Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

"Gangbang Interviews" and "Bikini Shots": Silicon Valley’s Brogrammer Problem

motherjones.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

321–330 of 375 posts

Re: "Gangbang Interviews" and "Bikini Shots": Silicon Valley’s Brogrammer Problem

#321

Post by cynest »

vectorpush wrote: post #163
dipthegeezer wrote: post #27

Well you still have job adverts from big boys like twitter saying 'responsible enjoyment of beer' as a prerequisite. https://twitter.com/jobs/positions?jvi=ooE7VfwO,Job If that's not appealing to the frat boy crowd then I don't know what is. Not to mention the fact that a lot of people don't actually drink ( I know hard to believe! ), or have a life that doesn't involve drinking all the time. As someone who's been th…

What is sexist about 'responsible enjoyment of beer'? For the record, I agree that sexism is a huge problem in tech but plenty of women enjoy beer and it's pretty ridiculous to suggest that any mention of beer is an automatic appeal to men.

It implies that a drinking culture is important within the company. This tends to appeal to "bros" moreso than other groups and can be a major turnoff to most others.

Re: "Gangbang Interviews" and "Bikini Shots": Silicon Valley’s Brogrammer Problem

#322

Post by gte910h »

crazygringo wrote: post #298
gte910h wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What a horrible idea if you need that mystical 1:200 soul to pull it off.

I dunno... places like Apple and Facebook are very vocal about recruiting only "A" talent, which is probably far less than 1 in 200 people from the general population. From my understanding, Jobs credits the whole execution of the Macintosh to it.

Sure, they say that. Do they get that? No.

Re: "Gangbang Interviews" and "Bikini Shots": Silicon Valley’s Brogrammer Problem

#323

Post by koeselitz »

droithomme wrote: post #307
MartinCron wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with Phillip Pullman when he says that "nobody has a right to never be offended." and that people should be free to say things that may be offensive, especially on their own time . The simple fact that you've been offended isn't reason to go to HR. You go to HR if you're being harassed or if people are actively creating a hostile work environment. It correlates with being offended, but it's not exactly the sa…

It's a fair hypothesis. I know a few rape victims. I was able to get ahold of two of them and talk it out. Their opinion was the described interview tactic does not sound like something they would want to go through and it is reasonable to speak against them. Both also mentioned that gang bangs are not equivalent to gang rapes, differing in consent.

That sort of seems to dissolve the parallel between interviews-by-committee and actual gang bangs, though.

Re: "Gangbang Interviews" and "Bikini Shots": Silicon Valley’s Brogrammer Problem

#324

Post by koeselitz »

option_greek wrote: post #225

It's interesting that these 'sexism' articles draw huge number of comments. Usually that would mean there are two strong sides arguing. But since they are almost always one sided, I don't see the reason for this much of 'attention'. Whats the point in arguing, when there is no one to argue with...

It seems like there are a lot of differences of opinion on this page, aren't there? The fact that hardly anybody is ever going to say they're in favor of sexism doesn't mean there isn't any disagreement, or that there isn't anything to talk about. Clearly a lot of people think this is an incredibly important issue for the community, and a lot of other people believe it's a distraction that at worst is hurting a lot of people through an unfair application of political correctness.

Re: "Gangbang Interviews" and "Bikini Shots": Silicon Valley’s Brogrammer Problem

#325

Post by darthpanda »

fab13n wrote: post #18

> To literally handicap yourself by 50 percent is insanity. This is very PC, but BS nonetheless. At the stage when people can be profitably hired by start-ups, the male/female ratio is nowhere near 50% among technical candidates. I'm not saying that frat culture isn't harmful, nor would I dare to guess why women are underrepresented among development professionals; but defending a thesis with such grossly false asser…

Well here's where they are very well represented - marketing and design. Two very important fields. Without those you just have a lonely little application or website. Never mind management where they are rising very fast. Programmers aren't an island.

Re: "Gangbang Interviews" and "Bikini Shots": Silicon Valley’s Brogrammer Problem

#326

Post by 127 »

icebraining wrote: post #296
127 wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Why would women find this more of a problem then men do? I did not say this. What I said that women have more of a choice not to have a career and still succeed in raising a family.

The census show that stay-at-home women have in general lower education and family income, and are more likely to be Hispanic or foreign-born. The results indicate it's less of a choice and more of a lack of employment opportunities.

Also my personal research shows that women value steady employment in long time partners much more than men do.

Re: "Gangbang Interviews" and "Bikini Shots": Silicon Valley’s Brogrammer Problem

#327

Post by 127 »

rada wrote: post #240
127 wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did not say that software development was not difficult for Asians and whites. Just that it is difficult (and subjectively boring). Period. What I am saying, is that getting a good paying, stable job is not as important for women as it is for men, so they don't have to collectively sacrifice as much. Which is purely my opinion.

Getting a good job is not as important for women as it is for men? Are you serious? And why is that, in your opinion? Two (hypothetically related, depending on your answer) mini questions: Do you think it's equally as unimportant for ugly women? What about lesbians?

>And why is that, in your opinion?

The rules of sexual marketplace.

>Do you think it's equally as unimportant for ugly women? What about lesbians?

Both are a small minority. Ugly women still can't improve their attractiveness by having a job nearly as much as men can.

Re: "Gangbang Interviews" and "Bikini Shots": Silicon Valley’s Brogrammer Problem

#328

Post by Drbble »

npsimons wrote: post #210
RandallBrown wrote: post #17

The brogrammer meme is JUST A JOKE! It's the very opposite of a stereotypical programmer. It's simply taking a stereotype, flipping it around, and poking fun at it. Instead of being disgusted by jokes about nudie calendars, do something about it. Go give your own presentation. Recruit more women at your company. Turn the boys club into an everyone club. I'm not saying that everything people are doing is okay, I'm jus…

The brogrammer meme is JUST A JOKE! It's not funny, and it never was. Also, this sounds so much like someone who is truly bigoted trying to save face and cover up for their sociopathic tendencies. I'm glad that many people (including men!) are calling out and ostracizing "brogrammers". The whole brogramming phenomenon is childish at its core and is not welcome in an industry already beleaguered by sexism. If you are…

It is a joke because the behaviors portrayed are fictional performances.

Re: "Gangbang Interviews" and "Bikini Shots": Silicon Valley’s Brogrammer Problem

#329

Post by Drbble »

wickedchicken wrote: post #115
stfu wrote: post #14

These "I'm shocked, outraged, sick to my stomach." postings make me always a bit uncomfortable. It seems to me that there are two ways one can approach this subject. On to proclaim that these are intentional acts of portraying females in a negative light and keeping them out of the tech industry. The other, that these are just a bunch of nerds, trying (and in large parts failing) to make coding something "oool" or a…

> It seems to me that there are two ways one can approach this subject. There are a lot of ways you can approach this subject. I'm going to rely on an example I used before[1]. Let's assume that if you're on this site, you probably build some kind of web technology. Were you aware that a portion of your users are colorblind? Did you just do a mental double-check and go "shoot, I should check up on that?" You didn't a…

What's wrong with the first answer?

Re: "Gangbang Interviews" and "Bikini Shots": Silicon Valley’s Brogrammer Problem

#330

Post by Drbble »

base698 wrote: post #244
rmc wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh please, this isn't black or white. HR dept are not all like that and are beneficial for companies to have. Companies should not. think that the only options are "don't protect women" and "900 page manuals about bathroom breaks"

For a startup that has minimal chance of ever getting the capital to get off the ground it is black and white. I'm not talking about a company with 200 employees and a Series C. Playing company can certainly bleed you dry before you ever get a chance to build something that can sell.

You can get HR paperwork from a third-party web startup for like $30/head or whatever, just like every other little productivity tool startups are all buying from each other in the Silicon Valley bubble.
Post reply on HN