
The Empathy Gap in Tech: Interview with a Software Engineer - jseliger
http://quillette.com/2018/01/05/empathy-gap-tech-interview-software-engineer/
======
mystique
This article is suggesting that higher than normal number of people who are on
Autism spectrum explains the gender imbalance in tech industry. Further it is
somehow attributing this to Damore's reasoning about his memo. There are a lot
more normal people in the industry though - surely all the woes directed
towards tech industry are not due to folks on the spectrum?

Having worked with normal devs and "brogrammers", I have a hard time accepting
that the "brogrammer" that is constantly belittling others on the team, second
guessing other's work output is on the Autism spectrum. Wouldn't someone on
the Autism spectrum not want to draw everyone's attention towards themselves
and just do their own work?

I had a friend in grade school who was on the Autism spectrum. From what I
remember, he was awkward, self-aware, genius, not looking for attention - but
he was never a jerk and if he knew he was making someone uncomfortable he
would stop. To suggest that people on Autism spectrum are misunderstood as
brogrammers is a stretch.

~~~
jimmywanger
> This article is suggesting that higher than normal number of people who are
> on Autism spectrum explains the gender imbalance in tech industry.

I think this article is suggesting that autism is predominantly more prevalent
in males, due to higher testosterone, and mild autism is beneficial for
employment in tech.

That being said, if that were believed to be true, that would explain the
prevalence of males in tech. And I've read Damore's reasoning for his memo -
there's nothing explicitly objectionable about it except for the easily
reasoned about backlash from most people. Which is sort of a sign of autism.

------
chillacy
I don't know if this online version is close to something a psychologist would
administer, but here's an ASQ test that the article mentions:
[https://psychology-tools.com/autism-spectrum-quotient/](https://psychology-
tools.com/autism-spectrum-quotient/)

High school me would have scored significantly different than I do today.

------
aussieguy1234
The article quotes research which suggests women do better working with people
and men do better working with things.

AI and automation will take over the jobs involving things. A quick google
search for jobs most likely to be automated
[https://www.google.com.au/search?q=jobs+most+likely+to+be+au...](https://www.google.com.au/search?q=jobs+most+likely+to+be+automated&oq=most+likely+to+be+automat&aqs=chrome.2.69i57j0l3.6998j0j7&sourceid=chrome-
mobile&ie=UTF-8) reveals that people focused jobs are safe.

If that's true, the gender pay gap could be about to reverse, with women being
paid on average more than men, since most of the jobs men are good at would be
automated. More men would have to stay at home and do housework/raise kids.

I have Asperger's (now known as high functioning autism) and also work as an
engineer in a prestigious company. For me, the tech workplace is a pre made
social environment that's easy for me to process. Everyone has their role and
I can predict what people will do next. I don't do alot of socialising outside
of work, but I am married.

I've noticed the higher up you go as a developer, the more developers you run
into that have Autistic traits or seem to be Autistic.

I've spotted multiple people in the workplace who I'm sure also have
Asperger's, but it would be to risky to bring something like that up with them
in that kind of environment.

Im hypersensitive to noise, including office noise, so I use noise cancelling
headphones all day. Playing music without words, because I find music with
words to be too stimulating.

------
EliRivers
"That’s what we care about, ultimately, not how good you are at talking
yourself up or what you look like."

Sadly not true. We've all seen the threads here in which some people proudly
declare that they wouldn't hire someone who wore a suit to their interview.
"Culture fit" it sometimes gets dressed up as.

~~~
minhaz23
How true is that in the NYC tech scene?

~~~
EliRivers
I'd be very interested to know, actually. I'd expect the suppliers of money
there to have met enough smart, inventive people who are also sharp
sartorially to know that dressing smart isn't necessarily a bad thing, but
culture infects and when you try to copy (perception of?) SF, you can end up
cargo-culting.

Maybe someone here can tell us.

