Silicon Valley and Black Coders: Howard University fights to join the tech boom

Post by arijun » Thu, Jan 21, 2016, 3:08 PM UTC

mafribe wrote: post #153

blisterpeanuts wrote: post #100

What a big steaming pile of political correctness. The author interviews a tiny handful of mediocre college students who blame their "color" for not getting hired right out of school by big, glamorous tech companies. Are we supposed to be sympathetic? I remember my own struggles to break into the tech business, many years ago now. Although white and "privileged", i.e. no cultural barriers to entry, I found it very to…

Affirmative action is a failure; it's nothing but a form of welfare. Failure from what vantage point? If you want to keep society stable and peaceful, some degree of welfare is probably necessary, for otherwise, those that imagine themselves to be wronged might just band together and violently take what they think has been denied to them.

Post by balabaster » Thu, Jan 21, 2016, 3:09 PM UTC

_yosefk wrote: post #151

Moshe_Silnorin wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As soon as a minorty achieves success (and often disproportionate success) they are no longer considered minorities.

As someone who isn't a native English speaker, I've long noticed that, as you mention, "minority" doesn't mean "the opposite of majority" (I'm not sure since when, or exactly what it does mean; you say success is key, but success in what field - chess, boxing, beer-making? Listing just a dozen fields is probably enough to demonstrate that no minorities exist according to the "success" definition.) However, to return…

Post by pc86 » Thu, Jan 21, 2016, 3:10 PM UTC

tosseraccount wrote: post #148

pc86 wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Simply stating a number like that adds absolutely nothing of value. There are a lot of questions you need the answers to in order to make any kind of judgment: - What is the racial makeup of the accepted applicant pool? - What is the racial makeup of the interviewed applicant pool (including those not extended offers)? - What is the racial makeup of the overall applicant pool (including those not invited for intervie…

Silicon Valley can recruit and train African Americans. Why not do it?

Post by geofft » Thu, Jan 21, 2016, 3:10 PM UTC

mafribe wrote: post #146

zajd wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I remember my own struggles to break into the tech business, many years ago now. Although white and "privileged", i.e. no cultural barriers to entry, I found it very tough and had to jump through hoops, work my way up from semi-tech to actual development positions Imagine you actually had cultural barriers to entry to deal with as well.

Imagine you actually had cultural barriers to entry to deal with as well. Have you considered that the non-Americans that are successful in SV had much larger barriers to break, including learning new languages, and dealing with visa hassle? For example my girl friend was deported the other day because a border guard (wrongly) though she didn't have the right visas to enter the country we are living in when we return…

Post by pc86 » Thu, Jan 21, 2016, 3:12 PM UTC

numbsafari wrote: post #114

ryanlol wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But that's not what she says, her problem isn't that she doesn't like Marvel Cinematic Universe but that she feels that she doesn't have much in common with people of other races.

I think that's stretching it. What she said is she doesn't feel like she has much in common with these particular people , not people of other races in general. Most "engineering-types" would probably feel the exact same way if they were asked to join the sales team at their company. Talk about culture shock...