4 ms·

I think that her "infinite loop" theory was her perception of the anecdote around hiring at her own startup. It does seem conceivable, but yeah obviously data i

by cargo8 9y ago

I think that her "infinite loop" theory was her perception of the anecdote around hiring at her own startup. It does seem conceivable, but yeah obviously data is light here. Good point on how the whole interview process is a crapshoot anyway. Hadn't really thought about that aspect, but obviously is a huge opportunity for subliminal bias since it is how it is.

tptacek 9y ago
Another weird attribute of her theory about setting the bar and paying premiums for talent is that her engineering team, according to LinkedIn, is in India --- which is a radically different market for software talent than SFBA. In particular, the gender distribution of CS grads and programmers in India is very different from what it is here. One possible interpretation --- and there are probably equally credible others --- is that this founder found it difficult to compete in the (overheated) SFBA market for talent, irrespective of gender.
- goldbeck 9y ago
  Oh interesting. Where did you find this? (My cursory check didn't show turn up any info on that)
  - tptacek 9y ago
    I used the following advanced sleuthing techniques (don't share outside HN): 1. I went to LinkedIn 2. I searched for "Silverlabs" 3. I found the page for their company 4. I clicked on the link labeled "14 employees and former employees have LinkedIn profiles" 5. I observed that all the engineering profiles were in Hyderabad. I'm being a little snarky but also it's good to know how superficial this "research" was so it's not at all unlikely that I'm totally wrong about this.
- mcguire 9y ago
  That makes it even more weird. The percentage of women programmers there is higher. https://m.cacm.acm.org/magazines/2015/5/186026-decoding-femininity-in-computer-science-in-india/abstract https://m.cacm.acm.org/magazines/2015/5/186026-decoding-femi...
nodamage 9y ago
Even in her anecdote she doesn't actually come out and say they lowered their standards until they ended up hiring women who "couldn't do the work", at least in terms of technical ability. Her only description of these women is: "But, they lacked the energy to put us into overdrive. Worse, they were starting to drain the energy from the rest of the team." What exactly does it mean to "lack energy"? Were these women unqualified or otherwise incapable of doing the work? If so, why not say so explicitly? Because otherwise, in the context of startups I would be inclined to interpret that sentence as meaning "they weren't willing to work 80 hour weeks like the rest of our team so we fired them".
- jasonwatkinspdx 9y ago
  Besides that, a manager/leader/founder needs to take ownership of their team's motivation (within reasonable limits).
- unclebucknasty 9y ago
  Yeah, these are the kinds of vague, subjective terms that are sometimes used to target people whose actual performance is unassailable.

by cargo8 9y ago

tptacek 9y ago

Another weird attribute of her theory about setting the bar and paying premiums for talent is that her engineering team, according to LinkedIn, is in India --- which is a radically different market for software talent than SFBA. In particular, the gender distribution of CS grads and programmers in India is very different from what it is here. One possible interpretation --- and there are probably equally credible others --- is that this founder found it difficult to compete in the (overheated) SFBA market for talent, irrespective of gender.

goldbeck 9y ago
Oh interesting. Where did you find this? (My cursory check didn't show turn up any info on that)
- tptacek 9y ago
  I used the following advanced sleuthing techniques (don't share outside HN): 1. I went to LinkedIn 2. I searched for "Silverlabs" 3. I found the page for their company 4. I clicked on the link labeled "14 employees and former employees have LinkedIn profiles" 5. I observed that all the engineering profiles were in Hyderabad. I'm being a little snarky but also it's good to know how superficial this "research" was so it's not at all unlikely that I'm totally wrong about this.
mcguire 9y ago
That makes it even more weird. The percentage of women programmers there is higher. https://m.cacm.acm.org/magazines/2015/5/186026-decoding-femininity-in-computer-science-in-india/abstract https://m.cacm.acm.org/magazines/2015/5/186026-decoding-femi...

nodamage 9y ago

Even in her anecdote she doesn't actually come out and say they lowered their standards until they ended up hiring women who "couldn't do the work", at least in terms of technical ability. Her only description of these women is: "But, they lacked the energy to put us into overdrive. Worse, they were starting to drain the energy from the rest of the team." What exactly does it mean to "lack energy"? Were these women unqualified or otherwise incapable of doing the work? If so, why not say so explicitly? Because otherwise, in the context of startups I would be inclined to interpret that sentence as meaning "they weren't willing to work 80 hour weeks like the rest of our team so we fired them".

jasonwatkinspdx 9y ago
Besides that, a manager/leader/founder needs to take ownership of their team's motivation (within reasonable limits).
unclebucknasty 9y ago
Yeah, these are the kinds of vague, subjective terms that are sometimes used to target people whose actual performance is unassailable.