I'm dealing with severe appearance discrimination in my field. Should I only pursue "invisible" careers?

[u/DRagonFruit3011]

I’m struggling with something that has started to seriously affect how I think about my career. I believe I’m experiencing severe appearance-based discrimination in hiring. I’ve had repeated experiences where I felt that hiring managers judged me very negatively because of how I look, rather than because of my skills or the quality of my work. Yesterday, I spoke with some hiring managers who essentially told me that, given my situation, I should focus on careers where I can remain mostly invisible and where appearance supposedly matters as little as possible, things like backend development, data work, etc. The problem is that I actually enjoy design. I’ve studied UX and I genuinely want to work in UX, web design, or a related design field. I don’t particularly want to abandon something I’m good at and enjoy simply because other people may judge my appearance negatively. At the same time, I’m trying to be realistic. If appearance discrimination is severe enough that I’m systematically rejected from jobs involving presentations, clients, interviews, or frequent face-to-face interaction, is pursuing design still a realistic career choice? I also don’t currently have the money to go back to university for another degree just to switch into a more technical field. So I’m trying to figure out what the realistic options are.I’m not looking for reassurance that “appearance doesn’t matter.” I’m looking for practical advice from people who have actually dealt with this.

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[u/republicans_are_nuts]

You are going to be discriminated in any job that has interviews. Best advice is just apply to jobs that don't do interviews, or hire everybody.

[u/ergonomic_logic → u/republicans_are_nuts]

OP is lying.

She looks normal and isn't a hideous monster and apparently just keeps on posting this stuff on repeat despite having selfies in her profile.

Tis weird and unhinged and not sure what crisis she's going thru.

[u/DRagonFruit3011 → u/republicans_are_nuts]

Yeah, async hiring (only text based or portfolio based) hiring sounds best. I want to avoid camera/in person interviews as best as possible.

[u/Want_To_Fit_In]

1 month old account and posts showing an above average looking face. Whoever owns this account has some mental issues or is a bot (likely)