My father was IBM’s first black software engineer
1–10 of 180 posts
Re: My father was IBM’s first black software engineer
#2I was expecting stories from his father, or about his father.
Instead, the author talks about IBM's "support" of Nazi Germany and ends with statistics on the low amount of African-Americans employed in the tech industry.
Yet the percentage of blacks and non-Asian minorities in high-tech professions consistently remains under 2%. For minority women, the numbers are even more dismal. Recent studies conclude this is not a “pipeline” problem — qualified candidates can be found.
Re: My father was IBM’s first black software engineer
#3I was expecting stories from his father, or about his father. Instead, the author talks about IBM's "support" of Nazi Germany and ends with statistics on the low amount of African-Americans employed in the tech industry. Yet the percentage of blacks and non-Asian minorities in high-tech professions consistently remains under 2%. For minority women, the numbers are even more dismal. Recent studies conclude this is not…
Honestly, I have to agree the title was misleading. It should have been something like 'The history of IBM's support of eugenics' or something. I too was hoping for at least some specific anecdotes of his father's time there, especially as the introduction mentioned years of racism and such towards him. Yet what followed did not elaborate on any of that or really connect to it at all. Much of that I'd read elsewhere over the years.
Re: My father was IBM’s first black software engineer
#4> Recent studies conclude this is not a “pipeline” problem — qualified candidates can be found.
Really wish they'd provided a link to the stud(y|ies). There certainly exist qualified people of all stripes, but are there enough to meet a population-level representative size?
Re: My father was IBM’s first black software engineer
#5Yet, there are a lot of black professional basketball players. Go figure.
Re: My father was IBM’s first black software engineer
#6> Recent studies conclude this is not a “pipeline” problem — qualified candidates can be found. Really wish they'd provided a link to the stud(y|ies). There certainly exist qualified people of all stripes, but are there enough to meet a population-level representative size?
There is a huge pipeline problem.
The only articles I've read claiming there isn't one have all been click bait pieces written by journos, not scientists or educators, and contain no data. Just wild ass speculation about the underlying causes of the pipeline problem.
Which, yeah. The pipeline problem has lots of causes. But saying "we don't have a pipeline problem because there are reasons women don't major in CS" makes no sebse. It's like saying the roof doesn't have a leaking problem because the real problem is that the gutters are clogged. I mean, sure, that's true, and we need to fix that to fix the roof. But the roof is still leaking...
The only real argument I've heard that isn't prime facie flawed in this way is the argument that you don't really need college educated computer scientists to fill your SWE roles. That may be true for some roles and some companies, but lots of positions (e.g. all the ones I hire for) do require a strong education in CS and math. PhDs in STEM fields that go on to good boot camps or masters programs in CS can be good fits, but those are even more rare.
And, again, even that argument has no data to back it in the articles I've read. It's just not prime facia illogical.
Re: My father was IBM’s first black software engineer
#7I was expecting stories from his father, or about his father. Instead, the author talks about IBM's "support" of Nazi Germany and ends with statistics on the low amount of African-Americans employed in the tech industry. Yet the percentage of blacks and non-Asian minorities in high-tech professions consistently remains under 2%. For minority women, the numbers are even more dismal. Recent studies conclude this is not…
> and non-Asian minorities
Ah, the classical trick of excluding data points that don't fit the narrative. It's far more convenient to blame the Bad White Man for everything than to ask the real questions.
Re: My father was IBM’s first black software engineer
#8I was happily nodding along, until I got to:
"Somehow, he managed to obtain copies of the IBM entrance examination questions and answers, which he surreptitiously shared with promising young black job applicants. He coached them on passing the exam and succeeding in their interviews. Many were subsequently hired."
I'm sure this helped contribute to an increase in black hires, but is a stupidly short-sighted thing to do and then boast about.
Re: My father was IBM’s first black software engineer
#9I was expecting stories from his father, or about his father. Instead, the author talks about IBM's "support" of Nazi Germany and ends with statistics on the low amount of African-Americans employed in the tech industry. Yet the percentage of blacks and non-Asian minorities in high-tech professions consistently remains under 2%. For minority women, the numbers are even more dismal. Recent studies conclude this is not…
What I gathered from that article was how all of those tangential problems would have been approached with different perspectives if there was more decision-making representation from currently underrepresented people.
Instead of taking on any government contracts because "we can't be responsible for what an administration does and can't predict how they'll be viewed in the future, and the only way we'll get any blowback for this is if that country got invaded by multiple coalitions at once and all of their administrative records are leaked, what are the odds of that!"
Its might be "hey maybe their views are also affecting our customers, and also the other people on the board and their families, here is a different way we can boost revenues"
Re: My father was IBM’s first black software engineer
#10I was happily nodding along, until I got to: "Somehow, he managed to obtain copies of the IBM entrance examination questions and answers, which he surreptitiously shared with promising young black job applicants. He coached them on passing the exam and succeeding in their interviews. Many were subsequently hired." I'm sure this helped contribute to an increase in black hires, but is a stupidly short-sighted thing to…
I'm not sure how it is any different than studying for whiteboard interviews. Especially in a time period when educational opportunities were not equal.