I'm Annika and I'm glad that nevertheless, they all coded.

It all started one year ago, when I joined the Talent Acquisition team at SinnerSchrader. I was fresh out of university and I always tried and did a lot of things and kept saying that I was open for everything. That's why I agreed to start a job that would mainly be about attracting devs and also working together with them every day.

In the beginning, I thought I'd have to start learning everything about developing in order to be able to connect to the community and to be honest I was (and still am sometimes) scared that everyone would see me as another annoying recruiter who wants to hire resources and talks a lot.

Then, I met Feli. She was the one who showed me a whole new world and one sentence I'll never forget is "Developers are people". Of course you are people! Admirable people with a lot of power and influence if you ask me. And even though I'm aware that the world in general, but the tech world in particular, is still not as inclusive as we want it to be, I learned so much about accepting, supporting and empowering each other from the tech community.

I know it's kind of cheesy but I am glad that despite all the challenges you have to face on a daily basis, you all coded and still do. I'm really not glad that I had to learn about all the injustice and discrimination you had and have to go through, but I'm so glad that you never give up and inspire people and show how amazing you are.

I can relate to your problems and I face similar challenges as a woman in my life, but the field I work in is not male-dominated. That's why I want to be there as an ally for all underrepresented groups in the tech community (and in general of course).

Thank you to all the women devs I get to work with. Thank you for welcoming me in your world, helping me and others grow. I hope (and the optimist in me is sure) that one day the hard work pays off and in the meantime, I'll be by your side and fight the battle with you.