"You’re too pretty to be a Developer!"
Hoo-boy. Let’s unpack this backwards compliment a bit.
- It assumes that people who are developers can’t be attractive, which stereotypes an entire industry.
- It suggests that someone who is attractive could not also be talented, which is far from true.
- It often implies that women cannot be developers, and the shock someone experiences at that realization.
- It states that you know someone is a developer, but that you still find more value in their physical attributes than their skillset or talents.
- You’ve reduced them to a one-dimensional piece of visual entertainment.
Not cool. Knock it off. It’s not received well.
Further Reading
- I Look Like an Engineer [Wikipedia]
- You’re too pretty to be a developer [IBM Developer Blog]
- Female software engineer slammed for being ‘too pretty’ and ‘not real’ fights back with online campaign proving nerds can be attractive too [Daily Mail]