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One thing that I'd like to mention is that the author of this post attended Mississippi State University. I mention this because there is a widespread stereotype of the Deep South as a place teeming with racists, rubes, the willfully uneducated, etc... and I want to draw attention to the fact that there are also technology geniuses that come from there too.

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Many great people have come from Mississippi, or passed through on their journey in life. Sadly, I think most of these great people end up leaving, thus re-enforcing some of the problems the area faces.

I was thrilled to see a rigorous reverse engineering article. It's exactly the sort of thing I always hope to find when I browse HN. But I have to admit, it was a special delight to get to the end and find that the author was a fellow MSU alum. :)

I think addressing the perception gap is part of this. No doubt that a lot of people equate "Southern accent" with "stupid." I've seen many lists of "Top 20 black engineers" or "Rising female executives in tech" but haven't seen something similar for Southerners, although I'd guess that in a typical FAANG interview the Southerner is starting out with more unconscious bias against them.

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