One of the hard parts of being a person from an underrepresented demographic is having to bear an unequal burden to help make your company more diverse, equitable, and inclusive. There is a tremendous amount of talent out there from underestimated groups, but many of us don't want to work places where we're going to be the only person. And as your interview panel is the most crucial touch point with candidates, the f…
>because it is really, really hard to to build an org that is more diverse than the average (let alone anything near society), and you still have to meet other objectives. I've thought about this a many times with the hiring I'm involved with. There are some potential problems you can tackle internally, such as whether you have bias against certain types of candidate. However, the major blocker is one I really don't…
You can tweak the language in job listings, but you can't tweak away the fact that underrepresented groups are going to have way fewer "qualified" applicants when the qualifications include time spent in that industry.
I'd love to see tech make a push towards mentorship and a recruitment model that involves seeking out talented candidates who may be struggling to break into the industry. Maybe it requires reaching out to computer science departments or developing a system for training people in house. I don't really know, but I know that it isn't just a matter of finding more Black or women senior Dev applicants.