-Stereotypes in IT: Armando, you don't LOOK like a software engineer!

My name is Armando. I’m a 6'6, 245-pound athletic software engineer of mixed race. I look more suited to be a football or basketball player than writing robust, scalable C# software code, but that's what I do.

My entire career, I “heard” the title of this article "Armando, you don't LOOK or ACT like a software engineer." In other words, I don't look like the STEREOTYPICAL software engineer.

So, in order to know who a "Stereotypical Software Engineer" is, I did a little Google research and here is a composite of what I found:

"The stereotypical software engineer is a hoodie-clad, flip flops wearing stereotype of programmers that fall somewhere on a spectrum between Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates. He is normally male White or Asian and average height and build. He is introverted, likes science fiction, not athletic and prefers little to no human contact."

Of course, this is not true and simply a caricature of Software Engineers, but to many people outside the IT world, this is how they view us.

Firs, let’s discuss the origin and of course the evolutionary need for stereotypes. The truth is that we all use stereotypes all the time, consciously and unconsciously. Human intelligence is based on categorization, our ability to quickly categorize, evaluate and dismiss is an important part of intelligence without it, humans wouldn't have survived this long.

For the sake of argument, let's say one of our distant Neanderthal cousins ran into a lion in the jungle. This person had never seen a lion or anything like it before. As he approached the lion, he is attacked and barely gets away. The next time the Neanderthal crosses a lion’s path, he won't have to think, he will know from his previous experience that ALL LIONS ARE DANGEROUS. He doesn't have the luxury of judging each lion independently and it its own merit. This was an important lifesaving strategy that was very successful.

I understand this. However, what I don't understand is why people, normally outside the IT world, think all software engineers wear flip flops, shorts, and lock themselves in their office robotically churning out ideas and solutions with as little human contact as possible. The only reason I can think of is that this is the image the media projects.

My first experience with this was in college, when I first changed my major to Computer Science, after taking an intro to programming class and falling in love with code. Early in my college career, I noticed other students were very condescending to me, laughing at some of my answers in class (in most cases, my answers were correct and WELL above their heads). These students had very low expectations and initially avoided being placed in groups with me. Over time, I earned a reputation in the department as being a bright, innovative student. By my senior year, I had so many students asking me for help on projects that I had to turn off my phone at nights. Several years later, it would rear its ugly head again.

I took a few of years off playing professional basketball, and when I came back to the States, I took an entry level software engineering position near my hometown. There were no instances of stereotyping or anything. People there assumed I knew what I was doing the first day I walked in the door. At this point, I thought I surpassed the stereotypes and biases, which plagued me early in my career, but little did I know, they would return.

After this position, I was involved in a small tech consulting firm for a few years. We consulted on and developed custom software application for companies. During these years, all the stereotypes and biases came back. I represented the company on many occasions, and over those years, I realized how deep the stereotype is among people OUTSIDE the Information Technology (IT) world.

At my previous job, I was the chief architect of a team of about 10 people, and I only answered to the owner of the company (who wasn't around much). Here I experienced this prejudice the most.

At first, I thought, I may not presenting myself well enough, or there is something else, and I denied the truth that was right in front of me the whole time. Then, I finally realized that every single time there was a coworker in the room, even if they were junior to me, even if they knew less, clients would defer to them for an opinion and expertise BEFORE me almost every single time.

A good example is that we had a business development guy, let’s call him Tom. He worked for us, but NEVER worked in IT before, had no experience, training or education, and would constantly use buzz words to sound smart and in some cases would even make up words when speaking with clients.

Tom fit the IT stereotype, and clients always called and asked for him specifically to ask a tech question and had more faith in him. Overall, he closed twice as many sales(percentage -wise) than I did (It was a small company, so I did some sales before he got there), and clients trusted him and requested him when they had a tech question, specifically. He eventually parted ways with the company.

After this happened, I justified all this.... Tom WAS a very likable guy. He made clients laugh and was a excellent salesman. Therefore, they defaulted to him for tech questions and trusted him more.

A few months later, our firm found another guy, we will call him Brandon. Brandon also fit the "tech stereotype." He wasn't very outgoing and wasn't as friendly as Tom and he had about the same experience, which was very little.

I was surprised that the same thing happened again. Clients trusted Brandon much more than me.

Even our junior programmer, Bob, who also fit this stereotype profile, would have clients who assumed he was the lead or assume he knew more than me, or that he was the senior and I was the junior programmer.

Half the time we got a new client, I would spend the first requirements meeting proving that I knew what I was talking about. I would receive many weird and demeaning questions.

I was asked or told by clients, “do you know what a database is?", "I’m not sure you can handle these tasks," or "How did you learn how to program?", almost like I learned in a prison release program or something. I guess my degree in Software Engineering, and my 10 years of experience and certifications didn't totally convince them. Tom, Bob, or Brandon never got these questions, When Tom, Bob and Brandon walked into meeting with a client, they NEVER had to prove they were competent, that was assumed. I did....constantly.

Finally, after years of denying it and blaming myself, after analysis and dismissing every possible thing it could be, I had to finally accept that “yes” there is prejudice and bias when it comes to IT. However, it is only mostly OUTSIDE of the IT world.

Let me explain:

Many of the clients I dealt with working with the custom development firm were people OUTSIDE of the IT world. They were small business owners, investors, and start-ups who had little or no experience with software engineers, other than what they had seen on TV or heard about. A mixed race 6'6, 245-pound small forward sitting across from them talking about databases and servers took some getting used to, it didn't fit their experience. In some cases, these people were investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in my ability to do what I say I can do. It's hard to blame them for being a little worried.

While with the custom development firm, I got tired of constantly having to prove myself to new clients, during that time I was recruited to a great position as lead software engineer with the American Automobile Association (AAA). This is where I currently work. It is an amazing job and I work with great, smart , experienced people. I haven’t experienced one instance of any stereotype or bias since I began there. I was accepted as being an authority and capable of my position.

Over my career, I made an observation: once someone of authority (a large company) hires you or gives you validation, the people there accept you, regardless of what you look like (in most cases). It is the outside people who don't understand that there is diversity and differences in IT.

That is why I love this field so much. People can look the way they want, dress the way they want, come from different backgrounds, and so on. It’s the code that is important. That is the only thing that matters. It’s objective and quantifiable (in most cases).

My name is Armando Pantoja, and I AM A SOFTWARE ENGINEER, and I thank God every day that I chose this life. 

#ILookLikeAnEngineer

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Armando Pantoja is a Software Engineer, entrepreneur, author, speaker, thought leader, and software security expert. Armando is a respected, highly regarded leader in the software engineering industry whose passion lies in software security. Armando currently resides in Tampa Bay, FL.

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @AJPantoja17