At mid-career, I'm doing my best to find employment after being fired due to complaining about sexism. The tech scene needs better leadership and less assholes (who are usually the ones wearing the "no assholes" T-shirts). It's not just the men but the women, too. At a well-known software company, I had another woman stick her finger in my face and say, after I complained about bullying: "I know girls like you. I worked with a black girl like you at a major internet service provider. And since we couldn't fire her, we just eliminated her position." I've had managers sexually proposition me with no safe place for me to go. I've been thrown out, humiliated, and degraded—all because I wanted to be an engineer. Seattle is hands-down the most sexist place I've ever lived. But I refuse to let them win. I am just as much a part of Seattle as they are. They do not get to assign my value. They do not get to assign my purpose. They are generic. I will prove this to them.

—Anonymous