After 5 months, I guess I’ve fully cracked. Now I’m wondering about updating my professional website, that cesspool LinkedIn, etc.
I’m a Dev (yes, I use Arch) and I used to teach. I guess I’m nervous about having to tell my old students and coworkers.
I’d love to hear strategies, lessons learned, or anything that made the process smoother.
Congrats on 1 year! Thank you for your thorough answer! Starting a new job and your transition at the same time must have been really stressful, I commend you.
Well, I guess your response scares me a bit because the majority of my colleagues and former students have known me for several years pre-transition. However, it does give me hope for when I start a new job. It might be best to start fresh.
your experiences might differ, but in my experience it has been mentally harder to be around people I knew pre-transition … I behave in old ways around them and find it harder to be myself, I feel like they know I’m fake or a fraud, etc. and that undercuts my confidence (which is especially important for voice feminization).
That said, I’ve also had no real drama or issues with coworkers I knew pre-transition… the closest was one of them accidentally deadnaming me in a meeting with people who didn’t know me pre-transition, so I was effectively outed in that moment to anyone who hadn’t already noticed or heard through chatter
but that only happened once and they felt awful about it, worse than I felt I’m sure
most people just want to know how to be polite and behave correctly, most weirdness I saw was from people just feeling anxious because they aren’t 100% sure what is or isn’t respectful
Thanks! I wish the new job and transition were the only things I had to deal with, because it’s been one hell of a year, but I’ve managed alright.
I genuinely wouldn’t worry too much about it. I only say that to expect it might make things a bit trickier and have more grace with them making mistakes.