'he or she' is the most reasonable option in my opinion. it is cumbersome, but that is better than sexist or grammatically incorrect.
'we are looking for a technical lead. he or she will have three years experience as a lead developer or similar role.'
In most cases for jobs 'they' could be appropriately used.
Also for the record I don't really care. I've seen good and bad women and men programmers. Getting huffy about pronouns just strikes me as someone that is a bit too emotional. Huh, strike a chord? (j/k)
The job sounded great otherwise, and was definitely one I would have been interested in, but I felt immediately disqualified and annoyed.
Normally these types of things don't bother me and I often think people read too much into things, but for some reason, that one did. Maybe it was the casual nature of the writing. It made it seem more personal, which, in turn, made it seem like the author was making it clear that they actually weren't interested in hiring women, that they legitimately felt as if a man was needed to fill the role properly, or that the idea of hiring a woman was so foreign to them that it hadn't even crossed their minds.
It was very off-putting.
I can understand and won't argue about your being a woman and being put off by "the guy" language. I'd probably feel the same way, if only because I am 50 and "the guy" seems very young.
I guess it was the casual assumption that a man would be the one filling the position. In a lot of ways those unintentional biases are worse than intentional ones.
If i were to go into that interview as not a man, i would feel disadvantaged.
I think we need more positive role models. Less of this pointless vitriol.
Your only reference to "he" being gener neutral was from the 1700s... do you have a modern example?
