What it's like to be a male in tech, and then a female

This offers some real perspective, but it's still hard to tell how much confidence, or the lack of, factored into everything. If you don't appear to be confident about something it can be a turn off. I'm mention that not to deny sexism but to say that you should always exude confidence.

The plural of anecdote is not data. Richard Lippa has done studies that show the more economic freedom and gender equality a country has, the more men and women choose traditional occupations along gender lines.

It's pretty obvious: in countries where your high paying options are limited (e.g. eastern Europe or India), you are more likely to go after a career in STEM, preferring economic success over personal actualization.

Decades of pro equality policy in e.g. Norway or Sweden have not significantly increased the number of women studying STEM. Government officials say outreach programs result in a temporary increase in women that drops again after a year or two.

But if you bring facts or studies with n=200000 respondents to the discussion, someone like this will dismiss it because she worked with some shitty men before and generalizes her experience to every woman and man in the industry.

If you see a sexism post on medium, you can be sure it's going to be anecdotal and utterly US-centric.