I’m on my way home from my second Linux conference since transitioning and I’m beginning to pick up on some of the differences between attending as a man and attending as a woman. The biggest difference I’ve noticed is that people seem to remember me now.
I attended a few events before transitioning, and the people I met in 2011 had largely forgotten me by 2012. I guess that makes sense, now that I think about it. I would quietly keep to myself and that usually meant that other people left me alone. People saw me as just another guy at a Linux conference, and that made me almost unmemorable.
That’s all different now. I re-met a lot of people in at the Linux Plumbers Conference last September, and they actually remembered who I am this week! And everybody from recruiters to new friends are actively starting conversations with me! I would be surprised if being a woman at a Linux conference didn’t play a part in this change. But I’m also way more comfortable with myself, and I would like to think that makes me more approachable.
In my opinion, being social makes these events way more enjoyable.
Well it’s not everyone who changes their identity the way you have. Of course, they are going to remember you. I don’t believe it’s that fact that you look like a female rather than a male that makes a difference. Maybe you as “a person” are just a little more friendlier to others than before. I have known a lot of unfriendly, disagreeable females in the past that I am glad I will never meet again. To me, you are exactly the same person I have always known. No matter how you present yourself, you are still the same to me.