Quiet the grown-ups are talkin

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I'm 37 but this is something I still run into weekly in the workplace.

1. I file an issue report and it turns out to be a particularly difficult issue to solve.

2. People start to try to fix it, and in some cases having entire meetings about the issue

3. I approach an individual or a group because I have vital information about the issue

I get told essentially, "Quiet, the big boys are talking." (this is paraphrasing, they don't literally say this. But they do shush me and try to get me to go away.)

I bet it has more to do with dominant/passive personalities than anything else. But it irritates me to no end.

Yes, I've experienced this in conventional workplaces before I became self employed. I have felt like any verbal contribution I made was not taken seriously, and I felt like I was not considered somebody with something valuable to say.

I still feel like that sometimes. I'm a member of a local artist's group and when they hold their meetings about an annual event we hold, I don't bother to speak up anymore because I feel like they have better ideas and mine have been shot down in the past. It's not a good feeling. I've stopped attending.

I have often felt that I was not taken seriously in my life, by anyone from friends to family to work situations.

.

I suppose you are a full fledged adult human being who just has to grow a pair like myself. Being assertive makes you unconfortable, I assume. Just because you don't conform to their standards for adult behaviour, doesn't mean they can treat you like a child. Sometimes it requires a harsh switch between being nice and calm and assertive. Popularity is for idiots, sometimes it needs persistence.

I dealt with that for over 13 years. No matter how much I knew things no one else did or had more innovative ideas than any of the other folks, I felt excluded many times.
Of course, I wasn't sure if it was an age thing, or a gender thing (worked in engineering).

I didn't really get over that until I started doing a bit of writing then public speaking in the industry. I would go out and be treated as equals by others that I didn't work with, and I got used to it.

My new job is great, I faked my way into sounding confident during the interview and am already respected and having my opinions solicited right off the bat.

First I had to own it, then I had to get away from people with whom I'd had past interactions contrary to the way I wanted to be treated.

It was rather unpleasant putting up with it for so long, it made me beyond frustrated.

That's one of the reasons I refuse to ever have a job in those environments.
I'd be fired anyway pretty quick haha

personally speaking, I didn't have much choice.

No degree, no experience to start with, niche knowledge being my main value but not widely applicable... I could've kept up working multiple other jobs to earn the same wage, but, they didn't have the medical benefits I desperately needed.

Now? I wouldn't tolerate walking into a new job being treated like that. But, I've got a degree and experience and a spouse now.