Hello everyone. My name is Deborah Huang. I am a Pursuit Alumni and now I am working at Amazon Web Services.
My parents immigrated to the United States from Taiwan when I was 3 and my sister was 4. Like most immigrants, they wanted a better life and educational opportunities for my sister and me. My parents would work long hours and save to start their own jewelry business, which they founded in 1977. Frequently, my sister and I would help out in any way we can. While we worked, my dad would tell us that we needed to be at the top of our class if we didn’t want to work as hard as he does.
But being at the top of the class would never happen for me. After a first-grade hearing test, the school sent a note to my parents informing them that I had a severe hearing disability. The school suggested they send me to a school for the deaf – as hearing loss tends to be progressive. My parents did not like that diagnosis, did not like the school’s recommendation, and did not understand how to advocate for a child with a disability. They had a labor-intensive, time-consuming business, and limited English. So they disregarded all of the school's messages about accommodations and my hearing loss. Thus, I fell through the cracks – in a good way. That might have been the best thing that happened to me because many people who attend schools for the deaf tend to have difficulty reading English, and have limited access to opportunities.
Somehow, I muddled through academics without hearing and helping in my dad’s business and earned a degree in computer information systems from Baruch College. I thought I was prepared for a difficult job hunt. I discovered that real-world job hunting was harder for people with disabilities than the school environment can ever be. I had difficulty landing interviews. Most companies use phone interviews in their hiring process. When they find that I am deaf, they no longer view me as a viable candidate for any role. They say, “sorry, we can’t accommodate you”, they hang up, or my personal favorite, “we just filled that position”. But I remained optimistic. I just need one job, not all of them. My first job after college was data entry clerk in a deaf office. I processed parking tickets for the Department of Finance at a piece rate of 15 cents a ticket. Still, I kept trying to land a tech job and tried to teach myself new technical skills while working. I was open to any opportunity to keep my skillsets fresh.
Joining Pursuit and AWS Silver Linings Fellowship really opened the doors for more opportunities in technology. I was actually able to experience a phone interview after the program. Companies were accommodating of my disability. I would interview through slack, or Google meet and use the closed captioning tool. I even got freelance technical roles. After completing the Silver Lining Fellowships, I was hired in my first-ever full-time role at AWS. It was life-changing beyond my wildest expectations. I couldn’t even pass a phone interview before these fellowships. Now I have a full-time role in a top tech company, learning the latest technology. I am still pinching myself.
I am just so blown away at the number of people who made all of this possible. The volunteers, the mentors from both Pursuit and AWS. My mentor, Jacqueline Bates. She coached me through the behavioral interview. Her invaluable insights helped me to get through “the loop”. Mojgan for planning the curriculum. Jukay, David, Winnie Newton, Tara Farahani, Tali. John Dixon and a German instructor who stayed up till 2 am to teach us. Jeff Drew for making this happen. I can’t name everyone individually, but they know who they are, and a big thank you goes to all of you.
