Some great points here about citizenship/security clearance being part of the issue. But I'd also ask the government regulators to define "asians". Including East Indians? I'm not sure how the government breaks down their racial statistics but certainly East Indians are Asians. They might not be East Asians but they're Asians. Not only that but Native Americans and most Latin Americans are to some degree of Asiatic o…
U.S. regulators accuse Palantir of bias against Asians
231–240 of 415 posts
Re: U.S. regulators accuse Palantir of bias against Asians
#232Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have had a similar problem - interviewed dozens of people with exactly that pattern and they were universally clueless. No idea how seemingly-good Masters programs bring in so many people with zero basic CS knowledge.
As someone who might apply once I get my PhD, what does basic CS knowledge mean for you? Like what a tree is or fizzbuzz? Hopefully it isn't that terrible...how someone can make it through any amount of CS related schooling and not know the basics? Somewhat related anecdote, I do computational physics. I once attended "training seminar[0]" put on by the funders for using DOD supercomputers, and there was this soon-to…
Well, for example, I have an interview question where it's not just about knowing what a stack or a tree is, but rather realizing that a stack or a tree might be useful to solve a particular problem. (You could use either one.) And then writing out code to do it.
So, no esoteric data structures, but you really do have to know how to use the standard ones. It tends to trip up people who might have some book knowledge of CS but don't know how to apply what they learned. There's also a difference between knowing that a tree might be useful and being able to actually write some code to build a tree.
But the thing is, the next interviewer will have different preferences - there's no standardization here.
Re: U.S. regulators accuse Palantir of bias against Asians
#233Some of the comments here are laughable - "I also had to deal with clueless south asians once so I understand how it is". Seriously?
Its amazing how many closet racists are on HN. So very sad.
Re: U.S. regulators accuse Palantir of bias against Asians
#234Palantir gets some of my sympathy. My organization has a large internship program and I've been first contact for many applicants. I found that a similar number of applicants had to be dropped either due to communication skills or an overall technical skills gap and they tended to be asian/southeast asian. Interestingly most of them fit the same profile of a bachelor's from India, 1 or 2 years at a consulting firm in…
I have had a similar problem - interviewed dozens of people with exactly that pattern and they were universally clueless. No idea how seemingly-good Masters programs bring in so many people with zero basic CS knowledge.
Foreign students are a cash cow for usa colleges.
If you cant get into the ivy league of your own country, usa schools are a backdoor prestige option for the wealthy.
Re: U.S. regulators accuse Palantir of bias against Asians
#235This is a symptom of quota system that many schools and companies use to achieve diversity. Unfortunately, as Asian American, I have experienced it firsthand. Asian Americans are some of highest achieving minority, but due to their smaller number there is not enough quotas allocated to them. Many of my friends could not get into their first choice colleges or didn't get scholarships even with perfect grades, extracur…
Hiring asians count towards the quota i believe.
Re: U.S. regulators accuse Palantir of bias against Asians
#236Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have had a similar problem - interviewed dozens of people with exactly that pattern and they were universally clueless. No idea how seemingly-good Masters programs bring in so many people with zero basic CS knowledge.
My alma mater has a great undergrad program, but an absolutely awful masters. I've been told that they don't have the resources to teach it, and that the college keeps sending recruiters throughout Asia to pick up as many foreign students as possible for the extra tuition money, though that might have just been a bitter professor.
Myguess is he's not pocketing the asian tuition money.
Re: U.S. regulators accuse Palantir of bias against Asians
#237Earlier quoted context omitted.
I worked at Palantir in the covered period and did a ton of interviews, 5-10 a week. I experienced exactly this dynamic - very large numbers of applicants who had a bachelor's degree from a South or East Asian university, a year or two of work experience, and a Masters from a mid-tier US University. The large majority washed out on the FizzBuzz-level technical questions on phone screens (or asked in person at job fai…
Both sides of this issue are wrong. On the one hand, If I knew, based on online articles about the interview process, that there is a set of 100 questions out of which I might get asked 20, I'd prep on those 100 questions. It seems like the interviewees are underpreped for interviewing. That's sloppy. Maybe that's a reason not to hire them, but it probably isn't the best way to select hires. On the other hand this pr…
Im guessing they assumed the CS degree was a magic job getter and were too cocky to study
Re: U.S. regulators accuse Palantir of bias against Asians
#238This is a symptom of quota system that many schools and companies use to achieve diversity. Unfortunately, as Asian American, I have experienced it firsthand. Asian Americans are some of highest achieving minority, but due to their smaller number there is not enough quotas allocated to them. Many of my friends could not get into their first choice colleges or didn't get scholarships even with perfect grades, extracur…
It's the politics of new england. Only once that very same ethnicity is functionally dealt with, will anything change, they prefer their preferred minorities to us.
Re: U.S. regulators accuse Palantir of bias against Asians
#239Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree woth this. I and my friends always wondered how so many Asians get accepted to top UK universities (with very high English-language requirements), when they can barely speak a word of intelligible English. Now I have a close friend from China, and the mistery is solved: others are doing their exams/essays/assignments for them. Keep in mind though, this is likely a huge generalisation (not all Chinese cheat an…
>>this is likely a huge generalisation... Ya think? Sorry man I wouldn't be profiled as a cheater like that due to race or citizenship.
I have nothing to say about profiling individuals but cheating appears to be a huge issue among international students. Per the WSJ [0]:
Public universities in the U.S. recorded 5.1 reports of alleged cheating for every 100 international students, versus one report per 100 domestic students
[0]: http://www.wsj.com/articles/foreign-students-seen-cheating-m...
Re: U.S. regulators accuse Palantir of bias against Asians
#240Palantir gets some of my sympathy. My organization has a large internship program and I've been first contact for many applicants. I found that a similar number of applicants had to be dropped either due to communication skills or an overall technical skills gap and they tended to be asian/southeast asian. Interestingly most of them fit the same profile of a bachelor's from India, 1 or 2 years at a consulting firm in…
You are comparing Apples and Oranges. The Asian student applicants on whose behalf the DoL filed the lawsuit have to be U.S citizens.
If you read the suit itself, there is a lot of wiggle room for Palantir. Here is the threat (paragraph 14 B) "An order permanently enjoining Palantir and its officers, agents, successors, divisions, subsidiaries, and those persons in active concert or participation with them... "
Here is how they can easily wiggle out: (paragraph 14 D.) "An order requiring Palantir to provide complete relief to the affected class of Asian applicants.." and (paragraph 14 E.) "An order requiring Palantir to hire Asian applicants from the affected class list."