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Ask HN: How to help get more women in tech as a male?

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Re: Ask HN: How to help get more women in tech as a male?

#11

Post by tobz »

JSeymourATL wrote: post #6

Mindset is important, shift your thinking from White Knight to Strategic Agility. Recruiting women to your team or company can be a huge competitive advantage, especially given the growing importance of diversity and global markets. Keep an eye out for the most talented women-- they will be your secret weapon.

(Full disclosure: I'm not part of our talent coordination / hiring efforts, everything is anecdotal here)

A predominant amount of the applicants we see (we, as in, the people who are told that there's a phone screen or interview to be done) are male. It feels, strictly from my limited experience, that a big chunk of the problem is finding qualified female applicants.

I'm not sure if it's a lack of female applicants period, or a lack of qualified ones. This also goes back to me asking for real-world experience, because I'm not even sure where to best focus my donations / efforts.

Re: Ask HN: How to help get more women in tech as a male?

#12

Post by tobz »

loumf wrote: post #5

1. Give money to organizations that are doing the work you want to support 2. Get your company to give money 3. Speak out when you see sexism 4. When you are hiring, specifically reach out to women tech organizations (I have a women's college in my town with a CS dept -- I made friends with the Dean and some profs -- I send intern and job openings to them) I think that there's work that you can do to increase the num…

#4 is a really great idea, and something I'll have to try and research. #1 - #3 are very good, too, but #4 hits a chord with me for some reason.

Re: Ask HN: How to help get more women in tech as a male?

#15

Post by tobz »

[deleted] wrote: post #13
tobz wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd beg to differ, strictly from a gut instinct, that all of those are under-represented by men. My gut is also telling me this is a troll, though.

[deleted]

My goal is not some sort of moral satisfaction end game. If it was, sure, I could find a field where males are underrepresented and try and do something to achieve a balance without worrying about the accompanying fear of condescension.

Your original comment is totally possible and viable, though, so thank you for that. :)

Re: Ask HN: How to help get more women in tech as a male?

#16

Post by cmdrfred »

I really think the key problem is interest. My girlfriend got her degree in human resources for example while I didn't graduate high school and got a job in IT. Most of the people in her class were women by a decent majority. They could of went for computer science degrees, they prefered human resources, Maybe its sort of a non-problem.

Re: Ask HN: How to help get more women in tech as a male?

#17

Post by tryanother »

cmdrfred wrote: post #16

I really think the key problem is interest. My girlfriend got her degree in human resources for example while I didn't graduate high school and got a job in IT. Most of the people in her class were women by a decent majority. They could of went for computer science degrees, they prefered human resources, Maybe its sort of a non-problem.

This is an important point. While the industry isn't always super welcoming to women, that isn't the whole problem. Lots of women just have other interests. We'll probably see gender parity in IT when we see gender parity in nursing.

Re: Ask HN: How to help get more women in tech as a male?

#18

Post by tryanother »

tptacek wrote: post #8
oppositelock wrote: post #3

The problem with getting women into tech is that so few women finish school with a tech degree, so no matter what you do, there's going to be a huge imbalance until this changes. It's very difficult to change career later in life, for both men and women. I think the greatest benefits come from getting girls excited about STEM careers, but this is a much longer term approach. I'm really dismayed at the peer pressure I…

I'm not sure why this is such a problem; a tech degree isn't necessary to be successful as a software developer. It may not even be all that helpful.

Agreed. I am only one data point, but i have no degree and I am a female dev. We're out there.

Re: Ask HN: How to help get more women in tech as a male?

#19

Post by tryanother »

JSeymourATL wrote: post #6

Mindset is important, shift your thinking from White Knight to Strategic Agility. Recruiting women to your team or company can be a huge competitive advantage, especially given the growing importance of diversity and global markets. Keep an eye out for the most talented women-- they will be your secret weapon.

Yes, thank you. The white knight attitude can be very frustrating and give the opposite of the desired effect. We are an asset, not something to be saved from other fields.

Re: Ask HN: How to help get more women in tech as a male?

#20

Post by lobotryas »

tryanother wrote: post #17
cmdrfred wrote: post #16

I really think the key problem is interest. My girlfriend got her degree in human resources for example while I didn't graduate high school and got a job in IT. Most of the people in her class were women by a decent majority. They could of went for computer science degrees, they prefered human resources, Maybe its sort of a non-problem.

This is an important point. While the industry isn't always super welcoming to women, that isn't the whole problem. Lots of women just have other interests. We'll probably see gender parity in IT when we see gender parity in nursing.

I would rephrase that further to say: are diverse interests between the genders a problem?

I have never heard anyone complain that we have too few male teachers, nurses, or airline attendants.

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