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YouTube Hiring for Some Positions Excluded White and Asian Males, Lawsuit Says

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Re: YouTube Hiring for Some Positions Excluded White and Asian Males, Lawsuit Says

#61

Post by ghostcluster »

ignoramceisblis wrote: post #23

Did anyone not see this coming? The goal posts of equal _outcome_ continue to move, from university enrollment, to employment enrollment. And there are some people who want to see it go further. (What societal engineering scheme does this resemble?) With no apparent regard for what it costs. Do you want to live in a world where you are judged by the color of your skin, your gender, your "ethnicity"? Or do you think t…

Note, this lawsuit is being brought by former Google recruiters who say they were ordered to "purge" certain groups from the interview queue.

> YouTube recruiters were allegedly instructed to cancel interviews with applicants who weren’t female, black or Hispanic, and to “purge entirely” the applications of people who didn’t fit those categories, the lawsuit claims.

I'd like to remind people of what Denise Young Smith, who ran HR at Apple, said, before suddenly stepping down after the outrageous repsonse.

> “There can be 12 white, blue-eyed, blond men in a room and they’re going to be diverse too because they’re going to bring a different life experience and life perspective to the conversation,” the inaugural diversity chief said.

> “Diversity is the human experience,” she said, according to Quartz. “I get a little bit frustrated when diversity or the term diversity is tagged to the people of color, or the women, or the LGBT.”

She's gone now, instantly, after working there for 20 years and rising to senior executive VP. What is going on in our industry?

Re: YouTube Hiring for Some Positions Excluded White and Asian Males, Lawsuit Says

#62

Post by master-litty »

ilamont wrote: post #15

Last spring, YouTube recruiters were allegedly instructed to cancel interviews with applicants who weren’t female, black or Hispanic, and to “purge entirely” the applications of people who didn’t fit those categories, the lawsuit claims. Anyone from Google or YouTube--or people who applied to work at either org in this time frame--have perspectives to add regarding this claim?

Towards the end of last year I actually did apply to Google in Mountain View for Software Engineering.

I believe my on-site went excellent technically overall, but I had a hard time meshing with a couple of my interviewers and wasn't surprised about my rejection. Nothing strange about that personally.

However, another Google recruiter reached out to me for two other potential positions, said I would be an excellent fit, and said they would set up the interviews for me.

A couple weeks passed and I pinged, no response. A month passed and I pinged, no response. Still haven't had a response from two separate recruiters to this day.

I don't wish to stir the pot -- Anything could have happened, there are some stories about Google recruiters forgetting their candidates, maybe they think I'm just annoying and not a good candidate, but in light of these specific circumstances this is certainly intriguing news.

Re: YouTube Hiring for Some Positions Excluded White and Asian Males, Lawsuit Says

#63

Post by the_grue »

wqnt wrote: post #37
ghostbrainalpha wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All good options. But don't forget to represent people of different body types by weight and height as well. As a very short, fat, and white dude who can't jump...but has a decent jumper, I still want my shot at Lebron James in the NBA.

If I understand it correctly, it is only discrimination if employer cannot demonstrate the criteria are needed for work performance. Race and gender are not related to performance in most work categories. In the case of body types in sports, they are.

And so are problem-solving skills, relevant experience and education in STEM. Is it anyone's fault that white/asian males happen to have more of it than other groups?

Re: YouTube Hiring for Some Positions Excluded White and Asian Males, Lawsuit Says

#65

Post by megaman22 »

drwl wrote: post #10
ausjke wrote: post #4

NBA is totally underrepresented by non-black Males, let's sue them. Swim tournament is severely underrepresented by deep skin colors. Meanwhile track and field is the opposite. Let's mix all colors everywhere based on population percentile, to achieve diversity, equal rights and fairness. Or do something like Dr.King hoped, that is, don't judge a person by color.

I'm not sure that's an equivalent relation. I wasn't able to read the article, but NBA representation has a lot to do with skill and performance.

There's a lot of individual choice involved in the NBA as well. Elite athletes will be elite athletes, but where they choose to devote their efforts early on has ripple effects long afterwards. It's something of a trope that the best US soccer players are in the NFL or NBA, rather than playing futbol like their European athletic counterparts.

Fun fact: professional basketball was once dominated by inner-city Jews

https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2013/11/25/when-jews-d...

Re: YouTube Hiring for Some Positions Excluded White and Asian Males, Lawsuit Says

#66

Post by saas_co_de »

ausjke wrote: post #4

NBA is totally underrepresented by non-black Males, let's sue them. Swim tournament is severely underrepresented by deep skin colors. Meanwhile track and field is the opposite. Let's mix all colors everywhere based on population percentile, to achieve diversity, equal rights and fairness. Or do something like Dr.King hoped, that is, don't judge a person by color.

This is a false equivalency.

The idea that male programmers are like professional athletes who are so far superior to women that they deserve a similar level of elevated status and disproportional representation is repugnant and indicative of the problem that needs to be solved.

Re: YouTube Hiring for Some Positions Excluded White and Asian Males, Lawsuit Says

#67

Post by to3m »

danieltillett wrote: post #19

The thing I hate about actions like this is what it does to talented people who fit some diversity quota checklist, both in the perception they have of themselves and those of other people. If you are a talented melanin-rich woman you are going to face both heightened impostor syndrome and dismissal by others that you only got the job because of some quota. Not good for anyone. There are no easy solutions, but it wou…

The horror! Who can say what unspeakable acts people will perform in the interests of potentially securing a better life for their children. I for one am reassured that there is at least one voice speaking out against this atrocity.

Re: YouTube Hiring for Some Positions Excluded White and Asian Males, Lawsuit Says

#68

Post by wycs »

neerkumar wrote: post #8

Anyone who has worked for a large tech company in SF in the last 3/4 years knows that this has happened everywhere. In fairness, Google was one of the very last ones among large tech companies to play the quota game. But the problem is that that's a game that once the first company starts playing it, everyone else is forced to play it too. Company X publishes a report with amazing diversity numbers and brands itself…

Then company X gets rightfully trounced by a Chinese firm 5 years from now which does not share our ridiculous racial taboos. Some crimes are self policing.

Re: YouTube Hiring for Some Positions Excluded White and Asian Males, Lawsuit Says

#69

Post by trsse »

aphextron wrote: post #44
vkou wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Do you want to live in a world where you are judged by the color of your skin, your gender, your "ethnicity"? We already do, through systemic biases. Sadly, as the downvotes indicate, reminding people of their privilege seems to be an unpopular thing.

>Do you want to live in a world where you are judged by the color of your skin, your gender, your "ethnicity"? Reading that sentence as a black person was cringe inducing to say the least. It truly never ceases to amaze me the complete lack of awareness that white males have of their elevated position in society.

It is mind boggling that someone could not realize that we already live in that world.

Re: YouTube Hiring for Some Positions Excluded White and Asian Males, Lawsuit Says

#70

Post by mythrwy »

I don't know what the position was and diversity for PR sake alone is nuts and it's harmful. Also agreed, any discrimination is discrimination and not OK.

That being said, it is YouTube. Sure most programmers are white or Asian males but many YouTube viewers are not. It could be in this case that a broader demographic more representative of end users was desirable for actual practical reasons and it was more than about slinging code fast and a PR quota stunt.

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