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Four times I felt discriminated against for being a female developer

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Re: Four times I felt discriminated against for being a female developer

#381

Post by benmw333 »

rsweeney21 wrote: post #37

I'm a light skinned male. I'm also a Choctaw Native American. In my senior year of college in 2004 I applied to dozens of companies. I never got a single response. I decided to try an experiment - I applied to IBM and, for the first time, I selected "Native American" as my ethnicity. Within 24 hours I got an email inviting me to a special, all expenses paid IBM recruiting event held for Native Americans in Albuquerqu…

This is funny/sad - mostly because this is the complete opposite of what is parroted at universities.

Re: Four times I felt discriminated against for being a female developer

#382

Post by alienthrowaway »

pacman2 wrote: post #350
alienthrowaway wrote: post #334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Honestly, I feel like I received more discrimination as a white, western European in the US than you did. What is the point of bringing this up - is this thread the oppression olympics/"Four Yorkshiremen" of discrimination? Do I have a bit for you: White, western European, you say? Try being an immigrant as a black, African in tech - I'm sure I had it worse than you, at least you people assume you had electricity g…

You work in tech in the US, a place I had to leave because I did not have a job, shelter, food, health insurance and had to go to China. I have black friends that work in tech, patent law or whatever in the US. Yes, racism exists, no doubt. They told me anecdotes. But I am not very impressed by your complaining. And this is the most polite way I can phrase it. Don't like it in the US? Go to Africa. Good opportunities…

> Yes, racism exists, no doubt...Don't like it in the US? Go to Africa.

Amazing. No thanks though - I'm staying put; I have what it takes, even if some people are slow to realize. I didn't get here by being mediocre.

Re: Four times I felt discriminated against for being a female developer

#383

Post by alienthrowaway »

mc32 wrote: post #351
alienthrowaway wrote: post #334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Honestly, I feel like I received more discrimination as a white, western European in the US than you did. What is the point of bringing this up - is this thread the oppression olympics/"Four Yorkshiremen" of discrimination? Do I have a bit for you: White, western European, you say? Try being an immigrant as a black, African in tech - I'm sure I had it worse than you, at least you people assume you had electricity g…

>I'm sure I had it worse than you, at least you people assume you had electricity growing up. Are there not times that cityfolk don't rib countryfolk about growing up in poorer conditions in almost any country? Not to say it's right. But I also think I'm not mistaken in thinking people back home have misconceptions about people in the US as well. Misconceptions are pretty universal.

> Are there not times that cityfolk don't rib countryfolk about growing up in poorer conditions in almost any country?

This is exactly the problem: I did not grow up in the country or in "poorer conditions" like you assumed.

> Misconceptions are pretty universal.

Tell me about it - I actually believed the US was the greatest country on earth, and that silicon valley is meritocratic.

Re: Four times I felt discriminated against for being a female developer

#384

Post by asdff »

setr wrote: post #300
asdff wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the issue? Look through resumes, see who has worked in this area before, interview and see if they talk the talk, hire and get them up to speed to walk your walk. If the job is so complex that you have difficulty finding someone who can fit in every required peg, then that job should be broken into smaller, more manageable tasks that can be done by several more common people from the labor pool. It's just good…

The general problem, I think, is that talking the talk is not that hard, especially if you're not already well-covered in that domain (e.g. an established department/strong competency in the specific area) -- see all of sales. It's not that hard even if you are well-covered in that domain -- see all of pre-sales, and all of consulting. The fundamental issue is that describing a solution in broad strokes is much easie…

That's a potential issue in every job in every field. Somehow, it's only tech interviews that assign candidates unpaid homework. How are bridges not collapsing left and right from all the incompetent civil engineers they've been hiring with no whiteboard interviews?? Because you don't need to assign homework to probe whether or not a candidate knows the stuff they put on their resume. You can just talk to them about there experience and their approaches, like is done in any other discipline. You can call up references. Yes, you can fire the truly incompetent ones like is done in other fields, since California is an at-will state.

Re: Four times I felt discriminated against for being a female developer

#385

Post by asdff »

robin21 wrote: post #341

> Boys are just predisposed for technology by nature This is true. There is scientific evidence that shows men prefer things, women prefer people. This is not to say women can’t succeed in tech or are not as good at tech, but the fact that women choose other fields belies this nature. Women are better at language, social interactions, etc. So when her boss says to use her “feminine” skills to talk to a difficult co-w…

>The problem women have today is that they are programmed to see everything as sexism, when in fact such things happen regardless of sex.

Case in point why women feel uncomfortable in the tech industry. Men holding opinions like this lurk there.

Re: Four times I felt discriminated against for being a female developer

#386

Post by joshxyz »

rsweeney21 wrote: post #37

I'm a light skinned male. I'm also a Choctaw Native American. In my senior year of college in 2004 I applied to dozens of companies. I never got a single response. I decided to try an experiment - I applied to IBM and, for the first time, I selected "Native American" as my ethnicity. Within 24 hours I got an email inviting me to a special, all expenses paid IBM recruiting event held for Native Americans in Albuquerqu…

Lmfao that fucking sucks when the initial thing they ask for you to bring on the table is race or gender diversity - something born with you, out of your control, and didnt put any effort into

Re: Four times I felt discriminated against for being a female developer

#387

Post by lrem »

thu2111 wrote: post #204
lrem wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can always do affirmative action like Google. Invite the minorities to boot camps, coaching and mentoring programmes and so on... But subject them to the regular interview process and hiring bar.

Even when I was there years ago, it was common knowledge amongst those of us who did hiring that women had an easier time in the interview process. For example, females could not fail the first phone screens. They would always be forwarded to on-site interviews regardless of earlier performance. The justification was that weak performance at the initial screens would be taken into account later by the hiring committe…

I'm still doing this hiring thing (which really slowed down in the pandemic). Inviting people who bombed phone screens on site happens all the time. Some reasons behind that seem to be: gender, ethnicity, nationality, internal references, strong CV, recruiters d20.

They do get filtered later. Over the years only one person who bombed an on site with me got hired. It was a young white man. I believe described this case on HN before.

Re: Four times I felt discriminated against for being a female developer

#388

Post by Decker87 »

mcculley wrote: post #205

I am amused about these perceptions of bias in “tech”, especially coming from those with little experience elsewhere. I work in tech and also in the tugboat industry. My consulting work has brought me into organizations in many industries. Tech is much better at being fair to minorities and the otherwise disadvantaged than non-tech industries. I don’t know how people end up complaining about tech without noticing the…

It's simple. Tech pays well, so that's where people feel there is the highest leverage to change outcomes.

Re: Four times I felt discriminated against for being a female developer

#390

Post by ttz »

pvaldes wrote: post #284
nzmsv wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't it a bit weird to have someone who is not Native American (you) tell an actual Native American how they should feel and what kind of experiences they are supposed to have had? I would guess that the subset of Native Americans who have a chance of getting the IBM job are more like the OP and less like the ones you are picturing. But no, instead it's "how dare you think our cringeworthy efforts to make you feel i…

> Isn't it a bit weird to have someone who is not Native American tell an actual Native American how they should feel. Not. Human experience is universal. Every single human in the planet can understand how other humans feel. We all have experienced similar events before and can provide solid advice about it to fellow humans. "You can't understand me, because I'm ... (native /black / woman / trans / philatelic...) an…

Oh please. Spew this BS elsewhere to people who are actually gullible enough to not see through this rhetorical regurgitation.

Human experience is not universal. Try going back in time and be a slave. Or a victim of the Nanjing rape. Tell me, with a straight face, that you can truly understand the pain and suffering those people went through. You think a royal family member can understand what it is like to be whipped and denied all manner of opportunity?

Frankly, this comment disgusts me.

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