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Google reports soaring attrition among Black women

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Re: Google reports soaring attrition among Black women

#421

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If a standardized test said "what is the Yiddish word for rag?", is that test fair? It asks everyone the same question after all. But I'd bet you find that Jewish people were passing that test at a higher rate than anyone else. Obviously the biases in actual standardized tests are more subtle, but a lot of the question have an inherent cultural bias and assume some basic cultural knowledge in their test takers.

The biases must be subtle indeed if you are unable to describe one and have to resort instead to an absurd thought experiment.

Runner is to Marathon as Regatta is to_________________

(You need to be wealthy and coastal to know what a Regatta is)

If you have a number system where each place is a power of two greater than the one next to it, and only the digits 1 and 0, how do you represent the number 1033?

(This was an actual question I remember from a test, which I aced because I already knew binary but most of classmates were dumbfounded by the question)

Any question in English to a kid who grew up in a home that didn't speak English.

There are lots of studies you can Google with more examples.

Re: Google reports soaring attrition among Black women

#422

Earlier quoted context omitted.

None of these statements were even controversial twenty years ago: "Sex and gender are the same; they are immutable; and there are only two of them." "Every child has a right to a mother and a father." "An individual can't change his race." "China is the world's worst human rights transgressor and currency manipulator."

The person upthread claimed nothing was controversial/ unpopular 10 years ago, the internet was some sort of free speech utopia. I'm not sure how bringing up anti LGBT crowds typing things like "it's Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve" 20 years ago shows there was no controversy on the internet 10 or 20 years ago. If you are correct that typing things like that was not controversial, it sounds like identifying as gay or…

I used the word "dangerous", not "controversial". In the past, you could have a controversial opinion online without risking your livelyhood and safety. No longer.

Re: Google reports soaring attrition among Black women

#423

Earlier quoted context omitted.

a good example of this is the disabled. any of those same brilliant tech workers could acquire a disability at any time - they come from the same group of people , but we seem quite under-represented. and the developer tools themselves tend not to be accessible (I can find literally nothing online, or even internally, about using Visual Studio with Dragon NaturallySpeaking.) it's curious, right?

> I can find literally nothing online, or even internally, about using Visual Studio with Dragon NaturallySpeaking My Talon project is capable of voice controlling Visual Studio, both at the interface level and at the code insertion/editing level. It can use Dragon as a speech engine, or my own engine. It has an existing Visual Studio integration, and Talon makes it easy to write your own context specific app command…

thank you so so much! you may have saved my career. I'll definitely be supporting you on Patreon.

Re: Google reports soaring attrition among Black women

#424
post #389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know of blind programmers but don't know any personally. But I was actually talking about the reverse: dictation. I'm losing use of my arms, and even ergonomic keyboards aren't cutting it. Rehab set me up with a copy of Dragon so I can dictate, but even Microsoft Teams isn't really accessible with it, much less Visual Studio or any kind of terminal. I can see the code just fine, I just can't dictate it.

I am sorry for your health problem. I don't know if anything like that exists, but could you use your legs/feet to drive a mouse-like device? When I was a child, a teacher told us of a woman who learned to type on a typewriter (it was before computers became popular) using her toes. I wish you luck with figuring out what works for you.

thanks. that's a good thought. unfortunately my condition affects my whole body (my joints constantly dislocate and I have various nerve problems), so my legs aren't much better.. but something like a foot pedal could work. honestly I'm hoping for something like Neuralink to succeed, and that voice typing will tide me over.

Re: Google reports soaring attrition among Black women

#425
post #366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_Womyn%27s_Music_Fes... The immutability of gender was controversial in 1991, but okay.

In 1991, the immutability of gender might have raised the ire of 1 in 10,000 -- if even that many.

That's a gross underestimate of the number of transgender people. And given that we haven't been recognized as legitimate until very recently, historical statistics are extremely shoddy. I personally knew two people who identified as transgender in the late 90s, in my high school class of ~450. They didn't transition until much later in life, so wouldn't be counted in stats.

Re: Google reports soaring attrition among Black women

#426

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The person upthread claimed nothing was controversial/ unpopular 10 years ago, the internet was some sort of free speech utopia. I'm not sure how bringing up anti LGBT crowds typing things like "it's Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve" 20 years ago shows there was no controversy on the internet 10 or 20 years ago. If you are correct that typing things like that was not controversial, it sounds like identifying as gay or…

I used the word "dangerous", not "controversial". In the past, you could have a controversial opinion online without risking your livelyhood and safety. No longer.

The conservative cancellation of Dixie Chicks in 2003 would seem to suggest otherwise. From wikipedia "At a 2003 performance in London, Natalie Maines of the American country band the Dixie Chicks, now known as the Chicks, made a statement criticizing President George W. Bush and the imminent Allied invasion of Iraq. The criticism led to backlash from country listeners, who were mostly right-wing and supported the war. The Dixie Chicks were blacklisted by thousands of country radio stations, and the band members received death threats."

Re: Google reports soaring attrition among Black women

#427

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't mean "red" as in Native American, and I wouldn't use Native American icons. I mean, when you peel back the skin, we all bleed the same color. Even albinos do. The point is, once you move past the skin, all our blood looks alike. We all share that. (I agree, though, that some are likely to insist on taking offense. Also, I note that albinos might have a case to complain about non-albinos who are called "white"…

"... if you prick us do we not bleed ..."

And, do we not bleed the same blood?

Re: Google reports soaring attrition among Black women

#428

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I’m guessing it’s one of the most welcoming and meritocratic industries! And I’m guessing you’re not one of the affected minorities. Otherwise you might see that “the system works for this subset of people so it must be working for everyone” is a flawed and untrue argument, at least in tech. People pushing for more equal treatment of certain minorities didn’t happen out of the blue. There’s a long history of certai…

a good example of this is the disabled. any of those same brilliant tech workers could acquire a disability at any time - they come from the same group of people , but we seem quite under-represented. and the developer tools themselves tend not to be accessible (I can find literally nothing online, or even internally, about using Visual Studio with Dragon NaturallySpeaking.) it's curious, right?

And it really irks me that most diversity initiatives don't even mention persons with disabilities. One exception is Microsoft, which will always have my respect for considering disabilities in both product design and hiring.

Re: Google reports soaring attrition among Black women

#429

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you mean I should have quit my Bachelors degree in IT?

Sorry, but I don’t understand what you are seeking with this question. Did your BA in IT limit your access to good advice? Did it contradict the good advice you received? I don’t see the conflict between a BA in IT and good advice. Could you maybe ask the question again in a different way?

I'll try:

I wrote about being a boy and getting what I think is bad advice.

You comment "The most powerful type of privilege a person can have is access to good advice."

I wonder if you think that what I got is good advice.

(BTW: BSc, not BA :-)

Re: Google reports soaring attrition among Black women

#430
post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You assume that all applicants are of equal attainment, ability, and motivation. However, women have to fight an in-built discrimination. While men are more forced into work because our gender role expects it of us. Thus, women who are candidates for promotion are likely to be more motivated and more ambitious than their male counterparts - they've had to fight harder against more obstacles to get to that point. I se…

> while male programmers have had nothing but encouragement I really hate this stereotype as growing up in 80s "liking computers" was this thing only "nerds" liked in my area. Getting called a nerd was not at all positive and a derogatory slur. I loved computers at my own (social) peril.

Exactly. The narrative changed when iPhone / Smartphone took over the world. Now everyone knows what is an "App". And somehow Silicon Valley took over the world. Mainstream Media has all sort of Tech reporting in their front page. Stock investment are also dominated by tech. All of a sudden software programming is cool and you get some sort of social status with it.

But in the 80s/ 90s picking up a Pascal or Delphi book was about the dumbest thing you do in social circle.

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