Transmasc

I'm a trans guy working as a professional software eng, and yeah, I'm stealth.

I'm sorry I (and presumably many others) don't act as real life representation save for these online spaces! I promise you we are out there, and being trans doesn't have to be a barrier.

I don't think I'd be in hot water if I came out or anything either; I just work at a company that is largely older and conservative so I'm just personally being extra cautious in not wanting to add any unnecessary social tension.

Note: I'm writing from an American perspective - sorry if this doesn't apply to your situation.

I know this is literally a 3 month old post but: I'm a transman programmer. I'm still at the job I initially came out at, and things are great - everyone uses my correct name and pronouns. It's been two years since I came out at work and I've been here seven years. Higher Ed seems to be a very good place for transpeople right now, particularly private sector higher ed. Public higher ed can be dicey depending on your state - there's talks of banning transpeople from working with children in my state, but that would only apply to public.

The other posters already covered a lot of reasons you might not see a lot of visible FTM men in tech, but an additional one is that our...uh...background tends to push people like us away from tech. At least in the US, there's still a major gender gap in how science and especially tech are taught. I was lucky to get into a lot of girl exclusive science camps, which helped prepare me for being the only "girl" in non-gender-specific camps. I was the only person of my gender to attend the robotics camp that launched my love of programming for the 6 years I attended, and once I hit college, there were only two girls (including me) in my entire computer science program. Then you figure that a small percentage of AFAB people end up being transmen, and we end up being a minority of a minority.

Additionally, anecdotally, at least in my area, FTM individuals tend to be poorer and/or from poorer families than MTF individuals. That can lead to a big gap in professionals, because it can take a lot of money, sanity and support to get started.

I don't think any of those are reasons to be scared of going into tech - it's not like it's an awful death trap and that's why everyone avoids it. It's just a leftover product of societal norms that are slowly changing.

I’m cis so I obviously have never had to contend with whether my field of interest represents me but, the way I see it, part of the reason you see the “trans girl software engineer” meme is that software engineering is one of those fields where for the most part, if you have the skills and you produce good work, then you belong. I think if you want to be a software engineer, you should go for it, and don’t let a perceived lack of representation put you off of it. <3

Hi, I'm mtf, but in tech, so maybe I can be a bit helpful.

I'm thinking you may be right that a lot of guys are stealth. It's very hard to be stealth mtf in tech because there are already not many women. At my company, there are three women in engineering, me and two cis lesbians. So I kinda stick out. But it would be pretty easy to be unremarkable if you pass as a man. I actually know (well, talk-to-on-the-internet) at least one stealth trans guy in tech, so you do exist. Tech is relatively cool with queer people, depending on the area, so I don't think being stealth is a requirement for a successful career.

I really like software engineering as a career for two reasons. First, something about my brain (autism?) Makes solving little puzzles on my computer and putting together virtual systems super satisfying. And also, software is one of the easiest ways to a stable career. Like what other field can get you a 6 figure salary with a 4 year degree? And honestly office work is pretty easy as long as you work for a chill company. Money and stability are big advantages when you're trans.

I'm sure you already know this, but there are lots of good careers in tech outside of programming. Some good examples are cyber security, cloud/sre/devops, and data scientist. You can get into all of these with a bachelor's degree, but some you can do with an associate's instead and save two years.

But, like, I guess the job market is weird and messed up rn, so maybe the more education the better. But even with the tech layoffs there are stuff tons of jobs out there. Sure, you might have to work at a bank instead of Google, but it's still a stable, well-payed office job. Don't get discouraged by silly undergrad cs students who are doomer about everything because they didn't get the Facebook internship.

I'm totally down to answer more questions if you want or chat about tech. Good luck figuring out your path through dystopian late capitalism!

Keep in mind plenty of people struggle to get the jobs they want, regardless of gender identity, sexuality, etc.

I felt completely stuck in my job and returned to school to do CS and now work as a software engineer. It’s never too late, I was in my 30s. If you choose to pursue it do it for the right reasons. Sit down and start to learn a bit of code if you don’t already know how to do some basic stuff. It’s not for everyone that’s for sure. If you have any questions about school as an adult I would be happy to answer. The other poster who said “it’s more about producing good work” is exactly right. good luck