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.

  • katja@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    17·
    8 days ago

    I came out at the beginning of this year. I’d been on E for abt 5 months and I did not pass, still don’t, but I just couldn’t wait for that.

    I work with tech service and I rarely see my colleagues as I spend most of my time at a customer site and start from home. My coming out to my actual employer was basically a call to my closest boss and an email to the other techies. And paperwork of course.

    When coming out to the customer I first talked to a girl who I knew was lesbian (hadn’t really talked to her before) to have a safe person to talk to. She talked to some other people and their boss and they informed everyone about it in a meeting and that was basically it. Pretty much everyone has been super nice and supportive and I made a couple new friends in the process. It’s a female dominated field, which probably helped. I actually feel a lot more accepted than before I came out and almost like one of the girls now. 🥰 At my actual work, it created some distance to the other techies. They treat me alright and no one is mean or anything, but there is an awkwardness that wasn’t there before. Maybe this is just what the dynamic is from a female perpective to work with guys?

    Someone said that it’s better to just do it instead of going around having anxiety about it. Case in point, when I changed my name it stated it would take 6 to 8 weeks so I thought I had some time to mentally prepare and practice doing makeup (I still suck) and buy some more clothes and stuff like that. It took 2 days and then I got spam addressed to katja. I guess I’m coming out right the fuck now and with zero prep time. 😬 I barely slept that night, but that’s much better than 8 weeks of my overactive imagination going haywire with scenarios of public ridicule, flogging and dismemberment. 😅

    I’m not trying to say everyone should come out right away and not consider their circumstances. If you know you’re going to come out soon and are just waiting for the right time, this post is for you, because the right time is now. It won’t be any easier later.