Nepal, May 23 -- A software engineer from a marginalised community recently hailed a rideshare, and her conversation with the driver took an unexpected turn. Upon being asked what she did for a living, she replied, "I'm a software engineer." The driver, surprised, counter-questioned, "When did people of your caste start learning tech?"

It was a brief exchange but a clear reflection of a quiet but persistent belief in our society-that people from certain backgrounds do not belong to the technology sector. For many young adults across Nepal, especially those from marginalised backgrounds, this perception becomes an invisible barrier before they ever write their first line of code.

We often hear that the tech sector is meritocratic. While ...