Snapchat boss: Social mobility in tech is not just about diverse hiring, we have to change the …

My first job out of university was at one of the big investment banks in London. My family and friends were incredibly proud – we were from working class backgrounds in Birmingham and a role like that was the stuff of dreams. But after just three weeks, I knew it was not for me and I left – I simply didn’t fit in. One of the first things I noticed when I arrived in Canary Wharf was the clothes. I didn’t look the“part”. My new navy suit was comparatively cheap – you could tell from the cut and the fabric  – and to compound the issue, I’d paired it with brown shoes. “No brown in town” laughed my new public school-educated colleagues. I wasn’t wearing the right uniform. Soon after I entered the tech industry, I received feedback that I didn’t celebrate my achievements enough. My firmly-held belief that my work should speak for itself was described by my manager as “a working-class attitude”. Over the years that followed, I came to believe that if I was to build a meaningful career, I would need to assimilate. I’d need to look and sound like others, learn the unwritten codes and…
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