Moving from Media to IT
Original published on LinkedIn 14/7-20216
I have worked as a journalist writing about Norwegian IT, and the LGBTQ+ movement in Norwegian IT. I learned a lot. One of the things that I have learnt is that Norwegian IT is a great place for queer people.
In March I went from covering Norwegian Queer IT, to being a part of it. And yes, most of the stories I have heard are true. It is a great place to be. Less dinosaurs, more acceptance.
I have worked multiple places in Media as an employee or freelancer, where a lot of dinosaurs still rule the workplace. Here I was open as a bisexual, but not really as a non-binary. Not because I did not feel safe, but because I did not want to keep defending my self against the dinosaurs.
When I moved in to the marketing office at Vivaldi Technologies here in Oslo, I got to feel what I had written about before. A colleague in our marketing team looked at my social media profiles where my name is "Oskar Sofie" and asked about the gender of Sofie in the Norwegian language.
The genuine curiosity and acceptance for me being a not so visible non-binary person, and really not caring about what ever labels I use was liberating. We work in an environment where we don't care what you are, just that you are a part of us. I can be a bisexual, non-binary blob, and no one cares.
I'm straight passing. I am usually presenting masculine and I'm married to a woman. I can slide in to any place without anyone having a clue that I am something other than a family man with a wife and two kids. But psychologically, being in a place where its safe and ok to be whatever you are, is still something that I don't necessarily expect everywhere.
It's still not perfect. That is why we still need the rainbow networks, even in the ever accepting Norwegian IT. We still need to celebrate pride. Push our companies to celebrate pride. To fight the good fight.
With loads of love, happy pride!
Fight for freedom to be whomever you want to be! 🥰🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
