How Identity Has Influenced A Product Engineer At Graphistry's Career
Alex, a product engineer, acknowledges the complexity of identity's impact on career navigation, noting that "it's a culturally fraught question" and expressing a desire for increased skill in relating to diverse experiences. The Google program highlighted the wide range of individual experiences, revealing a need for more nuanced understanding beyond typical tropes, leading Alex to recognize a personal goal of "more facility with that" to foster better workplace relationships.
Diversity and Inclusion, Workplace Culture, Communication Skills, Self-Awareness, Interpersonal Relationships
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Alex Warren
Product Engineer
Graphistry
University of Arizona 2015
None
Computer Science
Technology
Product / Service / Software Development and Management
Took Out Loans
Video Highlights
1. Alex's experience highlights the importance of diversity and inclusion in the workplace, showing how varied backgrounds lead to diverse perspectives and experiences.
2. The interview reveals the complexity of identity in professional settings, emphasizing the need for self-awareness and continuous learning to improve interpersonal relationships.
3. Alex's journey from a less diverse environment to a more diverse one in the Bay Area highlights the impact of location and exposure on understanding and navigating diverse workplaces.
Transcript
As someone who identifies as a white guy, how has that impacted how you've navigated your career?
It's a culturally fraught question. Personally, it brings up anxiety.
My journey is that I grew up in a relatively rural, primarily white part of Arizona. The level of diversity was low. I then went to Tucson for university, which is more diverse, but in one specific direction.
Now I'm in the Bay Area, which has more diversity. It's a whole thing to relate to because there are many political questions, gender relations, and it comes up in work contexts. People come together to work, and our identities come into play.
Google has a really good program where they brought people together, and different individuals shared their experiences. It blew my mind. I could keep track of a few different stories based on backgrounds.
But then, in a room of about 50 people, someone from Southeast Asia shared their experience. Their story wasn't within the normal cookie-cutter idea of tropes. People's actual experiences are super complicated.
I would like to feel more facility with that. That goes back to relationships and being able to get feedback and be attuned to a situation, and to stay human. I don't want to go into a work environment and hide parts of myself.
This also relates to men and women relating, and sexual harassment. Honestly, it's scary. I don't feel competent. My competency is at the point of having some awareness of how much more skilled I could be in relating to it.
I'm fortunate that our workplace is growing, and we want to have an open-hearted environment. That's not my primary question, but it's relevant. So, that's where I'm at with it. It's an inquiry.