Dealing with discomfort. Change.

I rarely, if ever, talk or write about my personal journey in public. Mainly because I feel uncomfortable while doing so. Time to change.

During my time as a co-organizer of tech-community events like JSConf EU 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.

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.

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.

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.

Raffaele (@pixari) from our Munich based team wrote an incredible article about his journey.

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.

The next post I recommend reading is from Feli (@kotzendekrabbe). 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!

Becoming uncomfortable is always my starting point for change. And it could become yours too.

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.

You can find a lot more content from SinnerSchrader Engineers here.