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The Experience Tax
The extra toll Black women in tech pay in “years of experience”
About 6 months into a job, a (cishet, White, male) teammate asked whether my current role was my first as a Software Developer. I calmly explained that, no, I had been a Software Developer for more than five years, and that this was my fourth role in the field. After the conversation ended, I proceeded to have a brand new wave of imposter syndrome, anxiety, rage, and embarrassment.
Then I realized something: my five years of experience look very different than those of a cishet, White male. Yes, I had five years of software development experience, but I had also been paying what I now refer to as the Experience Tax on those years.
The Experience Tax: the additional time and energy that folks with marginalized identities must put into navigating various challenges in their careers, which their overrepresented peers do not face.
