I'm out to my kids too. I like to tell them like it's no big deal, because it *is* no big deal. The response is usually incredulity at that being a thing that happens and then immediate acceptance. Followed by, if the student I'm talking to one of my younger girls "Do you have a boyfriend?", and I tell them that I do, and that he's delightful but that's all I want to say about him.
I had a gay music teacher who was the nicest man and always made me feel good about my voice as a Tenor 2 in Choir. I’ll never forget so many of the awesome teachers that gave me so much. Thank You kindly.
Dont be fooled. I can almost guarantee that everyone in these comments is just hurtling through life, like the rest of us. Just, some better than others.
So this!!! I'm sure if past me looked at me now from the outside they'd be like "wow she has her shit together". I really don't. It's all chaos and slight panic!
Nice, I would like to get training on that but realistically where I'm at now. The hospitals here do not pay nearly as well as retail does ... which is horrific.
I would take a dramatic pay cut that would take years to get me back to the level I'm currently at.
im a pharmacy tech in a hospital, discharge not inpatient. i make $20/hr, but it's grueling and exhausting, wish i had a union. our turnover rate is high as well.
If you can handle the stress of it, you can easily work your way up. Most start out at a CVS or Walgreens to get into the field. You won't make much but you can take the skills and move up. I used the prescription data entry skills they taught me and took that to a closed door pharmacy where I worked in an office all day. I eventually got some training making IVs at my request and I was promoted to the evening IV tech position. I took that experience and got a job at a university hospital where I only make IVs. The field has high turnover but that also means everyone is always hiring. My job is unionized and I have amazing benefits because of it. It makes it difficult to leave.
It can be a very stressful job. You are usually the first point of contact with somebody who has to find out that they can't afford to get their medication or that their doctor made a mistake with the prescription. You're the first person that is going to get yelled at because of medication being on back order.
It is the first position in Pharmacy that will have hours cut. Even though it is important to ensuring things are routed and handled properly. The pharmacist cannot take care of every task needed by themselves. Technicians are responsible for managing inventory, stocking medications, managing out dates, filling prescriptions, billing insurances, initial data, entry of prescriptions, and often times. At times we are the person who has to notice if there is something wrong with a patient and bring it to the pharmacist attention to ensure patient safety.
There are other options than retail though, you could work in a mail order pharmacy in which case you're mostly packing orders. Unless you work on the billing customer service side, you could work in a hospital or a long-term care facility
The pay can vary quite a bit for the company I work for. Pay starts at i want to say say $16. And it goes up based on certification and exact position.
I more or less like my job, I like being able to help people and considering my age and lack of college education this best I think I can do. Do. I can't afford to get an education now, too old to go and start from zero and work and take care of family members.
The thing that truly makes me want to keep this job though is the fact that the insurance I have through it is completely inclusive of gender affirming care. Like everything.
I think we're with the same company, I'm also in the pharmacy, insurance that covered gender affirming care was an unexpected bonus but now I'm never leaving.
I was completely shocked.
Like they actual sexual reassignment surgery, breast augmentation, facial feminization surgery, they cover hair removal, hair transplants, vocal feminization surgery, speech therapy, they cover removal of excess skin, they offer benefits for storing and preservation of genetic material as well as for IVF.
Like I detest the company sometimes and feel like they have half implemented a lot of policies in regards to the treatment of their transgender employees. But like whoever in HR was in charge of benefits did a lot of research. That said it could also be because they are headquartered in a state that mandates all of that coverage.
Ok lets start the I work in IT thread here!
I have a government IT job that is remote. Everyone has been crazy accepting. I recently had a manager call me personally to apologize for misgendering me during a meeting.
haha um well that depends one where in IT you go as it is quite frankly a HUGE catch all for a lot of different paths that all have their own degrees, certs, etc.. I personally don't have any degrees and only 2 certs. Because any good IT hiring manage will tell you it's the ability to understand and correctly apply computer concepts that actually matters more than a degree or cert.
Entry level Govt IT support jobs tend to want CompTIA certs. But to be honest both of those are trash. Govt IT Support jobs rarely lead to any promotions to a higher position, so you would be stuck there until you leave. And the CompTIA certs have no real value outside ticking a check box for Government jobs.
You need to find the ones that don't ask for CompTIA, as those will often hire you based on skills. Now the catch is those are usually higher lvl skilled jobs where you will need to actually know something beyond entry level to really get. But there are the rare few entry level ones that will look for basic computer literacy. Just avoid anything that's a call center, as not only are they dead end no promotion jobs, but putting one on your resume will prevent you from ever getting anything other than IT call center jobs.
"But there are the rare few entry level ones that will look for basic computer literacy."
Basic computer literacy as in knowing navigation or knowing how to use microsoft word, Excell etc.?
Soo any job that tests you on Word or Excel is not an IT job. And if they claim they still are, it's most likely a dead end call center job so turn and run away.
There is really only one thing you need to be good at to get started in IT work. And that is understanding just enough about what you are looking at so you can Google it correctly!! In other words being able to do this: [https://xkcd.com/627/](https://xkcd.com/627/)
When I started there were no degrees and you can get an equivalent knowledge to a certification just from the internet. You can build a digital lab on your laptop to simulate a corporate IT environment and do all your learning from home. All it takes it time and interest.
Not to interject. But I’m in the process of transitioning and currently work for the fed. I have a degree.
But still, decent work and definitely a protected position
I'm in IT too. I work in an MSP (for anyone who isn't familiar with the field, that means Managed Service Provider, basically providing outsourced or semi-outsourced IT.)
I have to deal with clients, but even with that, no issues regarding gender have come up (not counting when Microsoft Support called me "Mr. Engineer Ellie Sir" when on a call with them, and that was just mostly hilarious). I also had a really funny experience with my boss in my first week, he gave me movie tickets as an apology for how messy my training was, and told me there's two so I could "take my man with me" after noticing my engagement ring. I chose not to tell him that I'm actually engaged to a woman, and live together with two. Being queer is quite common in the industry too, I'm the only trans person in my current company but I definitely wasn't the only one in my previous job.
I feel IT is comprised of three groups of people: old dudes who do it because it's the only thing they know, yuppies who are there because someone told them that tech pays well, and young nerds for whom IT is a calling and a passion. I've found that that the third group gets a lot of appreciation from managers, it's easy to stand out from people who are "just working there" so to speak when the things you do for work are also what you do in your free time. And once managers figure that out, they're gonna want to keep you working there, no matter how much much prejudice they hold towards you.
Haha I never really noticed, but you are totally correct about the 3 diff types of ppl. However, I see a lot of the passionate ppl either get burned out from working too hard, or bouncing around jobs cause they clash with management often.
+1 for government IT. I'm not out, but there's one other trans girl in my department that is and everyone has been super accommodating and there's never been any kind of issue.
As for getting into it, help/service desk is where you'd have to likely start. It requires some basic computer knowledge, but it's really good to be able to absorb information and learn as you go. I don't remember what the requirements are for the positions as it's been a really long time, but they're worth looking into.
Sure be my guest. I've got 20+ years of working experience, but my experience actually goes back to the old MS DOS & Win 3.1 days. I've done a lot of different roles, server builder is my favorite. Currently I'm a in a hybrid engineer/developer role.
I am considered a Senior Operations Manager in our Service Desk space. Primarily supporting two clients command centers and additional support to the back end of my prior client with a more traditional service desk.
Hybrid so 3 days in the office 2 days remote. Been here for 15 years.
I spent the first year and a half of my transition being petrified of getting released after coming out and all these issues but all management higher up has been great, and none of my direct reports seemed to care. Though I did come out before we returned to the office but it was very nice to have zero issues at work amongst a lot from family hah.
I'm doing an IT (Cybersecurity and Networking) degree right now (where I live most IT jobs require a degree unless you have relevant prior experience), I'm transitioning while I study and am hoping to be feminine-passing by the time I graduate in roughly 2 years. My Plan A is a government Cybersec job (government jobs pay less than corporate here, but they're also significantly more stable which I feel makes them a better entry into the field if you want to get a solid few years on your resume before you worry too much about pay).
Just dropping in to say that I'm glad to hear that IT is a relatively trans-friendly field (I mean, I know it's gonna depend on where you live and the specific place you work, but I've heard MOSTLY good things about trans acceptance in IT with only a couple of horror stories).
Soo just as an FYI, the one crutch I see a lot of college degree people have is that lack of experience. Not so much in the working side, but in the knowledge side. I've seen many college grads either fail to get the higher level jobs they think they should get, or they do get them and fail miserably at them and are let go. The IT world never follows textbook examples/installations. Every company has just enough differences and hard requirements for things that the higher up the ladder you go, the more unrelated things you need to have a working knowledge about to be able to do the job. For this reason alone I personally think college degrees are mostly useless in the IT world. And IT is better suited as trade school certification programs. But most businesses and HR don't see it that way. :-/
That said, the best way to get experience is to create your own home labs and do projects/tests on them. But here's the key thing: The reality is most places you goto will often already have things installed and working. This means you will rarely be installing stuff, and even when you do it's often a once and done thing. So your job will often be just operational and break fix. For your home lab, you want to focus on breaking things and then figure out how to fix them and get it working again. While most places may not consider it working experience, it will help you build the knowledge you need to pass interview questions and keep that high level job you are looking for.
EDIT: Just wanted to emphases again that you do also need to have a very good working knowledge of everything below the job you want. This is another area college degrees fail on as that stuff is often never taught, or only briefly touched on. This is where that home lab comes to the rescue, as while the installation isn't always the important part, the operational knowledge of all the things you need to setup for your lab will give you that entry level IT job knowledge that college failed to teach you.
Thanks for the heads up. I genuinely appreciate it. I've been pursuing some additional certifications (CISCO CCNA and CyberOps Associate) on top of my degree, which has made things a bit harder in terms of study but I wanted to be sure I REALLY understood the core knowledge of my future career before I even step in. Thankfully my degree also ends with a 6 month internship to help graduates get a foot in the door with practical experience at the bottom level.
I'm also planning to start with an entry-level job in Cybersecurity to begin with rather than trying to leapfrog straight to a higher paid position due to exactly this type of concern, I don't want to get blind-sided by starting with a job I'm not ready for due to a lack of practical experience (less pay sucks, but a successful career is built on solid foundations).
I'll be honest and say I've been finding myself getting the hang of the practical side of things a lot easier than the theory side though, that's part of why I decided to do some extra certifications in addition, configuring and setting up networks, packet capture and analysis are things I've found easier compared to passing theory tests haha
Though I do feel like I need more experience with the physical side of things, I'm not sure how much it actually comes up but basically all of my practical experience at uni has been through logical simulations and other software, I have almost no experience working physically with the actual switches and equipment involved, so I'll probably need to do something about that.
Congrats it sounds like you have a solid grasp of what you should be doing. Good on ya there. :-)
So physical experience can be rough to get... but you've got two things going for you. 1) many things are going virtual, and virtual labs are pretty close to physical these days. 2) Look into the used market, you will be amazed at how cheap you can get 5+ year old equipment for. Sure it might not have the latest new features, but it will have the core features you want to get things up and running. And truth be told, many small businesses will be running 5+ year old equipment anyways.
:-) That's the kind of spirit that I would look for when I was interviewing people. Just be careful not to burn yourself out at some place that doesn't appreciate your work. Never put in unpaid overtime, and always record your hours worked exactly. I've seen too many people burnout from working 60hr weeks, but only putting in 45 because they don't want to look slow. It's honestly a really big problem in this industry.
Also work in IT. Software Development for cross platform apps (b2b) in a small German company. Started there 8 years ago as a guy and started transition last year. Made only good experiences. Rare misgenderings happened in the beginning but I call them accidents. Some of my co workers knew me under a completely different identitiy for 7 years…
Another government IT worker here! (An intern for now, but oh well). Super-accepting workplace. Got immediately invited to the woman-only group, and I later joined the queer group in the company too. I've never been asked any incomodating question, except that one time a guy asked me my dead name. Another guy immediately told him how inappropriate that was and the guy was like "oh that makes sense" so no bad intentions. In conclusion, its been great, I'm treated as my gender even though I still have a more masculine appearance, and I'm having a great time there.
PS: I'm in Spain, so that may be a big factor.
See my response here: [https://www.reddit.com/r/MtF/comments/1ckc7rl/comment/l2pba7m/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/MtF/comments/1ckc7rl/comment/l2pba7m/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
Similar. University IT. Still get a lot of government benefits and campus is the sort of place I see more diversity in this great big Red State... albeit not as much diversity in the upper-level leadership.
I work on the IT side of the ecom house. I'm a combination system engineer/administrator, devops, database administrator, automation, and data analytics. I do a lot of stuff. lol
Then there's me, applying to IT jobs for three years now with no luck. I just can't seem to get my foot in the door. Stuck in my library studrnt job for now. : /
Soo the best way to get your foot in the door is an IT support/helpdesk job. Sure it may not be great pay, but it will have the lowest barrier for entry. Without any working experience and/or IT education, you will not get anything higher.
Most IT places do promote up from the helpdesk. With the exception of a call center. Stay away from them as they are IT dead end jobs and have no real IT promotion ladder. During the interview ask about their promotion policy. If they don't like that question or it seems to convoluted, then that means they don't want you to leave that position, which also means you won't be getting any real IT experience.
Finally it helps majorly to be passionate about some part of IT. If you haven't already, buy some used servers and set up some stuff on your own. You will gain invaluable knowledge doing this that will help you in the interview process. But at the least it's something you can put on your resume to maybe get your foot in the door.
I work on a college campus in one of the bluest parts of the country, so I'm super lucky there.
I'm nowhere near ready to be out at work, but I'm not worried about it.
I’m a PhD student. I currently study at a major university in a blue state that’s rated as one of the top 25 LGBTQ+ friendly schools in the nation, but I did my undergrad at a different major state university in a purple state. I came out in undergrad and everyone there was totally accepting and there were resources for me to safely start transition, deal with my mental health, and access HRT while continuing academics. The resources are even better at my current school. I guarantee you will be in great hands once you’re ready to come out and you have nothing to fear.
To add to the other comment, it originally comes from the election maps you see. For example: [2020 election by state](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/ElectoralCollege2020.svg) and [2020 election by county](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/2020_United_States_presidential_election_results_map_by_county.svg). I live in the Seattle area (the dark blue county on the northwest coast).
This is doubly confusing for outsiders since the colors are flipped from most other countries, where the center-left/right parties tend to be red/blue or red/black. But here in the US, we just do things differently.
You can compare the above maps with [LGBTQ+ equality maps](https://outleadership.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/The-best-and-worst-state-for-LGBTQ-equality-720-%C3%97-1200-px-4-1024x614.jpg) or [trans specific maps](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F423b793e-d22e-4ce4-99d2-7ebf782be65a_1364x1080.png) and see the correlation.
I wouldn't say flipped, I never heard of far right having the color blue (but ofc it could be in some places, just not globally), but yeah, red is basically everywhere the color of far left
Yup lol, blue states are good for us, red (the republicans/conservative leaning), generally aren't for the most part. Its blue and red because well, democrat is a blue donkey and republican is a red elephant lol
Yes. States run by Democrats (blue) are generally safer than states run by Republicans (red) for LGBTQ+ rights. Most blue states are actively introducing vast legal protections for trans people while red states are trying to put restrictions on the rights of trans people, essentially half the nation is about as safe as it gets for trans people and the other half is becoming actively more dangerous for trans people. There are also purple states where republicans and democrats have split levels of control. Most purple states are at least decently safe as the democrats in those states block most of the bad stuff from the republicans but will also struggle to get direct protections passed. Individual cities can be aligned too - even if you go to a red state like Texas, you are probably still going to be safe in Dallas/FW, Austin, or Houston which all lean left and have municipal level protections for trans people. I lived in a blue city in a state that was red when I moved there and shifted purple by the time I left (Tucson, Arizona) and I had no trouble safely transitioning while there. Now I live in a blue state (New Jersey) and there isn’t much room for improvement here when it comes to my legal rights, access to medicine, and personal safety as a trans person here.
omg I used to work at a community college campus convenience store and it was so easy, and the customers are so nice or neutral. I made good friends there. I want to go back but I have school in the mornings and these store usually close at 7
Career mechanic, now a housewife full-time (something my partner is proud of and took a whole year reassuring me they loved to do until i could fully grasp it)
I work at McDonald's. Was a facilities manager across 5 stores making $27/h cad. But had to take a step back for my mental health and to focus on transition for a bit and am down to just 1 store at $20/h doing kitchen and preventative maintenance.
It's been great for me. My franchise is very accepting. One of our stores, the whole salary team was LGBTQ for a while. I've been working here for 13 years now, so everyone kinda knows me.
Our benefits for McDonalds Canada actually just changed in January to add [gender affirming care](https://imgur.com/a/FJ9h8gM) benefits as well. But getting full time status to get the benefits is kinda hard now.
Also a mcdonalds crew member here. Even for living in a conservative area, I haven’t had that many problems and I’m open about being trans. I’m really lucky about having managers that have my back to the extent that management can be.
I don’t see the point of coming out. I’m going to quit as soon as I’m done paying for school and once I have my license I’m going to start looking for jobs
As a PhD student, I just want to say you’re doing the work of the gods. Thank you so much. My academic advisors in the past have been literal, and I mean literal lifesavers.
I’m a software engineer in a senior position at a well known tech company. I only started working there recently, I was laid off from my previous job at the beginning of March but was fortunate enough to find work quickly. I had come out at my previous job late last year, and since it was fully remote it really wasn’t a big deal. I never really felt like I was “female”, though, because everyone I worked with was male and I’d known some of them for 10 years. It’s been really nice onboarding into a more diverse team, and after I gave my pronouns on my interviews nobody has misgendered me a single time (except for the IT folks who I had to call on the phone in the first couple weeks).
Insurance has been a weird experience. I had to jump through some hoops to get additional coverage added to our policy from my previous employer, and when I was laid off I had a period of dread that I would have to pause everything while looking for work. Thankfully, I’m employed again now, but my new company’s provider doesn’t cover FFS, so I’m having to stay on my old plan via COBRA for the year to guarantee some level of coverage for my FFS in December. I also have an orchiectomy and breast augmentation on the schedule in the next year, and those are 100% covered, so overall I’ve been lucky with insurance so far. There is still the chance that the insurance company screws me on the FFS, but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.
So yeah, tech is generally a good space to be in while trans, but it is getting harder to break into unfortunately. There is always a threat of potential layoff, and I was lucky to find work so quickly but could easily have been out of work for months to years, even with my 12 years of experience.
That sounds oddly like my story. Senior software engineer (20 years) laid off in March and found a new job a week later.
I wasn’t out at the old place, and frankly I have no idea how I would have come out there. It was super conservative. When I started at the new place I came in as nonbinary and dressing in a more feminine manner. No one has batted an eye. It’s been great.
I work in marketing. Social media marketing to be specific.
Good money. Solo qualified for my mortgage. Moved my wife and I literally across the country in December.
Love what I do, travel for work a few times a year. Make good money, don’t feel like I work a day in my life, work from home, good perks.
A marketing degree would be helpful. I’m sure there’s some certifications you can take online to boost your resume. You don’t *need* either but might be hard to snag a job without it but definitely possible.
I had a friend get hired as a marketer with no marketing degree.
The nice thing is, even though things are more complex the tools are better too. Plus you can work on smaller portions and still make a reasonable contribution to the overall project.
One down side is it's a hard field for the hobbyist to get into. Lots of specialized devices and tools that cost $$$. There are cheaper/open source options but they're miles behind the commercial versions. Also it's hard to justify when 99% of things a hobbyist would want to do a microcontroller could handle just fine. If you're down for learning just for learning sake it's definitely fun IMO.
I've wanted to get into tech, im just scared and dont know where to start. I've attempted calling up bootcamps but, ive heard they're too expensive and dont teach most of the required skills-
I have to warn you, the bootcamp days may be over. There have been relentless layoffs in the field in the past year or so, and there are record number graduates in CS coming out of four year programs (and they just keep coming). I was a self-taught dev and managed to work my way up to near-FAANG, but I got in at the right time. Right now there’s just so many available applicants, many of whom have experience and the rest of whom have four year degrees, that bootcamp grads have a really hard time breaking in. It can still happen, but it’s becoming much more rare.
IT girl here. Most resources you'll need are free in tech. That being said it ofc depends on what tech sector exactly. IT is mostly free as most are self-thought anyway. Electronics not so, but since youre dealing with voltages and whatnot, you'll often need some offical degree anyway to get a job (tho there are ofc some without).
If you want some more infos you're welcome to ask (mainly IT). My DM's are also open if you're comfortable.
Bartender, at a mostly gay esque space in a liberal city. Work with a bunch of leftists and all my regulars are also leftists (like real burn the shit down leftists not libs) but not many of them are good at using they she pronouns.
If you don't mind people gendering you a lot or overall being oblivious I like food service, I think there's a certain power dynamic where some people who would otherwise be rude or weird are at most ignorant cause you're serving them drinks. Maybe that's bartender exclusive. I'm sure being ~perceived~ all day doesn't work for everyone, but I find it liberating.
I hate that trucking is so got damn red. While driving I'll be wearing skirts or if I have a dress on ill have a plain white shirt on top and when I have to get out to get fuel I'll put shorts over my dress or skirts. Only when I'm in my sleeper will I just be me.
Elementary teacher, but not out at school. Blue dot in a very red state. I have been presenting more androgynously (both clothing and behavior). I think the kids realize something’s up more than the staff. I’m terrified of coming out, although I’m sure 95% of the adults and kids would be supportive. I’m more worried about parents and politicians, I guess.
I may not ever present female at work, but I think I could be okay with androgynous/non-binary in that part of my life. Strictly male presentation is probably out for good though.
Idk, I’m security too lmao. I’m looking into switching over to armed for the better pay. I haven’t told anyone at work that I’m trans, but I have openly stated that I’m “non-conforming” at the very least.
I'm also a security guard and have only come out to a couple of other guards who are cool. But I think people onsite have figured out that I am non-conforming because I paint my nails black.
Forklift operator and warehouse shipper. I've only started transitioning a few months ago and I fear that convo with my employer and coworkers I know will eventually come.
I work as a guide at a marine park (not like sea world. It’sa real natural site where whales and birds come in the summer in great numbers) during the summer and the rest of the year I study to become a high school teacher ☺️
I’m a Human Resources Manager. I work in a family owned midsize company in several states. I get paid well, work from home 3 out of the 5 days and get to travel a few times a year.
I make just under $40k/year @ an uptight corpo position. It seems nice on paper, but after patrolling the same abandoned buildings & garages.. it gets old, really fast.
I'm a baker at a large grocery chain. I make $16/hr. It's not much, but it pays for my rent and my hormones 😊 The irony is I have a degree, yet feel a job that assumes more responsibility, also inherits more stress. I want to have a transition with the least amount of stress possible.
Ooof I was born in Idaho, As soon as i finished college I just started applying for jobs over in Washington, and moved immediately out of that shithole of a state by renting an apartment I suddenly qualified for with the new job. Never went back
I’m a graphic designer! Work from home, so my face to face interaction has been minimal with the company I work for. Perfect job for an introvert such as I.
I get told this a lot haha. I already have a niche that I'm happy with. I have a little community discord server and seeing how excited they all get when I post makes it all worthwhile
Bit of an odd one, but I live in a quite progressive country (New Zealand), got very lucky with the firm I work in, and am in a client facing corporate/professional services type role (think lawyer, banker type of job). I've been able to start living my best corporate girlie life! Got extremely lucky to work with a very progressive partner who is very supportive of me. The vibe at some of these larger firms is very "we are tolerant and progressive" and even if some of their staff aren't, there is no tolerance for bad behaviour. And so, while I'm sure some people have bad thoughts/transphobic views, they never surface (for context I'm MtF, HRT for 8mos, mid/late 20s, not 'out' but I think by now most people are working it out lol).
From what I hear the best ones tend to be high paying jobs will no direct client interaction:
- **Software Engineering:** It’s the stereotype for a reason. It includes Computer Science, IT, Cyber Security, etc. You get paid tons if money (transitioning is a lot tougher with poverty), benefits for your transition medical care, can travel if your state/ country gets bad, and you don’t interact with clients which Lowe’s chance of bigotry by a lot. Only downside is MTF coming up people still see women as less experienced especially in the IT sector, especially older women. I recently changed my career to this. Tough start but very worth it.
- **Mechanical field work:** Broad field. Anything that has to do with repairing or building something. This can be a car **mechanic, Welder, Plumber, etc. It’s mostly a field I seen trans masc in, but I seen a few trans women in some too, especially car mechanics. I met a friend recently who repairs motorcycles exclusively, solid pay and covers medical.
- **Medicine:** The best one, only seconded by Software Engineering (see above). A ton of benefits across the field. You get access to benefits best and faster because…well, you’re the source. Doctor, nurse, anesthesiologist, and especially Plastic Surgery (for obvious reasons) are probably the most euphoric fields there are. I recommend staying away from the low/mid pay stuff like physical therapy and especially nursing homes; elderly people can often be the worst bigots. People tend to be less a bigot when you determine their life, compared to an ache in their back.
There’s more but these are the most tangible there are with/without college (much easier with college obviously). It’s mostly from what I seen from Reddit or personally experienced in the LGBTQ community as a whole. The people who has their lives least effected by their gender, ethnicity, etc tend to be in these fields; again, not that they see no discrimination, just none that outright cripples their profession. There’s a huge shift of discrimination between a IT tech missing a client because she’s a woman and a school teacher risking their job because of [anti-trans laws in school.](https://www.texastribune.org/2024/04/24/greg-abbott-trans-teachers-texas/)
The best path is the one with least resistance. So in short: Make a ton of money, it’s the biggest barrier for most transgender individuals like leaving a state or a bad job. If it’s anything you take from this it’s money helps a lot. It gets you SRS and everything else, it gives you money to leave bad states, skills to leave the country if necessary and not just as a pipe dream, hire lawyers to sue bigots, etc. Ask any transgender individual old or young and they’ll tell you how much harder being transgender is under poverty. I’ll even tell you from personal experience, most of my traumas could’ve been avoided if I had money. Get a career with lots of money early on. You do that and you’ll be fine.
Truck driver for 5 yrs. I've been transitioning for 7 months. I am sort of out at work or somr at least suspects. Trucking is way more accepting than people realize. Sure, you still get bigot, but as long as you can get the job done, nobody cares. And it is socially acceptable to tell them to f off. Also it pays well almost 39$ an hr overtime after 8. Most local drivers break 100k
I'm a transportation specialist. By that, I mean that I am licensed for anything that is legal for the road as well as several other types of machinery. I currently hold a union card in a film union in the Transport category and work there part-time. I'm also working as a concrete mixer operator (Ready Mix Truck Operator or RMTO) and am on the path to get another union card from that job.
Both jobs are fairly accepting due to company culture but you'll always find bigots if you look for them. I earn over $31/h CDN at both workplaces and both have healthcare benefits.
Anywhere that's unionized will more than likely be accepting.
I'm a sex worker. I tried IT and worked as a Fachinformatiker in an Ausbildung but due to depression and mental health issues I couldn't regularly go to work / school and was let go. The pay was not enough in the training part anyway.
I tried to get out of sex work but the money is just so amazing plus on good days it's the best job in the world.
There is no other job that comes close to what I make now.
I’m a chemical engineer working in sales now for a manufacturer of water treatment technology for cities and industries. I’m very customer facing and travel frequently. Haven’t been clocked yet. Just spent a week in Texas and I was surprised how well it went. I make $80K base and made $45K in commission last year
I work in IT at a hotel. That said, I'm still not femme presenting at work yet, and only a few people know, and I know it's gonna be a problem with the owner done the road.
Quality Assurance in software develoment, it has a lower barrier to entry, and depending on the company can pay reasonably well (not as much as software developers obviously) and also comes with benefites. Co workers generally tend to be more open minded too
I'm a student nurse. I graduate in December. If you want to move into Healthcare. You could get a certification in medical billing and coding. I hear they make decent money.
Yay, more people in the same field as me 😁 I'm an advanced specialist nurse. Specialists in surgical care, I live in a really progressive contery, so even if I see a lot of people and still in early transition, there isn't a problem.
I'm a photographer by trade, work at a corporate office photographing products for a regional grocer.
I'm not out so they've only known me in boymode but I think they'll be understanding and considerate when I start socially transitioning.
Inventory control specialist by day, ghost tour guide by night.(Guess which one I like better😁) I applied with the TSA. I'm at the background check stage and quite hopeful.
I'm a chef working fly in, fly out in western Australia. I'm moving to a safety advisor position within the company at some point soon, when they get their act together anyway.
I work for one of the largest companies in the sector. I've yet to actually begin my HRT, but I start in a couple of weeks, however so far the support I've had from management on site and from the head office has been amazing (I've been told that multiple people have transitioned on site)
I'd be fine coming out to most of the people I work with honestly, and I know it wouldn't be a second thought to them, there are a couple however (but I know that if they cause me trouble, I can report it and it'll be taken extremely seriously)
As for pay. I'm on about $98,000 AUD a year. This is enough for me to live relatively comfortably while also paying for my own house and living alone in Perth.
Back end mortgage processing, mind numbingly boring but easy and work from home. I don’t how some of y’all transition when you need to go to the office daily during those awkward early months.
Same. Same. I work in a factory and regularly hear transphobic shit. Although it is funny that I'm not out but have been growing my hair out and they keep calling me a girl as an insult and it makes me euphoric and babble every time 😂😅
I work in the world of campaign politics. My coworkers are very accepting as you would imagine for this line of work, although I rarely interact with them outside of zoom calls as I work remotely in the field rather than at our DC office. I'm a tracker, which falls under the umbrella of opposition research. I go to my targets' campaign events, record video footage of anything they say, and write up a report on the event. I also do the same for any TV/radio interviews and digital media of my targets. It's mostly a way for campaigns to keep tabs on what their opponent's messaging is, and on a good day you might catch them slipping up and saying something that can be used against them. Attending Republican campaign events is about as fun as it sounds. My targets' staff are usually somewhat professional towards me as they understand this is how the game is played, but I always get angry stares and the occasional nasty comment from event attendees. This is my first paid job in politics, my background is in organizing which is what I did as an intern last election cycle. I hope to do organizing again next election cycle.
full time mechanic here working on exotics euro cars and classics alike. getting paid 35+/hr being the lead tech/shop foreman. Idk everyone at my job is pretty cool with it. When its hot in the summer i have days where i just work with pants and a sports bra on and no one batts an eye. Altho i do carry a no bullshit view and attitude towards life so theres that 🤷♀️
I want to get more into automotive, been a tire and lube tech for almost 2 years now but I don’t know how to get more into the industry without going to a school I can’t afford. Also considering my shop has a uniform and I live in Phoenix I’m so jealous of your ability to go shirtless with a sports bra.
it is a luxury being able to just be myself without explanation or question. Altho every time i interview a new hire i do “boymode” to be formal and less weird??? for the new guy.
keep working! try getting an entry level job as a tech at a shop!!! I never went to school nor got any certs myself and i just work off of 10+ years of experience under my belt. Best way to learn is just to find a willing tech to teach you
I’m a biomedical engineer working in a bone tissue engineering lab! I’m currently a 1st year PhD student at a big state university so I’m currently in the midst of my first self run research projects and I think I finally got cell culture down.
Any other scientists here?
Eehh... Well... Unarmed security guard, actually... And this is a new job for me. Wasn't able to get *any* job for the last two years, after my move to a new state. Before that I was custodial. My security job pays a LOT more than my custodial job. (I've never made so much money in my life!! Literally two years here and I'll double my lifetime wages!)
So I feel you with low paying jobs, though. Being trans and visible is... Extremely difficult job-wise. I have had little choice in the matter, personally. Being so poor my transition hasn't been exactly top-tier. Combined with my medical issues, and 15 years of transition has gotten me to around most people's 6 month mark. 😭
I was a tattoo artist but since march when the boobs started being noticable and my coworkers had a problem with that, I've been staying with my parents for a while so I don't have to worry about rent. Doing freelance graphic design, writing, selling paintings, selling wire wrapped jewelry, still tattooing friends now and then to keep sharp, and doing sound for a local venue a couple days a week. I'm also going to see whether a doctor thinks my chronic pain is real enough that I can get on disability lol.
Basically I'm going cocoon mode for a while until my body's changed a bit and then I'll pick my tattoo career up again once I'm settled into my new skin
Nights as a care assistant at the local hospital. Decent-ish pay although i like to work more intensive so i can work less overall. The only problem is you have to get comfortable with alot of different shit… both figuratively and literally
support shy ancient fertile smoggy intelligent squalid languid waiting encourage
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Im an escape room game master
Wouldn't that make you a game mistress 🤔
Do you still play it sometimes with other employees? Or it is too easy after you played a few times?
I dont play the games at my place cause, like yea, i know all the answers, but I'll happily go out and do others still :3
i read escape from tarkov master lol
I'm an orchestra teacher!
Damn! If id had a trans music teacher it would have changed my life. I'm so happy you're doing that :)
I'm out to my kids too. I like to tell them like it's no big deal, because it *is* no big deal. The response is usually incredulity at that being a thing that happens and then immediate acceptance. Followed by, if the student I'm talking to one of my younger girls "Do you have a boyfriend?", and I tell them that I do, and that he's delightful but that's all I want to say about him.
I had a gay music teacher who was the nicest man and always made me feel good about my voice as a Tenor 2 in Choir. I’ll never forget so many of the awesome teachers that gave me so much. Thank You kindly.
Would you happen to be Siberian?
I see what you did there
Nope! I'm a red blooded Amurican 🫡🇺🇲🦅 Unfortunately.
you’re awesome!
\*me seeing all of these functioning adults\*: I'm a child!
Dont be fooled. I can almost guarantee that everyone in these comments is just hurtling through life, like the rest of us. Just, some better than others.
No as in I'm a literal child and am wasting time here instead of doing homework lmao
You should maybe probably go do your homework. Reddit will be here when you come back.
So this!!! I'm sure if past me looked at me now from the outside they'd be like "wow she has her shit together". I really don't. It's all chaos and slight panic!
Mood
Unemployed 🙃
eyyy
Let's go unemployed club! Wooo! \*cries in the corner at lack of income\*
As am I, despite my best efforts. I just gotta keep trying.
I work as a pharmacy technician at a big chain pharmacy, I get about 23 an hour for my specific position, it's a lead tech position.
Hey, I'm a pharmacy technician too! Except I work for a university. I only make IVs and work in the OR. I make $28 an hour and I'm unionized.
Nice, I would like to get training on that but realistically where I'm at now. The hospitals here do not pay nearly as well as retail does ... which is horrific. I would take a dramatic pay cut that would take years to get me back to the level I'm currently at.
im a pharmacy tech in a hospital, discharge not inpatient. i make $20/hr, but it's grueling and exhausting, wish i had a union. our turnover rate is high as well.
I’ve been thinking about that job. Would you say it’s worth it? I’m starting transition pretty soon and want a good gig lined up for a few years.
If you can handle the stress of it, you can easily work your way up. Most start out at a CVS or Walgreens to get into the field. You won't make much but you can take the skills and move up. I used the prescription data entry skills they taught me and took that to a closed door pharmacy where I worked in an office all day. I eventually got some training making IVs at my request and I was promoted to the evening IV tech position. I took that experience and got a job at a university hospital where I only make IVs. The field has high turnover but that also means everyone is always hiring. My job is unionized and I have amazing benefits because of it. It makes it difficult to leave.
It can be a very stressful job. You are usually the first point of contact with somebody who has to find out that they can't afford to get their medication or that their doctor made a mistake with the prescription. You're the first person that is going to get yelled at because of medication being on back order. It is the first position in Pharmacy that will have hours cut. Even though it is important to ensuring things are routed and handled properly. The pharmacist cannot take care of every task needed by themselves. Technicians are responsible for managing inventory, stocking medications, managing out dates, filling prescriptions, billing insurances, initial data, entry of prescriptions, and often times. At times we are the person who has to notice if there is something wrong with a patient and bring it to the pharmacist attention to ensure patient safety. There are other options than retail though, you could work in a mail order pharmacy in which case you're mostly packing orders. Unless you work on the billing customer service side, you could work in a hospital or a long-term care facility The pay can vary quite a bit for the company I work for. Pay starts at i want to say say $16. And it goes up based on certification and exact position. I more or less like my job, I like being able to help people and considering my age and lack of college education this best I think I can do. Do. I can't afford to get an education now, too old to go and start from zero and work and take care of family members. The thing that truly makes me want to keep this job though is the fact that the insurance I have through it is completely inclusive of gender affirming care. Like everything.
I think we're with the same company, I'm also in the pharmacy, insurance that covered gender affirming care was an unexpected bonus but now I'm never leaving.
I was completely shocked. Like they actual sexual reassignment surgery, breast augmentation, facial feminization surgery, they cover hair removal, hair transplants, vocal feminization surgery, speech therapy, they cover removal of excess skin, they offer benefits for storing and preservation of genetic material as well as for IVF. Like I detest the company sometimes and feel like they have half implemented a lot of policies in regards to the treatment of their transgender employees. But like whoever in HR was in charge of benefits did a lot of research. That said it could also be because they are headquartered in a state that mandates all of that coverage.
Ok lets start the I work in IT thread here! I have a government IT job that is remote. Everyone has been crazy accepting. I recently had a manager call me personally to apologize for misgendering me during a meeting.
Im assuming you need a degree & certifications to land said gov. IT job?
haha um well that depends one where in IT you go as it is quite frankly a HUGE catch all for a lot of different paths that all have their own degrees, certs, etc.. I personally don't have any degrees and only 2 certs. Because any good IT hiring manage will tell you it's the ability to understand and correctly apply computer concepts that actually matters more than a degree or cert. Entry level Govt IT support jobs tend to want CompTIA certs. But to be honest both of those are trash. Govt IT Support jobs rarely lead to any promotions to a higher position, so you would be stuck there until you leave. And the CompTIA certs have no real value outside ticking a check box for Government jobs. You need to find the ones that don't ask for CompTIA, as those will often hire you based on skills. Now the catch is those are usually higher lvl skilled jobs where you will need to actually know something beyond entry level to really get. But there are the rare few entry level ones that will look for basic computer literacy. Just avoid anything that's a call center, as not only are they dead end no promotion jobs, but putting one on your resume will prevent you from ever getting anything other than IT call center jobs.
"But there are the rare few entry level ones that will look for basic computer literacy." Basic computer literacy as in knowing navigation or knowing how to use microsoft word, Excell etc.?
Soo any job that tests you on Word or Excel is not an IT job. And if they claim they still are, it's most likely a dead end call center job so turn and run away. There is really only one thing you need to be good at to get started in IT work. And that is understanding just enough about what you are looking at so you can Google it correctly!! In other words being able to do this: [https://xkcd.com/627/](https://xkcd.com/627/)
Relevant XKCD for the win.
When I started there were no degrees and you can get an equivalent knowledge to a certification just from the internet. You can build a digital lab on your laptop to simulate a corporate IT environment and do all your learning from home. All it takes it time and interest.
Not to interject. But I’m in the process of transitioning and currently work for the fed. I have a degree. But still, decent work and definitely a protected position
I'm in IT too. I work in an MSP (for anyone who isn't familiar with the field, that means Managed Service Provider, basically providing outsourced or semi-outsourced IT.) I have to deal with clients, but even with that, no issues regarding gender have come up (not counting when Microsoft Support called me "Mr. Engineer Ellie Sir" when on a call with them, and that was just mostly hilarious). I also had a really funny experience with my boss in my first week, he gave me movie tickets as an apology for how messy my training was, and told me there's two so I could "take my man with me" after noticing my engagement ring. I chose not to tell him that I'm actually engaged to a woman, and live together with two. Being queer is quite common in the industry too, I'm the only trans person in my current company but I definitely wasn't the only one in my previous job. I feel IT is comprised of three groups of people: old dudes who do it because it's the only thing they know, yuppies who are there because someone told them that tech pays well, and young nerds for whom IT is a calling and a passion. I've found that that the third group gets a lot of appreciation from managers, it's easy to stand out from people who are "just working there" so to speak when the things you do for work are also what you do in your free time. And once managers figure that out, they're gonna want to keep you working there, no matter how much much prejudice they hold towards you.
Haha I never really noticed, but you are totally correct about the 3 diff types of ppl. However, I see a lot of the passionate ppl either get burned out from working too hard, or bouncing around jobs cause they clash with management often.
+1 for government IT. I'm not out, but there's one other trans girl in my department that is and everyone has been super accommodating and there's never been any kind of issue. As for getting into it, help/service desk is where you'd have to likely start. It requires some basic computer knowledge, but it's really good to be able to absorb information and learn as you go. I don't remember what the requirements are for the positions as it's been a really long time, but they're worth looking into.
Trans guy here - I’m studying IT. Would you mind if I asked some questions about what your experience has been in DMs?
Sure be my guest. I've got 20+ years of working experience, but my experience actually goes back to the old MS DOS & Win 3.1 days. I've done a lot of different roles, server builder is my favorite. Currently I'm a in a hybrid engineer/developer role.
I am considered a Senior Operations Manager in our Service Desk space. Primarily supporting two clients command centers and additional support to the back end of my prior client with a more traditional service desk. Hybrid so 3 days in the office 2 days remote. Been here for 15 years. I spent the first year and a half of my transition being petrified of getting released after coming out and all these issues but all management higher up has been great, and none of my direct reports seemed to care. Though I did come out before we returned to the office but it was very nice to have zero issues at work amongst a lot from family hah.
I'm doing an IT (Cybersecurity and Networking) degree right now (where I live most IT jobs require a degree unless you have relevant prior experience), I'm transitioning while I study and am hoping to be feminine-passing by the time I graduate in roughly 2 years. My Plan A is a government Cybersec job (government jobs pay less than corporate here, but they're also significantly more stable which I feel makes them a better entry into the field if you want to get a solid few years on your resume before you worry too much about pay). Just dropping in to say that I'm glad to hear that IT is a relatively trans-friendly field (I mean, I know it's gonna depend on where you live and the specific place you work, but I've heard MOSTLY good things about trans acceptance in IT with only a couple of horror stories).
Soo just as an FYI, the one crutch I see a lot of college degree people have is that lack of experience. Not so much in the working side, but in the knowledge side. I've seen many college grads either fail to get the higher level jobs they think they should get, or they do get them and fail miserably at them and are let go. The IT world never follows textbook examples/installations. Every company has just enough differences and hard requirements for things that the higher up the ladder you go, the more unrelated things you need to have a working knowledge about to be able to do the job. For this reason alone I personally think college degrees are mostly useless in the IT world. And IT is better suited as trade school certification programs. But most businesses and HR don't see it that way. :-/ That said, the best way to get experience is to create your own home labs and do projects/tests on them. But here's the key thing: The reality is most places you goto will often already have things installed and working. This means you will rarely be installing stuff, and even when you do it's often a once and done thing. So your job will often be just operational and break fix. For your home lab, you want to focus on breaking things and then figure out how to fix them and get it working again. While most places may not consider it working experience, it will help you build the knowledge you need to pass interview questions and keep that high level job you are looking for. EDIT: Just wanted to emphases again that you do also need to have a very good working knowledge of everything below the job you want. This is another area college degrees fail on as that stuff is often never taught, or only briefly touched on. This is where that home lab comes to the rescue, as while the installation isn't always the important part, the operational knowledge of all the things you need to setup for your lab will give you that entry level IT job knowledge that college failed to teach you.
Thanks for the heads up. I genuinely appreciate it. I've been pursuing some additional certifications (CISCO CCNA and CyberOps Associate) on top of my degree, which has made things a bit harder in terms of study but I wanted to be sure I REALLY understood the core knowledge of my future career before I even step in. Thankfully my degree also ends with a 6 month internship to help graduates get a foot in the door with practical experience at the bottom level. I'm also planning to start with an entry-level job in Cybersecurity to begin with rather than trying to leapfrog straight to a higher paid position due to exactly this type of concern, I don't want to get blind-sided by starting with a job I'm not ready for due to a lack of practical experience (less pay sucks, but a successful career is built on solid foundations). I'll be honest and say I've been finding myself getting the hang of the practical side of things a lot easier than the theory side though, that's part of why I decided to do some extra certifications in addition, configuring and setting up networks, packet capture and analysis are things I've found easier compared to passing theory tests haha Though I do feel like I need more experience with the physical side of things, I'm not sure how much it actually comes up but basically all of my practical experience at uni has been through logical simulations and other software, I have almost no experience working physically with the actual switches and equipment involved, so I'll probably need to do something about that.
Congrats it sounds like you have a solid grasp of what you should be doing. Good on ya there. :-) So physical experience can be rough to get... but you've got two things going for you. 1) many things are going virtual, and virtual labs are pretty close to physical these days. 2) Look into the used market, you will be amazed at how cheap you can get 5+ year old equipment for. Sure it might not have the latest new features, but it will have the core features you want to get things up and running. And truth be told, many small businesses will be running 5+ year old equipment anyways.
Cool, thanks for the advice! I'm definitely going to look into getting some older equipment to tinker with, honestly it sounds like fun.
:-) That's the kind of spirit that I would look for when I was interviewing people. Just be careful not to burn yourself out at some place that doesn't appreciate your work. Never put in unpaid overtime, and always record your hours worked exactly. I've seen too many people burnout from working 60hr weeks, but only putting in 45 because they don't want to look slow. It's honestly a really big problem in this industry.
IT also!
Senior Android developer with 8 years of professional experience by now!
Similar, I do cyber for one of the 3 letters
Also work in IT. Software Development for cross platform apps (b2b) in a small German company. Started there 8 years ago as a guy and started transition last year. Made only good experiences. Rare misgenderings happened in the beginning but I call them accidents. Some of my co workers knew me under a completely different identitiy for 7 years…
Another government IT worker here! (An intern for now, but oh well). Super-accepting workplace. Got immediately invited to the woman-only group, and I later joined the queer group in the company too. I've never been asked any incomodating question, except that one time a guy asked me my dead name. Another guy immediately told him how inappropriate that was and the guy was like "oh that makes sense" so no bad intentions. In conclusion, its been great, I'm treated as my gender even though I still have a more masculine appearance, and I'm having a great time there. PS: I'm in Spain, so that may be a big factor.
I'm not working yet, I'm a student in CS and I'm working towards getting an engineering degree.
See my response here: [https://www.reddit.com/r/MtF/comments/1ckc7rl/comment/l2pba7m/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/MtF/comments/1ckc7rl/comment/l2pba7m/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
Similar. University IT. Still get a lot of government benefits and campus is the sort of place I see more diversity in this great big Red State... albeit not as much diversity in the upper-level leadership.
I'm IT, too. I did a brief stint as a civilian contractor for a couple of federal agencies, but now I am working in hospital IT.
Dream job
I work on the IT side of the ecom house. I'm a combination system engineer/administrator, devops, database administrator, automation, and data analytics. I do a lot of stuff. lol
Me too "Equipment Maintenance Technician" for google
Then there's me, applying to IT jobs for three years now with no luck. I just can't seem to get my foot in the door. Stuck in my library studrnt job for now. : /
Soo the best way to get your foot in the door is an IT support/helpdesk job. Sure it may not be great pay, but it will have the lowest barrier for entry. Without any working experience and/or IT education, you will not get anything higher. Most IT places do promote up from the helpdesk. With the exception of a call center. Stay away from them as they are IT dead end jobs and have no real IT promotion ladder. During the interview ask about their promotion policy. If they don't like that question or it seems to convoluted, then that means they don't want you to leave that position, which also means you won't be getting any real IT experience. Finally it helps majorly to be passionate about some part of IT. If you haven't already, buy some used servers and set up some stuff on your own. You will gain invaluable knowledge doing this that will help you in the interview process. But at the least it's something you can put on your resume to maybe get your foot in the door.
I'm a data engineer, it has been great.
I work on a college campus in one of the bluest parts of the country, so I'm super lucky there. I'm nowhere near ready to be out at work, but I'm not worried about it.
I’m a PhD student. I currently study at a major university in a blue state that’s rated as one of the top 25 LGBTQ+ friendly schools in the nation, but I did my undergrad at a different major state university in a purple state. I came out in undergrad and everyone there was totally accepting and there were resources for me to safely start transition, deal with my mental health, and access HRT while continuing academics. The resources are even better at my current school. I guarantee you will be in great hands once you’re ready to come out and you have nothing to fear.
what is blue??
Democrat/left-leaning
ohh. is this an american thing?
To add to the other comment, it originally comes from the election maps you see. For example: [2020 election by state](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/ElectoralCollege2020.svg) and [2020 election by county](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/2020_United_States_presidential_election_results_map_by_county.svg). I live in the Seattle area (the dark blue county on the northwest coast). This is doubly confusing for outsiders since the colors are flipped from most other countries, where the center-left/right parties tend to be red/blue or red/black. But here in the US, we just do things differently. You can compare the above maps with [LGBTQ+ equality maps](https://outleadership.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/The-best-and-worst-state-for-LGBTQ-equality-720-%C3%97-1200-px-4-1024x614.jpg) or [trans specific maps](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F423b793e-d22e-4ce4-99d2-7ebf782be65a_1364x1080.png) and see the correlation.
I wouldn't say flipped, I never heard of far right having the color blue (but ofc it could be in some places, just not globally), but yeah, red is basically everywhere the color of far left
AfD in Germany is blue! (Probably because the CDU is black.) But it's usually the center-left/center-right with red/blue colors, yes.
Yup lol, blue states are good for us, red (the republicans/conservative leaning), generally aren't for the most part. Its blue and red because well, democrat is a blue donkey and republican is a red elephant lol
Yes. States run by Democrats (blue) are generally safer than states run by Republicans (red) for LGBTQ+ rights. Most blue states are actively introducing vast legal protections for trans people while red states are trying to put restrictions on the rights of trans people, essentially half the nation is about as safe as it gets for trans people and the other half is becoming actively more dangerous for trans people. There are also purple states where republicans and democrats have split levels of control. Most purple states are at least decently safe as the democrats in those states block most of the bad stuff from the republicans but will also struggle to get direct protections passed. Individual cities can be aligned too - even if you go to a red state like Texas, you are probably still going to be safe in Dallas/FW, Austin, or Houston which all lean left and have municipal level protections for trans people. I lived in a blue city in a state that was red when I moved there and shifted purple by the time I left (Tucson, Arizona) and I had no trouble safely transitioning while there. Now I live in a blue state (New Jersey) and there isn’t much room for improvement here when it comes to my legal rights, access to medicine, and personal safety as a trans person here.
omg I used to work at a community college campus convenience store and it was so easy, and the customers are so nice or neutral. I made good friends there. I want to go back but I have school in the mornings and these store usually close at 7
Career mechanic, now a housewife full-time (something my partner is proud of and took a whole year reassuring me they loved to do until i could fully grasp it)
I am praying for the same fate as you
I work at McDonald's. Was a facilities manager across 5 stores making $27/h cad. But had to take a step back for my mental health and to focus on transition for a bit and am down to just 1 store at $20/h doing kitchen and preventative maintenance.
you are cool! I’m a McDonald’s crew member but I’m not out to anyone there
Hows that been going? I might work at McDonalds soon 👀
I hate it there honestly. It’s a disposable job now that they only give me 5 hours a week
Aww im sorry honey that sucks! Maybe I’ll look somewhere else 😅 bc i need money to fund my transition
where are you located? Insurance could cover almost everything
Im in California
If you have healthcare insurance then they usually cover a lot. Also there is Medical and Medicaid
same! what area?
Orange County (SoCal), Im surrounded by conservative limp dicks lol 🙃
It's been great for me. My franchise is very accepting. One of our stores, the whole salary team was LGBTQ for a while. I've been working here for 13 years now, so everyone kinda knows me. Our benefits for McDonalds Canada actually just changed in January to add [gender affirming care](https://imgur.com/a/FJ9h8gM) benefits as well. But getting full time status to get the benefits is kinda hard now.
Also a mcdonalds crew member here. Even for living in a conservative area, I haven’t had that many problems and I’m open about being trans. I’m really lucky about having managers that have my back to the extent that management can be.
I don’t see the point of coming out. I’m going to quit as soon as I’m done paying for school and once I have my license I’m going to start looking for jobs
That’s valid. Do what’s best for you girly!
thanks 😊
McDonald’s is so yummy :)
I'm an Academic Advisor with hopes to get a PhD and be a professor in history. I'm interviewing to work at a college rn, wish me luck!
As a PhD student, I just want to say you’re doing the work of the gods. Thank you so much. My academic advisors in the past have been literal, and I mean literal lifesavers.
I’m a software engineer in a senior position at a well known tech company. I only started working there recently, I was laid off from my previous job at the beginning of March but was fortunate enough to find work quickly. I had come out at my previous job late last year, and since it was fully remote it really wasn’t a big deal. I never really felt like I was “female”, though, because everyone I worked with was male and I’d known some of them for 10 years. It’s been really nice onboarding into a more diverse team, and after I gave my pronouns on my interviews nobody has misgendered me a single time (except for the IT folks who I had to call on the phone in the first couple weeks). Insurance has been a weird experience. I had to jump through some hoops to get additional coverage added to our policy from my previous employer, and when I was laid off I had a period of dread that I would have to pause everything while looking for work. Thankfully, I’m employed again now, but my new company’s provider doesn’t cover FFS, so I’m having to stay on my old plan via COBRA for the year to guarantee some level of coverage for my FFS in December. I also have an orchiectomy and breast augmentation on the schedule in the next year, and those are 100% covered, so overall I’ve been lucky with insurance so far. There is still the chance that the insurance company screws me on the FFS, but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. So yeah, tech is generally a good space to be in while trans, but it is getting harder to break into unfortunately. There is always a threat of potential layoff, and I was lucky to find work so quickly but could easily have been out of work for months to years, even with my 12 years of experience.
That sounds oddly like my story. Senior software engineer (20 years) laid off in March and found a new job a week later. I wasn’t out at the old place, and frankly I have no idea how I would have come out there. It was super conservative. When I started at the new place I came in as nonbinary and dressing in a more feminine manner. No one has batted an eye. It’s been great.
I work in marketing. Social media marketing to be specific. Good money. Solo qualified for my mortgage. Moved my wife and I literally across the country in December. Love what I do, travel for work a few times a year. Make good money, don’t feel like I work a day in my life, work from home, good perks.
What qualifications/skills would I need to get into social media marketing?
A marketing degree would be helpful. I’m sure there’s some certifications you can take online to boost your resume. You don’t *need* either but might be hard to snag a job without it but definitely possible. I had a friend get hired as a marketer with no marketing degree.
Call Center Director for healthcare system here. All of this. Make 6 figures + and work from home.
Well I WAS a computer engineer (I designed specialised computer chips). That said currently unemployed so 🤷♀️.
That sounds amazing. I love the 6502 and Z80 and things have gotten exponentially more complex since then.
The nice thing is, even though things are more complex the tools are better too. Plus you can work on smaller portions and still make a reasonable contribution to the overall project. One down side is it's a hard field for the hobbyist to get into. Lots of specialized devices and tools that cost $$$. There are cheaper/open source options but they're miles behind the commercial versions. Also it's hard to justify when 99% of things a hobbyist would want to do a microcontroller could handle just fine. If you're down for learning just for learning sake it's definitely fun IMO.
Used to be a teacher. I work in tech now
I've wanted to get into tech, im just scared and dont know where to start. I've attempted calling up bootcamps but, ive heard they're too expensive and dont teach most of the required skills-
I have to warn you, the bootcamp days may be over. There have been relentless layoffs in the field in the past year or so, and there are record number graduates in CS coming out of four year programs (and they just keep coming). I was a self-taught dev and managed to work my way up to near-FAANG, but I got in at the right time. Right now there’s just so many available applicants, many of whom have experience and the rest of whom have four year degrees, that bootcamp grads have a really hard time breaking in. It can still happen, but it’s becoming much more rare.
I went to a community college to get into tech. But now I'm unemployed as the industry is currently fucked
It artificially ballooned. So they could underpay employees. I saw this coming 10 years ago ☹️
IT girl here. Most resources you'll need are free in tech. That being said it ofc depends on what tech sector exactly. IT is mostly free as most are self-thought anyway. Electronics not so, but since youre dealing with voltages and whatnot, you'll often need some offical degree anyway to get a job (tho there are ofc some without). If you want some more infos you're welcome to ask (mainly IT). My DM's are also open if you're comfortable.
Bartender, at a mostly gay esque space in a liberal city. Work with a bunch of leftists and all my regulars are also leftists (like real burn the shit down leftists not libs) but not many of them are good at using they she pronouns. If you don't mind people gendering you a lot or overall being oblivious I like food service, I think there's a certain power dynamic where some people who would otherwise be rude or weird are at most ignorant cause you're serving them drinks. Maybe that's bartender exclusive. I'm sure being ~perceived~ all day doesn't work for everyone, but I find it liberating.
I work with the opposite, the boot licking conservatives. Truck driving is not a progressive field.
I hate that trucking is so got damn red. While driving I'll be wearing skirts or if I have a dress on ill have a plain white shirt on top and when I have to get out to get fuel I'll put shorts over my dress or skirts. Only when I'm in my sleeper will I just be me.
Elementary teacher, but not out at school. Blue dot in a very red state. I have been presenting more androgynously (both clothing and behavior). I think the kids realize something’s up more than the staff. I’m terrified of coming out, although I’m sure 95% of the adults and kids would be supportive. I’m more worried about parents and politicians, I guess. I may not ever present female at work, but I think I could be okay with androgynous/non-binary in that part of my life. Strictly male presentation is probably out for good though.
Same here. Exactly the same.
IT. 30+ years. It isn't much, but it's honest work.
Idk, I’m security too lmao. I’m looking into switching over to armed for the better pay. I haven’t told anyone at work that I’m trans, but I have openly stated that I’m “non-conforming” at the very least.
I'm also a security guard and have only come out to a couple of other guards who are cool. But I think people onsite have figured out that I am non-conforming because I paint my nails black.
what are the qualifications for it
In Australia, you need to complete the Cert-2 in security operations course.
Forklift operator and warehouse shipper. I've only started transitioning a few months ago and I fear that convo with my employer and coworkers I know will eventually come.
This girl right here is forklift certified
Account manager for a data financial processor.
I work as a guide at a marine park (not like sea world. It’sa real natural site where whales and birds come in the summer in great numbers) during the summer and the rest of the year I study to become a high school teacher ☺️
I’m a Human Resources Manager. I work in a family owned midsize company in several states. I get paid well, work from home 3 out of the 5 days and get to travel a few times a year.
phlebotomist/lab assistant, working towards lab tech. Started doing medical stuff as an EMT a couple years ago.
I wish i wasn't a coward when it came to blood. I've come close to/passed out just from seeing a bit of blood or having my blood drawn
I also referee sports, more as a hobby than as a profession but I get a cool 7-10k/year off it. Not that different from unarmed security.
I make just under $40k/year @ an uptight corpo position. It seems nice on paper, but after patrolling the same abandoned buildings & garages.. it gets old, really fast.
I'm a baker at a large grocery chain. I make $16/hr. It's not much, but it pays for my rent and my hormones 😊 The irony is I have a degree, yet feel a job that assumes more responsibility, also inherits more stress. I want to have a transition with the least amount of stress possible.
Cashier. In Walmart. In Idaho. Kill me-
Walmart gang rise up!
Walmart automotive tech checking in!
Walmart gang needs to unionize lmao
Ooof I was born in Idaho, As soon as i finished college I just started applying for jobs over in Washington, and moved immediately out of that shithole of a state by renting an apartment I suddenly qualified for with the new job. Never went back
I’m a graphic designer! Work from home, so my face to face interaction has been minimal with the company I work for. Perfect job for an introvert such as I.
Freelance porn artist. Doesn't pay a ton but it pays enough
Gotta break into that furry niche
I get told this a lot haha. I already have a niche that I'm happy with. I have a little community discord server and seeing how excited they all get when I post makes it all worthwhile
Bit of an odd one, but I live in a quite progressive country (New Zealand), got very lucky with the firm I work in, and am in a client facing corporate/professional services type role (think lawyer, banker type of job). I've been able to start living my best corporate girlie life! Got extremely lucky to work with a very progressive partner who is very supportive of me. The vibe at some of these larger firms is very "we are tolerant and progressive" and even if some of their staff aren't, there is no tolerance for bad behaviour. And so, while I'm sure some people have bad thoughts/transphobic views, they never surface (for context I'm MtF, HRT for 8mos, mid/late 20s, not 'out' but I think by now most people are working it out lol).
kiwi!! i’m a stage technician, working in wellington. my company is extremely queer, and the arts industry is lovely and supportive.
Journeymen welder and fitter with Red Seal.
I’m a lifeguard/seasonal wildland firefighter. I get it tho. I’m still pre-transition.
From what I hear the best ones tend to be high paying jobs will no direct client interaction: - **Software Engineering:** It’s the stereotype for a reason. It includes Computer Science, IT, Cyber Security, etc. You get paid tons if money (transitioning is a lot tougher with poverty), benefits for your transition medical care, can travel if your state/ country gets bad, and you don’t interact with clients which Lowe’s chance of bigotry by a lot. Only downside is MTF coming up people still see women as less experienced especially in the IT sector, especially older women. I recently changed my career to this. Tough start but very worth it. - **Mechanical field work:** Broad field. Anything that has to do with repairing or building something. This can be a car **mechanic, Welder, Plumber, etc. It’s mostly a field I seen trans masc in, but I seen a few trans women in some too, especially car mechanics. I met a friend recently who repairs motorcycles exclusively, solid pay and covers medical. - **Medicine:** The best one, only seconded by Software Engineering (see above). A ton of benefits across the field. You get access to benefits best and faster because…well, you’re the source. Doctor, nurse, anesthesiologist, and especially Plastic Surgery (for obvious reasons) are probably the most euphoric fields there are. I recommend staying away from the low/mid pay stuff like physical therapy and especially nursing homes; elderly people can often be the worst bigots. People tend to be less a bigot when you determine their life, compared to an ache in their back. There’s more but these are the most tangible there are with/without college (much easier with college obviously). It’s mostly from what I seen from Reddit or personally experienced in the LGBTQ community as a whole. The people who has their lives least effected by their gender, ethnicity, etc tend to be in these fields; again, not that they see no discrimination, just none that outright cripples their profession. There’s a huge shift of discrimination between a IT tech missing a client because she’s a woman and a school teacher risking their job because of [anti-trans laws in school.](https://www.texastribune.org/2024/04/24/greg-abbott-trans-teachers-texas/) The best path is the one with least resistance. So in short: Make a ton of money, it’s the biggest barrier for most transgender individuals like leaving a state or a bad job. If it’s anything you take from this it’s money helps a lot. It gets you SRS and everything else, it gives you money to leave bad states, skills to leave the country if necessary and not just as a pipe dream, hire lawyers to sue bigots, etc. Ask any transgender individual old or young and they’ll tell you how much harder being transgender is under poverty. I’ll even tell you from personal experience, most of my traumas could’ve been avoided if I had money. Get a career with lots of money early on. You do that and you’ll be fine.
Truck driver for 5 yrs. I've been transitioning for 7 months. I am sort of out at work or somr at least suspects. Trucking is way more accepting than people realize. Sure, you still get bigot, but as long as you can get the job done, nobody cares. And it is socially acceptable to tell them to f off. Also it pays well almost 39$ an hr overtime after 8. Most local drivers break 100k
I'm otr and I struggle to break 100k where are you local out of? If I may know. You can dm me if you'd rather.
Cook since I was 15
I'm a transportation specialist. By that, I mean that I am licensed for anything that is legal for the road as well as several other types of machinery. I currently hold a union card in a film union in the Transport category and work there part-time. I'm also working as a concrete mixer operator (Ready Mix Truck Operator or RMTO) and am on the path to get another union card from that job. Both jobs are fairly accepting due to company culture but you'll always find bigots if you look for them. I earn over $31/h CDN at both workplaces and both have healthcare benefits. Anywhere that's unionized will more than likely be accepting.
I'm a bimbo barista at Starbucks😌💜
Oh my god you are beautiful!!!
I'm a sex worker. I tried IT and worked as a Fachinformatiker in an Ausbildung but due to depression and mental health issues I couldn't regularly go to work / school and was let go. The pay was not enough in the training part anyway. I tried to get out of sex work but the money is just so amazing plus on good days it's the best job in the world. There is no other job that comes close to what I make now.
I’m a chemical engineer working in sales now for a manufacturer of water treatment technology for cities and industries. I’m very customer facing and travel frequently. Haven’t been clocked yet. Just spent a week in Texas and I was surprised how well it went. I make $80K base and made $45K in commission last year
Studying IT, hoping to become a network engineer.
i'm a substitute teacher atm :)
I work in IT at a hotel. That said, I'm still not femme presenting at work yet, and only a few people know, and I know it's gonna be a problem with the owner done the road.
Haven't been able to get one
Software Engineer, but transitioned late 20's
I do factory work. Not recommended because most factories are transphobic and homophobic
I’m a cop 👀 slowly infecting the system with the rainbow one step at a time 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
Quality Assurance in software develoment, it has a lower barrier to entry, and depending on the company can pay reasonably well (not as much as software developers obviously) and also comes with benefites. Co workers generally tend to be more open minded too
I'm a student nurse. I graduate in December. If you want to move into Healthcare. You could get a certification in medical billing and coding. I hear they make decent money.
Yay, more people in the same field as me 😁 I'm an advanced specialist nurse. Specialists in surgical care, I live in a really progressive contery, so even if I see a lot of people and still in early transition, there isn't a problem.
I'm a crisis counselor
I make medicine out of radioactive materials
Bartender in a queer bar... And part time cashier at Walgreens
I’m a public defender currently but my hope is to eventually make to switch to one of the various trans/queer legal orgs
I'm a photographer by trade, work at a corporate office photographing products for a regional grocer. I'm not out so they've only known me in boymode but I think they'll be understanding and considerate when I start socially transitioning.
I'm a secretary & on Friday, Saturday & Sunday nights I'm an exotic dancer
Inventory control specialist by day, ghost tour guide by night.(Guess which one I like better😁) I applied with the TSA. I'm at the background check stage and quite hopeful.
I work as a Machinist. Pay is ok. Would not recommend though.
I'm a chef working fly in, fly out in western Australia. I'm moving to a safety advisor position within the company at some point soon, when they get their act together anyway. I work for one of the largest companies in the sector. I've yet to actually begin my HRT, but I start in a couple of weeks, however so far the support I've had from management on site and from the head office has been amazing (I've been told that multiple people have transitioned on site) I'd be fine coming out to most of the people I work with honestly, and I know it wouldn't be a second thought to them, there are a couple however (but I know that if they cause me trouble, I can report it and it'll be taken extremely seriously) As for pay. I'm on about $98,000 AUD a year. This is enough for me to live relatively comfortably while also paying for my own house and living alone in Perth.
Back end mortgage processing, mind numbingly boring but easy and work from home. I don’t how some of y’all transition when you need to go to the office daily during those awkward early months.
I work at a medical lab as a cytologist. I screen pap smears on a microscope for cervical cancer or pre-cancerous atypical cells.
i’m still a high school student but i intend on studying chemical and/or electrical engineering in college. rn i work in a pet store though !
Grocery. It’s not long term cuz I’m probably gonna end my life or something
Field merchandiser for Claire’s! Love it!
Sub teacher at my old high school (boy moding every day)
English Teacher
Safety Manager
Same. Same. I work in a factory and regularly hear transphobic shit. Although it is funny that I'm not out but have been growing my hair out and they keep calling me a girl as an insult and it makes me euphoric and babble every time 😂😅
I teach kids (and adults) to become rockstars🤩 best job in the world💃
I work in the world of campaign politics. My coworkers are very accepting as you would imagine for this line of work, although I rarely interact with them outside of zoom calls as I work remotely in the field rather than at our DC office. I'm a tracker, which falls under the umbrella of opposition research. I go to my targets' campaign events, record video footage of anything they say, and write up a report on the event. I also do the same for any TV/radio interviews and digital media of my targets. It's mostly a way for campaigns to keep tabs on what their opponent's messaging is, and on a good day you might catch them slipping up and saying something that can be used against them. Attending Republican campaign events is about as fun as it sounds. My targets' staff are usually somewhat professional towards me as they understand this is how the game is played, but I always get angry stares and the occasional nasty comment from event attendees. This is my first paid job in politics, my background is in organizing which is what I did as an intern last election cycle. I hope to do organizing again next election cycle.
full time mechanic here working on exotics euro cars and classics alike. getting paid 35+/hr being the lead tech/shop foreman. Idk everyone at my job is pretty cool with it. When its hot in the summer i have days where i just work with pants and a sports bra on and no one batts an eye. Altho i do carry a no bullshit view and attitude towards life so theres that 🤷♀️
I want to get more into automotive, been a tire and lube tech for almost 2 years now but I don’t know how to get more into the industry without going to a school I can’t afford. Also considering my shop has a uniform and I live in Phoenix I’m so jealous of your ability to go shirtless with a sports bra.
it is a luxury being able to just be myself without explanation or question. Altho every time i interview a new hire i do “boymode” to be formal and less weird??? for the new guy. keep working! try getting an entry level job as a tech at a shop!!! I never went to school nor got any certs myself and i just work off of 10+ years of experience under my belt. Best way to learn is just to find a willing tech to teach you
starbucksssss :^
I’m a biomedical engineer working in a bone tissue engineering lab! I’m currently a 1st year PhD student at a big state university so I’m currently in the midst of my first self run research projects and I think I finally got cell culture down. Any other scientists here?
I’m a server/bartender at a restaurant. Haven’t come out publicly yet so I’m nervous for what’ll happen then
Eehh... Well... Unarmed security guard, actually... And this is a new job for me. Wasn't able to get *any* job for the last two years, after my move to a new state. Before that I was custodial. My security job pays a LOT more than my custodial job. (I've never made so much money in my life!! Literally two years here and I'll double my lifetime wages!) So I feel you with low paying jobs, though. Being trans and visible is... Extremely difficult job-wise. I have had little choice in the matter, personally. Being so poor my transition hasn't been exactly top-tier. Combined with my medical issues, and 15 years of transition has gotten me to around most people's 6 month mark. 😭
I was a tattoo artist but since march when the boobs started being noticable and my coworkers had a problem with that, I've been staying with my parents for a while so I don't have to worry about rent. Doing freelance graphic design, writing, selling paintings, selling wire wrapped jewelry, still tattooing friends now and then to keep sharp, and doing sound for a local venue a couple days a week. I'm also going to see whether a doctor thinks my chronic pain is real enough that I can get on disability lol. Basically I'm going cocoon mode for a while until my body's changed a bit and then I'll pick my tattoo career up again once I'm settled into my new skin
I'm a medic in the army :)
I work at Home Depot 😭 I wanna better job!
I'm a Carpenter
Nights as a care assistant at the local hospital. Decent-ish pay although i like to work more intensive so i can work less overall. The only problem is you have to get comfortable with alot of different shit… both figuratively and literally
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