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Tech Companies Still Aren’t Hiring Black Workers

bloomberg.com

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Re: Tech Companies Still Aren’t Hiring Black Workers

#21

Post by dominotw »

weiming wrote: post #4

I'm not originally from America, so I seem to be missing something in articles like this. Why does no one talk about the "pipeline problem," that is, encouraging many more people from "minority" groups (black, women, and so on) to pursue coding from young age? (Edit: or encouraging these groups to enter the field at any age, such as through the community college system/Coursera/etc.) It seems like examining the end o…

> Why does no one talk about the "pipeline problem," that is, encouraging many more people from "minority" groups (black, women, and so on) to pursue coding from young age?

This is talked about endlessly. Its a bit of a chicken and egg problem. Merely encouraging is not good enough when people don't have role models who are from the same background as you. Never seeing any black engineers cannot be replaced by 'encouragement' , neither can encouragement replace social inertia.

Re: Tech Companies Still Aren’t Hiring Black Workers

#22

Post by andrewclunn »

Average IQ required to be a competent programmer > average IQ of all people.

Average IQ of East Asians > average IQ of Sub-Saharan Africans.

Media keeps wondering why there are so many more East Asian coders than Sub-Saharan African coders.

Anyone honestly looking at the data knows the answer.

Re: Tech Companies Still Aren’t Hiring Black Workers

#23

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

spoiledtechie wrote: post #7

Im gonna be the antagonist here and say, black people still aren't getting the degrees required for such work. Now, ONLY if these tech companies would drop their requirements for university and college, they might see more applicants. Tech companies should sponsor universities or even create their own. I can see some of the major companies saying "hey, we have this university, which you can attend for FREE only if yo…

> Tech companies should sponsor universities or even create their own. I can see some of the major companies saying "hey, we have this university, which you can attend for FREE only if you work for us for 6 years." Sign up?

Who do you think would the tech companies recruit for these positions? I think you just described a large scholarship with strings attached. I don't think a company would be willing to foot the bill unless they think the investment is really going to pay off for them.

Re: Tech Companies Still Aren’t Hiring Black Workers

#25

Post by nomy99 »

monochromatic wrote: post #15
onion2k wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would people of color take engineering courses if there aren't any jobs for them afterwards?

Tech companies are being actively leaned on to lower their standards to hire more black workers. Saying there aren’t jobs for them is nonsense.

"lower their standards to hire more black workers." do you hear yourself? You have linked color with standard. Companies hire based on skill, experience and culture fit.

Re: Tech Companies Still Aren’t Hiring Black Workers

#26

Post by justin66 »

Talyen42 wrote: post #12

I hired about 10 junior dev/qa/pm positions over 3 years as a manager in a SaaS tech company of 50-100. We posted on every job site and received 1,000+ resumes which I reviewed, in a city with ~30% african american population. Maybe 3 out of 1,000+ resumes were submitted by african americans, and none met most basic requirements for the position (either a relevant degree, or at least 1 year of related experience, or…

> Maybe 3 out of 1,000+ resumes were submitted by african americans

How do you know? I'm curious because it seems like you'd have to have a spot on the job application for applicants to indicate their race and you'd need to exclude a "prefer not to answer" option in order to be confident about this.

Re: Tech Companies Still Aren’t Hiring Black Workers

#27

Post by curiousgal »

spoiledtechie wrote: post #18
Talyen42 wrote: post #12

I hired about 10 junior dev/qa/pm positions over 3 years as a manager in a SaaS tech company of 50-100. We posted on every job site and received 1,000+ resumes which I reviewed, in a city with ~30% african american population. Maybe 3 out of 1,000+ resumes were submitted by african americans, and none met most basic requirements for the position (either a relevant degree, or at least 1 year of related experience, or…

You could have offered apprenticeships to the black population.

Not his job to do so.

His job is to fill a position, not create a new one and fill it.

Also, the applicants knew they were unqualified and didn't ask for an apprenticeship.

Re: Tech Companies Still Aren’t Hiring Black Workers

#28

Post by spoiledtechie »

SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #23
spoiledtechie wrote: post #7

Im gonna be the antagonist here and say, black people still aren't getting the degrees required for such work. Now, ONLY if these tech companies would drop their requirements for university and college, they might see more applicants. Tech companies should sponsor universities or even create their own. I can see some of the major companies saying "hey, we have this university, which you can attend for FREE only if yo…

> Tech companies should sponsor universities or even create their own. I can see some of the major companies saying "hey, we have this university, which you can attend for FREE only if you work for us for 6 years." Sign up? Who do you think would the tech companies recruit for these positions? I think you just described a large scholarship with strings attached. I don't think a company would be willing to foot the bi…

Thats cool. Lets start with apprenticeships and see where it goes. OR sponsor a black kid for the coding boot camps. Hey, attend this 6-month boot camp on us and work for us for 3 years. for Free.

Re: Tech Companies Still Aren’t Hiring Black Workers

#29

Post by projectramo »

For all of those who claim it might be a pipeline problem, I looked it up and it looks like 4% of engineering degrees are granted (earned? Awarded?) to African Americans

https://www.aps.org/programs/education/statistics/aamajors.c...

Ill leave the interpretation up to you

Re: Tech Companies Still Aren’t Hiring Black Workers

#30

Post by weiming »

protonimitate wrote: post #20
weiming wrote: post #4

I'm not originally from America, so I seem to be missing something in articles like this. Why does no one talk about the "pipeline problem," that is, encouraging many more people from "minority" groups (black, women, and so on) to pursue coding from young age? (Edit: or encouraging these groups to enter the field at any age, such as through the community college system/Coursera/etc.) It seems like examining the end o…

Because addressing the pipeline problem means admitting that racism is still alive and embedded in the foundations of our education and work force system. You can't expect there to be more workers if there's no applicants. There are no applicants because there is a severe lack of Black people (among other groups) represented in Engineering/STEM degree programs. That stems from a lack of good public school education.…

> when really we as a national don't honestly want to see marginalized groups succeed

This sounds like a very big statement and probably something that can be a long post in itself. Would you be able to expound on that?

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