
Tech’s Troubling New Trend: Diversity Is in Your Head - sonabinu
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/10/16/opinion/diversity-tech-women-silicon-valley.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage
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Zhenya
" and who deserve to work in tech as much as anyone"

Is working at a "tech" company, a social benefit that we should be "doling"
out evenly to all groups as a reward? What does that mean "deserves to work in
tech"?

The only measure why anyone gets to work anywhere is they have the skills and
mental ability to perform , at the minimum, the necessary tasks. We should
simply be ensuring that we are not systematically biased against any
candidates as to hire the best possible workforce.

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freedomben
I agree with you, but there are many who believe that a person has a right to
a job, and that it is fundamentally unfair for one person to have a job that
is better than another. They also believe that basing employment on merit is
an anti-pattern, and that it is not fair that some people have educational and
employment opportunities that others do not have, purely as a result of their
parent and/or birth situation. I worked with a guy who would argue that the
entire society should reap the reward because without the provisions from
society (roads, structure, etc) the business would not be possible.

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mcbruiser3
but the entire society DOES reap rewards, in the form of taxes on profit and
contribution to the progress of mankind.

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brighteyes
The article is basically a response to Apple's recent drama, and claims it is
part of a trend, with no evidence.

It would actually be interesting if it were true, but I've seen literally
nothing to support that aside from this one anecdote.

My guess is that the article is coming from a place of, "it would be horrible
if this happened, let's scare people about it so that this one case doesn't
become a trend."

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sonabinu
I think you are right! I am curious about the research behind this one. I do
see a lot of tech companies consciously looking for all kinds of diversity -
gender, sexual orientation, varied college majors, different cultural
backgrounds etc.

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freedomben
I think I agree with what the author is saying, but I also think diversity "in
your head" is pretty important too, even if it is difficult to measure (as the
author points out).

We're getting to a point where people of different political orientations
won't even talk to each other anymore. People with different religious beliefs
won't even serve one another as customers. There's people who won't even talk
to their family anymore over politics!

Tech is becoming that way too. I have worked with hundreds of people and I can
only think of one Conservative I worked with. The rest were either Libertarian
(~20%) or Progressive (~80%). As nice and comfortable as an echo chamber can
be, I see this as net negative. I think this is a real problem.

Sadly I don't have any solutions to offer though, because it's obviously
inappropriate to ask someone about their political views in an interview. I've
just been trying really hard to listen (and it is _hard_ sometimes). If enough
people start listening on all sides, I think it will make a difference.

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dk28
you can get banned here on this site for saying what you think. dark times,
fools in charge

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freedomben
FWIW, I haven't yet seen anyone banned for having an incorrect opinion, so
long as it's communicated respectfully. You will get down voted into oblivion
tho

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dk28
you haven't seen exactly because they were banned and their comments hidden.
Everyone who has an opinion different from the gender/racial what not equality
BS get banned. Fools are running the world and sites like this

