A New Adventure - Same Employer, Same Client!

For the last ten months, I have been a software developer on a high-functioning, reference team at a major enterprise client. The team is a great group of people, with solid processes, and has been delivering defect-free code and providing mission-critical business value since before I joined them. But my time as a member of that team has drawn to a close.

Starting Monday, I will be moving within that same client to join the coaches in their Agile Center of Excellence. This new role will allow me to use more of my personal, social, coaching, and training skills, and will no longer involve creating production code on a cadence.

I am really excited for my employer, my client, and myself. The change comes at a time when the development team is beginning a pre-planned size-down, so my employer has somewhere to place me immediately. My client can continue to benefit from my accumulated domain experience. Both will be getting their best value by paying for work that I excel at, and I'll be doing work that I have a deep passion for.

On Privilege

What do I mean by “Privilege”? Privilege is a set of advantages that I receive, without earning them, merely because of my birth circumstance(s). Privilege is different than prejudice or “ism”s. As a person of privilege, I get the advantages even if don’t have prejudice and don’t engage in overt oppressive activities like sexism or racism.

Some examples of my privilege as a white man include:
• I can go to any workplace and expect to see people who look like me
• If I make a mistake, no one will say that it’s because white people are stupid
• The lead roles in movies and tv shows are usually of my color and gender
• If I have children and a career, I won’t be called selfish for not being home with the children
• I am more likely to get a job than an equally qualified applicant who is a woman and/or person of color

There are many types of privilege, including (specific examples and details can be found by following the links):
• White Privilege
• Male Privilege
• Heterosexual Privilege
• Able-bodied Privilege
• Class Privilege
• Religious Privilege
• Cisgender Privilege (contrast with transgender)

You may say: “But I have struggled! I don’t have privilege!” Privilege isn’t about whether I am powerful, wealthy, have a good job, have worked hard all my life to get where I am, or struggle every day. Privilege is simply unearned advantages I get because I belong to a group.

Sometimes when people learn about the concept of privilege, people feel guilt?  If this happens to you, ask yourself where the feeling is coming from. Is it because:
• I never noticed it before?
• I act in ways that make this worse?
• I don’t do things that make it better for people without privilege?

Now that you know about privilege, what can you do about it? You can:
• Read about privilege
• Stay on the lookout for other privileges you might discover you have
• Belive the life experiences of people with less privilege
• Ask yourself if your actions or policies reinforce the advantages of certain privileged groups
• Don’t “help” less-privileged groups - it robs them of agency. Instead amplify their voices (retweet, etc)