If the Shoe Fits: Diversity vs. the Rules of Tech
by Miki SaxonA Friday series exploring Startups and the people who make them go. Read all If the Shoe Fits posts here
In the course of today’s culture I am a virtual nobody. Aside from this blog, LinkedIn profile and a few comments here and there over the years I have no visibility.
This was pointed out to me in an irate email that asked who I thought I was to belittle the wonderful world of tech on non-issues like diversity.
Actually, I was surprised at both the lack of four-letter words and that writer didn’t blast me publicly. When I complimented the former and inquired about the latter I was told that “Ryan” assumed I wouldn’t see anything done in social media (true), so he decided to write directly.
The following is specifically for Ryan and those who agree with him, as well as those who find these posts enlightening. And a shoutout to KG Charles-Harris, who sent me the link.
Leslie Miley wrote a post at Model View Culture called The Top 10 (%) Tech Rules, but could as easily have been “why nothing changes” or “a self-propagating culture.”
Hopefully Ryan and friends will accept Miley’s comments as valid, since his credentials are above reproach.
Working as an engineer at Google, Apple, and Twitter has afforded me a view of the hiring process that for years has produced a homogenous culture: mostly male, and significantly white and Asian.
The Silicon Valley hiring process has been homogenized to the point that it has become a self-fulfilling prophecy—as entrenched as the “old, white guy” culture in the east.
I don’t believe much will change in my lifetime and maybe not in yours or your kids.
As Miley points out, habits are hard to break and breaking this systemic habit will make quitting smoking look like a stroll on the beach.
I am not optimistic about the future of diversity in tech. I see too many of my co-workers ask what university before they ask what applicants have accomplished. I see bias in the CS questions culled from the top universities, and preference given to candidates from the top companies, referred by their peers. The system now serves itself. And that will be the hardest habit to break.
That said, it could change.
How?
Read Miley’s post carefully and then stop doing what it talks about. In other words, be your own person and stop being an organization person.
Talk about it and, whenever possible, call out those you see abiding by the system.
Then share it over and over until it goes viral.
It’s a start.
Image credit: HikingArtist
November 17th, 2015 at 1:16 am
[…] a lot about Silicon Valley culture and, since I don’t live there any more, I usually cite/link to articles from those deep in the tech world who do or who write me […]