I am a Black woman who just graduated with a degree in music and audio technology. A classmate of mine, I will call her Wall, also graduated. She is Black and gay. Throughout all four years of school she struggled with very basic concepts like cabling, signal flow, turning on gear, and general studio fundamentals. I was always polite and kind to her, but we were never friends, just classmates.
After graduation I landed multiple internships and a job through networking. I would post studio days and productions on social media. Wall started messaging me constantly asking if she could shadow at my job, if I could vouch for her, or recommend her to my employers. Reputation matters a lot in this industry, and after talking with her it was clear she still lacked even basic knowledge. Her resume listed over 50 skills she clearly did not have. I asked simple questions and she could not answer them. I suggested she narrow her resume to be more realistic and she snapped at me and insisted she knew all of it.
She later told me she got an internship at a studio run by a guest speaker from our school. The next day she said she was fired mid session and claimed it was because she is a Black queer woman. That did not sit right with me. I know this person personally and he has worked with women, queer, and trans engineers. I spoke to him and he said she has a good heart, which I agree with, but audio is not the right career for her. He said she lied about her experience, did not know basic cabling or terminology, and acted unprofessionally during a session.
I told her he is not a bigot and that lying about her skills hurt her. She snapped back, accused me of never helping her, and said I refused to support her because she is Black. I told her the truth. Discrimination exists, but this is a skills issue. Moving out of NYC will not fix that either. If she wants to work in this industry she has to seriously improve her fundamentals. Otherwise, no city will change the outcome. She is 33 and has been trying to break in for almost 10 years.
AITAH for not recommending her for jobs and telling her her skills are the real issue?
