THE ONLY BLACK GUY IN THE OFFICE
All Skinfolk Ain’t Kinfolk in Corporate America
What happens when you’re no longer the only Black guy in the office?
Update 6/7/22: Level has a new home. You can read this article and other new articles by visiting LEVELMAN.com.
I’ve never been one to make my presence immediately known at a new job. I’ll usually spend a couple of weeks scoping out the scene, getting a feel for the office culture, and figuring out how to seamlessly integrate myself into the team — a team that, at least in my professional experience, is predominantly White. That was the case in my last job, the bro-y internet startup, and I still remember my early days there.
The first thing I noticed was how quiet the office was. Nearly everyone wore headphones at their desks, and Slack was the go-to mode of communication, even if you were within arm’s reach of the person you needed, so the sound of keyboards typing filled the open space. But I got some actual week-one face time with my co-workers during an in-office mixer. Everyone was friendly enough, but I really wanted to chop it up with Mike — other than me, he was the only other Black dude on the staff.
It’s rare that I’d see other Black folks working at tech companies in Seattle, so I was…
