3 ms·

"I looked into it and it seems even after all these years the best way to get into Microsoft’s internship program is if your school is on the list of schools th

"I looked into it and it seems even after all these years the best way to get into Microsoft’s internship program is if your school is on the list of schools the company formally recruits from." This isn't unusual for technology companies. It isn't even unusual for research labs[1]. So, basically, the company has delegated its hiring diversity to a university admissions department. Worse, many universities only accept people into their graduate program from certain other universities. I've never heard of a recruiter from any of these golden schools visiting anywhere near me[4] Add to this ageism that is prevalent in technology and you have a the makings of lip service. Why is ageism problematic? Many minorities, particularly enrolled members of Native American tribes, go to school later than their white or Asian[2] counterparts. Many go into the military or need the extra time to sort themselves out. They typically go to a community college first (different path from average), then go to a university[3]. The school I went to was on Microsoft's list to hire only support people from. IBM didn't have that hangup and got one of the best developers I've ever known and it worked out fine for them. I would love to see these companies be a little wider with the hiring net, but I don't believe it will happen. They'll wring their hands and talk and release reports[5], but it won't change a thing because they don't get the basic problems. 1) in my youth I was refused for a summer internship because my high school and college were in the same area code.... 2) seems Asian isn't considered much except in the reverse of requirements - see the lawsuits against the California university system by Asian students 3) I'll leave the discussion on scholarships and students lying to get scholarships directed at certain minorities for a different time 4) hell, when I was applying in 1987, I had to travel to get the applications, pay the fees with money I really could have used, and never get a reply. Someone told me it was because, like everyone on the reservation I was from, I had used a post office box for my address. That seemed a bit far fetched to me. 5) I'll believe something might change when I see "enrolled tribal members" listed on their reports and a list of schools that includes ones that actually care about recruiting in diverse areas.

zerohp 10y ago
I don't know that ageism in technology necessarily means that older students are less likely to be hired out of university. I would be interested in seeing data to support that. As an anecdote, I have observed older students that attend the "right" school and achieve high grades are highly sought after by companies.
- protomyth 10y ago
  > I don't know that ageism in technology necessarily means that older students are less likely to be hired out of university. If a company is less likely to hire a 35 year old or 40 year old professions that got out of college at the expected time with work experience, then a 35 year old graduate is going to have a much harder time. I cannot think of a situation where that wouldn't be true. I would bet it would even be worse because it deviates from the expected path (high school -> college [w/optional graduate work] -> work) at that time period in a person's life and that would be foreign and weird to many teams. As to the "right" school, that's quite a bit of the problem.
  - zerohp 10y ago
    You may be right, but I would be interested in seeing a study of ageism and non-traditional students. I am one. In my experience, and observation of other students like me, the situation is opposite to what you are saying. That said, none of my non-traditional student friends have sought jobs at companies or teams staffed primarily by 20-25 year olds. My observations are also skewed more toward hardware jobs, which seem to value older employees.

zerohp 10y ago

I don't know that ageism in technology necessarily means that older students are less likely to be hired out of university. I would be interested in seeing data to support that. As an anecdote, I have observed older students that attend the "right" school and achieve high grades are highly sought after by companies.

protomyth 10y ago
> I don't know that ageism in technology necessarily means that older students are less likely to be hired out of university. If a company is less likely to hire a 35 year old or 40 year old professions that got out of college at the expected time with work experience, then a 35 year old graduate is going to have a much harder time. I cannot think of a situation where that wouldn't be true. I would bet it would even be worse because it deviates from the expected path (high school -> college [w/optional graduate work] -> work) at that time period in a person's life and that would be foreign and weird to many teams. As to the "right" school, that's quite a bit of the problem.
- zerohp 10y ago
  You may be right, but I would be interested in seeing a study of ageism and non-traditional students. I am one. In my experience, and observation of other students like me, the situation is opposite to what you are saying. That said, none of my non-traditional student friends have sought jobs at companies or teams staffed primarily by 20-25 year olds. My observations are also skewed more toward hardware jobs, which seem to value older employees.