Why does it <i>pain</i> you <i>greatly</i>? Does it do the same for other professions like nursing?<p>My entryway into computers was &quot;I want to build a website like this one, but better.&quot; This same opportunity exists for everyone with a web browser, which is most everyone. You had the additional fortune of parents seeking out opportunities for you, but it was not necessary, and I suspect you&#x27;d have found your way to tech eventually even with no external support.<p>Maybe it&#x27;s painful because you want more diversity in your life? Why not fulfill that desire outside of work? Maybe it&#x27;s painful to work on legacy stuff that you&#x27;re sure with a more diverse mindset wouldn&#x27;t be so crufty? I think we&#x27;ve come impressively far with the current (and in the past &quot;worse&quot;) state of affairs, clearly we don&#x27;t <i>need</i> the diversity to accomplish greatness. I&#x27;m on a team with Indians, Koreans, Chinese...and two other white guys. Our manager is black. Our manager&#x27;s manager is a woman. I don&#x27;t think this <i>diversity</i> gives us any technical advantage, but since we&#x27;re all competent, there&#x27;s not really any disadvantage, this is just how the dice fell for us. The only way this diversity impacts me is that my name gets mispronounced (and vice versa for some of them). But as you mention there are a lot of diversity advocates who want diversity over merit for some mysterious reason and will actively sabotage teams to get it.