The tech industry has an image problem. It’s the image of the stereotypical tech bro—the affluent white guy with a startup who makes news headlines and is caricatured in TV shows and movies. Out in Tech Houston aims to change that.
The local chapter of this international LGBTQ organization has been active since 2022. It hosts gatherings to help queer Texans network and navigate within the industry—or to help newcomers learn about career opportunities in tech.
“Why this organization exists is to help fight against the idea that only one type of person is meant to work in the tech industry,” says Omar Qureshi, who co-leads the organization with Deitrick Franklin. “In reality, it’s open to such a wide variety of people.”
The group’s informal mixers take place at the Ion in Midtown, the growing incubator hub for all things tech in Houston, usually on a theme like Women’s History Month this past March or Pride Month for June. Attendees come from a variety of industries you wouldn’t immediately connect with the tech sector, Qureshi and Franklin say. They might work in health care, energy, or banking, but they’re still in tech jobs. And that’s kind of the point.
Because Houston isn’t as recognized for embracing the tech boom as places like Austin, you have to “expand your horizons” and build your own community, they say.
“How do you break into those industries if you don’t have those prior relationships that would navigate you to the field? And as a queer person in any industry, there’s the challenge of representing yourself authentically,” Franklin says.
While there isn’t much hard data on LGBTQ representation in tech, most advocacy groups argue that queer tech employees have fewer mentors or examples of success in the industry.
Queer people trying to enter the tech world are more likely to follow an unconventional path, Franklin says.
Franklin started his career as a recruiter in Houston’s oil and gas industry. “When I tried to break into tech,” he says, “I thought the only way to do that was to leave the city.”
He moved to the Bay Area to work at Lyft’s corporate headquarters. During the pandemic, he switched to remote work and eventually returned home to Houston. He now works remotely as a lead program manager for Reddit.
“When I got back to Houston,” Franklin explains, “the tech industry had just started to infiltrate. You saw the Ion District, you saw Microsoft move in, then HPE. Houston was starting to invest in this industry.”
Indeed, the Greater Houston Partnership estimates that today, about 230,000 residents work in the local tech sector.
Qureshi, a University of Houston grad, got his start in IT before pivoting into project management for an education tech startup. On a work trip to New York, he met people involved in the Out in Tech chapter there, which led him to inquire about a Houston outpost.
“Having this Houston chapter helps show people that tech is so much more than they think it can be,” he says. “It helps us discover each other and build those connections.”
Now that they’ve gotten their feet wet in managing Out in Tech Houston’s monthly networking events, the co-leads are strategizing how to continue growing membership through a regular newsletter, connect queer people with career services and professional development programs, and engage more with other LGBTQ organizations in the community.
In the near future, those informal mixers might include panel discussions with major tech companies that have established a presence in the area. Events in partnership with the Greater Houston LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce are also on the horizon.
“Our visibility is our resistance to that stereotype of the tech bro,” Franklin says. “When people come to our chapter, they see that tech is much more diverse than they thought.”
For more info, visit outintech.com.
