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Tech Companies Still Aren’t Hiring Black Workers

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Re: Tech Companies Still Aren’t Hiring Black Workers

#81
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is better than what I have seen. Where it was possible to tell I have never seen a black applicant to a programming job. That is as a founder and in previous roles where I helped review resumes and do interviews. We also saw something like (estimating) 50 men to every 1 woman last time we advertised a job. If there is a problem it is "upstream." I'd be happy to interview black candidates if they existed.

Same. I felt like I was racist and sexist while trying to hire people, based on the results (a team of 90% white males). But it was not a problem I could solve.

But why is it a problem? Why should we impose quotas? People are people, all distinctions just exist to divide us. If you're hiring based on qualifications and ability to do the job, you should not feel bad.

Re: Tech Companies Still Aren’t Hiring Black Workers

#82
I'm willing to accept there is racism in the tech industry, but I'm not willing to accept that it is the ONLY variable keeping black folks from tech jobs.

This problem needs a real, statistical, multivariate study. Any publication casting judgement on the tech industry while remaining unwilling to pony up the dough for such a study should be properly criticized for playing the race card and inventing false narratives to gain readership.

Telling me there aren't many black folks in tech is not enough. I need a data-driven explanation of WHY before I accept it's mostly racism, or it's mostly a pipeline problem, or it's mostly a primary education problem, or it's mostly a cultural problem, or it's not a problem at all because black folks don't want tech jobs in the first place.

Re: Tech Companies Still Aren’t Hiring Black Workers

#83
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…

Everybody talks about the pipeline problem, it's just whatever specific stage of the pipeline you're at it's much easier to shunt responsibility down to an earlier stage. Having problems hiring black tech workers? It's the college's fault. Having problems graduating black students with BSs in STEM? It's the high school's fault. Having problems graduating black students from high school? Really it's the fault of the c…

Black-white education gap is trivially explained by black-white IQ gap. (If you don't believe in IQ, standardized test score gap, or whatever.) It's not school's fault. The most probable reason is genetics.

Re: Tech Companies Still Aren’t Hiring Black Workers

#84
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you know whether someone was African American based on their resume?

Someone's name + linkedin profile (almost always included) tends to give it away 90% of the time. Sometimes you don't know, sure, but usually you do. Just like gender. We didn't ask, of course.

You looked up 1000+ people on LinkedIn?

Re: Tech Companies Still Aren’t Hiring Black Workers

#85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> when really we as a national don't honestly want to see marginalized groups succeed How does that explain the success of Asian Americans?

I think that depends on how you measure success. Strictly in business terms, sure they have more success than other groups, but I don't think (assuming here, no facts) they have over taken White people as the predominant group in leadership roles, high paying positions, or otherwise 'stakeholders'. If that's not true, feel free to correct.

See [1] and [2]. For example, 2015 median household income for Indian Asians is $100K while the same statistic for white non-hispanics appears to be $63K.

[1] http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/fact-sheet/asian-americans-in...

[2] https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/demo/visualizations...

Re: Tech Companies Still Aren’t Hiring Black Workers

#86
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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?

There's a popular theory among the American left that classical liberalism (free speech, freedom of association, "equality of opportunity", etc) is actually an oppressive social structure devised by powerful white men to keep the poor and disenfranchised (minorities and women) from rising through the economic ranks. In the estimation of the American left, the "hands-off" approach of right-wing American politics is ac…

I think the right is correct that a victim mentality is extremely dangerous and should be avoided at all costs.

This can't go understated. Life is hard and often tragic. Everyone will be a victim of injustice, often grave injustice, at one point in their lives or another. The worst thing a culture can do is demotivate folks to face their tragedies because something about their personal identity (race, gender, geography, religion, etc) made it impossible to overcome.

Re: Tech Companies Still Aren’t Hiring Black Workers

#88
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everybody talks about the pipeline problem, it's just whatever specific stage of the pipeline you're at it's much easier to shunt responsibility down to an earlier stage. Having problems hiring black tech workers? It's the college's fault. Having problems graduating black students with BSs in STEM? It's the high school's fault. Having problems graduating black students from high school? Really it's the fault of the c…

Black-white education gap is trivially explained by black-white IQ gap. (If you don't believe in IQ, standardized test score gap, or whatever.) It's not school's fault. The most probable reason is genetics.

>The most probable reason is genetics.

This isn't true.

Re: Tech Companies Still Aren’t Hiring Black Workers

#89
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everybody talks about the pipeline problem, it's just whatever specific stage of the pipeline you're at it's much easier to shunt responsibility down to an earlier stage. Having problems hiring black tech workers? It's the college's fault. Having problems graduating black students with BSs in STEM? It's the high school's fault. Having problems graduating black students from high school? Really it's the fault of the c…

Black-white education gap is trivially explained by black-white IQ gap. (If you don't believe in IQ, standardized test score gap, or whatever.) It's not school's fault. The most probable reason is genetics.

The most probable reason is income inequality + public education system mostly paid by local real estate taxes. This creates the chicken & egg problem where poor neighborhood causes bad education which causes poverty.

Re: Tech Companies Still Aren’t Hiring Black Workers

#90
post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone's name + linkedin profile (almost always included) tends to give it away 90% of the time. Sometimes you don't know, sure, but usually you do. Just like gender. We didn't ask, of course.

You looked up 1000+ people on LinkedIn?

Thats literally his job ...
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