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The race numbers make a lot more sense when you look at it in context of local base rates. About 50% of engineers in Silicon Valley are white and about 30% are

The race numbers make a lot more sense when you look at it in context of local base rates. About 50% of engineers in Silicon Valley are white and about 30% are Asian. That's approximately the same as the demographics of San Francisco, San Mateo and Alameda counties. The other thing to keep in mind is that these three counties do NOT represent the United States. IIRC correctly, for these three counties, approximately 37% of people were born abroad and moved to the United States. Another 35% or so were born in California. Only only 27% or so were born in all the states that aren't California. I would also add that talking about Asians as one group is misleading as well. It's mostly five countries: China, India, Taiwan, Korea and Japan. The reason is that those 5 countries put special emphasis on two important subjects: (1) engineering; and (2) English.

slang800 10y ago
> The race numbers make a lot more sense when you look at it in context of local base rates. About 50% of engineers in Silicon Valley are white and about 30% are Asian. That's approximately the same as the demographics of San Francisco, San Mateo and Alameda counties. That probably has more to do with the numbers of people who move to those areas specifically for tech jobs. The demographics you describe did not just occur naturally - they are driven by SV employers hiring from all over the world. According to http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/37-percent-of-silicon-valley-foreign-born/article/2583195 http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/37-percent-of-silicon-vall... 37% of the population of Silicon Valley isn't even born in the US, much less the urban areas of California.