Blind man gets a job as a programmer at Microsoft: 'My boss didn't even know I couldn't see anything'

Crosby Medlicott told the publication Insiderhow he managed to get a job at Microsoft while blind and his boss didn't even know it. Next - from the first person.

Photo: IStock

I remember when I was a child, I wore very thick glasses to see better. My eyesight was deteriorating due to high myopia, but that didn't stop me from having a happy childhood, becoming a student council president, going to college in Boston with a degree in biomedical engineering, and getting a job in New York doing technology for a financial services firm. services. My eyesight, though weak, never got in my way.

But at the age of 25, I had a retinal tear in my right eye. While the doctors tried to save him with several operations, he fell into disrepair.

I am a positive guy and just decided to keep moving forward. My wife and I moved to Illinois, bought a house and got a dog. At that time, I was working as a vice president of the Citi Group.

During my wife's pregnancy, a cataract developed in my left eye, and we planned an operation after the birth of the child. Although the cataract surgery went well, I had a bad reaction to the steroid treatment given after the surgery. Subsequently, I completely lost sight in my left eye.

When I contacted my company's disability coordinator, I was offered sessions with a low vision specialist who helped me navigate how to get around as a newly blind person. This was a lifesaver for me.

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I interviewed for a tech job without saying I was blind.

A colleague of mine quit his job to join Microsoft and said there was a digital transformation position that would suit me. I decided I should give it a try and filled out an online application that didn't specifically ask about blindness.

As the date for my personal interview arrived, my self-doubt grew. How will I work for one of the largest software companies in the world? Besides, how am I going to work there blind? They wanted the best people and I was worried if I could do what they wanted.

Instead of worrying, I decided to prepare for the interview. I spent a month preparing a technical presentation in PowerPoint, as well as memorizing the location of each word and diagram on each slide. I asked friends, colleagues, and family members to let me give them a practice presentation. In my heart, I recited each slide.

The morning before the interview, I arrived two hours early with a cane in my hand and asked the receptionist to show me the room I would be in. Over the next two hours, I created a space in which I would be comfortable speaking - moving chairs, practicing standing and walking towards the screen during the presentation, connecting a computer to make sure everything was working correctly, and cleaning everything on the floor so as not to to trip over.

Although I did not intend to hide my blindness, I still decided to do an interview about my skills, and not about my lack of vision. My practice paid off and the interview went smoothly. There were three rounds of interviews and I felt confident at the end of each one. Never mentioned that I was blind. I have never been asked.

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I got a job

I was offered this job and was told that I would start in October 2018. When I went to the staff orientation, my boss, one of the people who interviewed me, called me and told me to look for another person in his team who would be in training with me.

He said the man was six feet (1,8 m) tall, had gray hair and drove a blue truck. It was the first time I realized that my boss had no idea that I was blind. Although I didn't mention my blindness at the interview, I was sure it was obvious.

"I'm blind," I answered bluntly over the phone. It was embarrassing for me to put him in a position that might make him uncomfortable, but I had to tell him. “Wow,” he exclaimed. - ,Everything is fine. It doesn't matter much. Instead, I'll ask the guy to look for you.'"

And since then, my boss has only supported my career and my training. When I started working, I realized that the company is full of blind people. Even when I had to fill out all the official paperwork to apply for special magnification software, I never felt inferior. I was good at my job and that's why I was hired.

My disability has not affected my career. I am the empirical evidence that all that matters is that the work must be done. Despite my blindness, the job is done. There were difficulties along the way, but I didn't let them confuse me, and four years later I'm still working and developing at Microsoft.

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