Welcome to the sub! Congrats on having a positive attitude even in the face of tough situations - we all know that it isn't easy. I hear you on the interview situations. I'm 37m in the software engineering field - I try to give everyone a fair shake at the interview process, it's never easy. One young woman that was interviewing for a coop position (non-native english speaker) asked me toward the end of the interview if her accent was too strong or difficult to understand. I told her about growing up with a severe speech impediment (it's fairly mild now), how I still struggle and that the professionals in our field are only interested in hearing what each other has to say - we don't care what "you sound like". Anyway, welcome to the sub, and like you say - we've all gotta help each other out. It's the only way the world will become any more compassionate.