

Tech Companies That Only Hire Men - socialengineer
http://techcompaniesthatonlyhiremen.tumblr.com/

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kellishaver
There was a post on HN jobs a little while back about a startup looking for a
"front end guy" which reiterated several times throughout the post that they
"need a guy" and if "you're the guy" to contact them.

The job sounded great otherwise, and was definitely one I would have been
interested in, but I felt immediately disqualified and annoyed.

Normally these types of things don't bother me and I often think people read
too much into things, but for some reason, that one did. Maybe it was the
casual nature of the writing. It made it seem more personal, which, in turn,
made it seem like the author was making it clear that they actually weren't
interested in hiring women, that they legitimately felt as if a man was needed
to fill the role properly, or that the idea of hiring a woman was so foreign
to them that it hadn't even crossed their minds.

It was very off-putting.

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flootch
fwiw (maybe nothing) I know what you mean about finding certain job postings
off-putting. For myself, I don't think it has as much to do with the job
posting itself as much as it may have to do with how I am feeling about myself
at the moment, and how much I hate the rest of the world.

I can understand and won't argue about your being a woman and being put off by
"the guy" language. I'd probably feel the same way, if only because I am 50
and "the guy" seems very young.

~~~
kellishaver
Yeah, I probably have about 10 years on "the guy," myself.

I guess it was the casual assumption that a man would be the one filling the
position. In a lot of ways those unintentional biases are worse than
intentional ones.

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andrewmcgrath
I cant see anyone letting something like this hit the public on purpose, big
HR slip, but its certainly interesting insight to the hiring manager / person
who wrote the job description.

If i were to go into that interview as not a man, i would feel disadvantaged.

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flootch
If you were to come to my job interview, I would probably agree you are
disadvantaged. :(

~~~
andrewmcgrath
Why is that?

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salahxanadu
This is dumb. It's merely pointing out pronouns. Should it be he/she
everywhere or it? Gender neutral is often 'he'. Should we now say that 'all
men are created equal'? Is it splitting hairs yet? Nobody is telling women not
to get into tech things. I don't know whether it is general interest or what,
but it should not engender such divisive hate.

I think we need more positive role models. Less of this pointless vitriol.

~~~
beyondavatars
I just think women would read this and believe that this company is looking
for a male, not a female. I know I would. It would emphasize a bro type of
environment.

Your only reference to "he" being gener neutral was from the 1700s... do you
have a modern example?

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russell
Sorry, they are using correct English. The male gender is used for the gender
neutral case. We need something that is truly gender neutral, but all attempts
sound wrong to anyone who made it through high school English. S/he is
unpronounceable. They sounds strange when talking about a single individual,
but kind of works. You works somewhat, but in an employment ad sounds like
something out of "Mission Impossible".

~~~
tks2103
please cite a source for "The male gender is used for the gender neutral
case". as far as i can tell, this is an issue with no clean solution in modern
English.

'he or she' is the most reasonable option in my opinion. it is cumbersome, but
that is better than sexist or grammatically incorrect.

'we are looking for a technical lead. he or she will have three years
experience as a lead developer or similar role.'

~~~
astrange
Singular third person "they" is widely attested and there is no grammatical
problem with it at all. It's even in Shakespeare. You can use it, and if
anyone complains about it, don't hire them.

~~~
gizmo686
Shakespeare is not good english. His work is old, and the language has
evolved, and his work is poetry.

Also, citation needed for using 'they' as singular. Apart from the fact that
it very strongly sounds plural, one of my personal pet peeves with English is
the fact that we do not have a singular plural differentiation in the second
person. As long as we are re-working pronouns, lets not repeat that mistake.

When I am trying to be careful and gender neutral (for something that needs to
be speakable, so no (s)he), I try to structure it to use either 'one' or 'that
person' in place of (s)he.

~~~
franklinho
While I was also taught that using "he" as a gender neutral pronoun was good
english, it looks like that has fallen out of favor.

Seems to be an artifact of older formally trained english teachers.

[http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/30455/is-using-
he...](http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/30455/is-using-he-for-a-
gender-neutral-third-person-correct)

Using "he" has fallen out of fashion.

Call me a purist though, but I still detest using "they". It doesn't seem
right.

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Kudzu_Bob
It isn't right. What it is is humiliating. And humiliation is the entire
point.

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salahxanadu
I sincerely doubt anyone would ever have any ulterior motives like that. Is
the whole world out to get you?

~~~
Kudzu_Bob
Gaslight much?

