> <p>During my time as a co-organizer of tech-community events like <a href="https://jsconf.eu" rel="noopener noreferrer">JSConf EU</a> and others for the last 10+ years I had the opportunity to listen and learn a lot. But as I figured out really soon, I also had the need to learn a lot.</p> <p>It hasn't been that one single event that helped me to see the undeniable structural facts of our unequal society and workplaces around me. I learned, slowly, over years. I was able to see things clearer over time. Most of the time I felt uncomfortable with a lot of things I've seen and learned.</p> <p>During my personal journey, as a highly privileged white-male, I was lucky to have a group of people around me that helped me to reflect the situation, making me feel uncomfortable, developing my views including also co-creating small things that hopefully made a difference.</p> <p>Today I'm glad that the team I'm working with most of the time, is not only incredibly open for change but also drives a lot of change.</p> <p>Raffaele (<a href="https://twitter.com/pixari" rel="noopener noreferrer">@pixari</a>) from our Munich based team wrote an incredible article about his journey.</p> <p>I suggest spending 11 minutes reading that one (not only) to every of my male colleagues. I also propose to spend many more minutes following all the links he has collected.</p> <div class="ltag__link"> <div class="ltag__link__content"> <div class="missing"> <h2>Article No Longer Available</h2> </div> </div> </div> <p>The next post I recommend reading is from Feli (<a href="https://twitter.com/kotzendekrabbe" rel="noopener noreferrer">@kotzendekrabbe</a>). Feli and me first met at JSConf EU 2015, since 2016 we're working together. Since then, Feli made me feel uncomfortable more than once. I'm thankful for every single time!</p> <div class="ltag__link"> <div class="ltag__link__content"> <div class="missing"> <h2>Article No Longer Available</h2> </div> </div> </div> <p>Becoming uncomfortable is always my starting point for change. And it could become yours too. </p> <p>I suggest not only to allow others to make you feel uncomfortable, but creating a culture where everybody is aware of their unearned privileges and is fostering a culture where being confronted is valued as a joint and common starting point of change.</p> <p>You can find a lot more content from SinnerSchrader Engineers <a href="https://dev.to/s2engineers">here</a>.</p> womenintech iwd2021 wecoded