7 ms·

Practical tips for writing inclusive job ads (2016)

67 points by tbh 9y ago

jordigh 9y ago
At my current job, we used to advertise that we wanted someone with deep knowledge of Python, who had written their own Python metaclasses. How many of you know off the top of your head exactly what a metaclass is and why you would want to write one? While we did have one hand-rolled metaclass in our own codebase, it was just there, written long ago, worked fine, and didn't need any modification. None of us actually working at the job have to think about metaclasses on our day-to-day tasks. By putting that very specific bit of Python arcana in our job ad, we were just scaring away lots of potential candidates who could have done the job just fine. They stopped mentioning metaclasses in the ad and we've gotten some really good new hires since who are very competent, and best of all, are very nice people.
- tbh 9y ago
  Yep, agreed! Thanks for sharing that, nice point. Most of the work we do as developers isn't the sort of John Carmack's Magic Numbers sort of wizardry, so looking for more of the same sort of dev skill can be counterproductive as you've found. Nice people are where it's at. After all, we've gotta work together, and someone will always be able to learn the tech...
- hinkley 9y ago
  When someone asks me in a job conversation if I have some arcane bit of knowledge, I'm going to say yes if I know it, but I'm going to start worrying that they will expect me to use this sort of arcane knowledge on a regular basis. And then I start wondering what else is wrong with them...
HillaryBriss 9y ago
many of the job listing phrases suggested by this post make the company seem more inviting, open, comfortable in general. i don't see these phrasings as tied strongly to inclusion of specific underrepresented gender, sexual preference, racial or ethnic groups. many white males who dislike brogrammer culture will find these phrases more appealing too. also, these phrases actually advertise for a different type of job in a different type of company, a company that isn't looking for a ninja/messiah to save its ass and make all the critical decisions singlehandedly, a company with a management team that isn't a gang of lazy, entitled, technical illiterates who are ignorant about how to organize and run a software dev operation. in other words, this company is not just looking for a bro (sucker) to dump all the shit on (exploit). this company knows what it's doing.
sk0g 9y ago
I guess I could be classified under "POC," even though I'm half white. I was fully expecting this to be full of overly sensitive trite, but now I wish everyone writing job ads reads this first! The other issue is HR usually does the postings, where they just get handed some skills and they make up random numbers and go from there. But seriously, you don't need a Java guru that has achieved nirvana with the JVM to write CRUD apps, so why not just advertise what you're actually looking for?
Will_Parker 9y ago
I honestly don't understand what any of this has to do with inclusion. Maybe the aim is to de-emphasize competitiveness, directness, and individual responsibility, which is fine if that's the kind of employees you want to hire. But is there strong scientific evidence that women lack these qualities compared to men? What if you'd like to hire people with the qualities of, say, the Williams sisters of tennis fame?
- kaybe 9y ago
  There is evidence that women are penalized for showing these traits. The same behavior is seen as direct and competitive in men and as bossy and stuck-up in women. Which is also why negotiating while perceived as female can be a very different experience. Generalizing, of course. It's interesting to read the experiences of trans people who have truly seen both sides.
maxxxxx 9y ago
I would replace " No ninjas, rockstars or brogrammers, please; just nice, caring humans." with "Just nice, caring humans". "no..." sentences sound defensive to me.
- bighi 9y ago
  That is the one "no..." sentence that I'd leave there. It serves to distinguish them from the a particular culture. That message is lost when you just say "nice, caring humans".
  - ng12 9y ago
    Don't you think it's odd to be replacing a non-inclusive culture by creating a new one?
    - fleitz 9y ago
      Life involves choices, most of the reason I dislike the 'no brogrammer/ninja/rockstar/competent people' culture is because its so wishy-washy about what it actually does and does not like. I'd rather know that my talents aren't welcome than waste time in meetings explaining why their feels don't make the code work. There are plenty of companies that want people who can manage to code something that works without involving 16 other people. There are plenty of people who want to work in that environment and it helps me filter out the places I don't want to work by knowing they don't want individual contributors.
- jimmaswell 9y ago
  I've heard ninja is just the new term for full stack developer, though.
- twic 9y ago
  You could say: We value the ability to work with others over exceptional technical skills. That is, while there is value in the latter, we value the former more. No "no", no defensiveness, but the preference is clear.
SomeStupidPoint 9y ago
> No ninjas, rockstars or brogrammers, please; just nice, caring humans. I like how in a post about inclusive job ads, they still wanted to show off that they Exclude The Right People. Their cultural based discrimination is obviously correct and should be applied universally; previous cultural based discrimination is a crime we should all strive to avoid! I actually enjoyed the post (and agree with most of the points about writing job postings) and don't mean to be overly critical, I just think it's an interesting chance to reflect on how easily these habits come to us as people. (And so some of the language above is dramatic for effect.)
- clairity 9y ago
  i think you might be conflating the discouragement of a behavior with the application of an identity to people, something the article seems to try to avoid. hostedgraphite isn't saying they don't want competent programmers, even if they've copped the brogrammer attitude in the past, but rather, to leave the brogrammer stance at the door. if you can't do that, then (and only then) don't apply for the job because you probably won't fit in (and likely as a result, won't be as successful). we wear different faces at different times (shout out to billy joel!), and can discard one (or put it in the back pocket) as desired/needed.
  - TACIXAT 9y ago
    I understand that their message is "this is not a frat". However, I still absolutely hate the pejorative usage of brogrammer. People do not use it to exclusively refer to culture. It is absolutely a label that is applied to people. Sitting here, I feel like I am part of the specter of brogrammers that looms over the industry. Whether it was their intended usage or not, I feel like this term is referring to programmers like me. Their job ad is not going to have the context of this blog post. Their job ad doesn't say "no brogrammers, but we don't mean men who work out and code, we actually mean the toxic culture of exclusivity that you would see in a frat." Nope, their job ad just says "no brogrammers". If I saw that I would assume that their culture would be toxic toward me. Please stop using this term. There are people out there who feel like it applies to them and it alienates us. I agree with OP, it is not a term that encourages inclusivity because there is a stereotypical image of a person that comes to mind when it is used.
interlocutor 9y ago
Can someone define what a "rockstar programmer" is and why a company would want to not hire rockstar programmers? Here's one definition I found: http://www.urbandictionary.com/author.php?author=ChrisTTT http://www.urbandictionary.com/author.php?author=ChrisTTT A computer programmer with such strong skills and so much specific experience that they are the equivalent of a rock star in the domain of software. Many people play guitar pretty well, but only a few become rock stars. These programmers can develop more software than 5 - 10 newly hired regular programmers because they know what needs to be done and how to do it. They also might set the architecture of the product that dozens will build upon. What's wrong with that?
- doktrin 9y ago
  Every company, all else equal, wants the best talent available. There are two separate and not necessarily related issues here : 1. all else is not always equal, and the most technically proficient developer is not always the one that adds the most to a given team (and in fact is not even always a net-positive) 2. Great developers don't always self-identify as great developers, and conversely not-so-great developers do occasionally self-identify as great developers. In short, I suspect they're trying to weed out a psychological profile - not aptitude per se.
- Kluny 9y ago
  I'll tackle this. - If they are expected to do 5-10 times the amount of software development as a regular new programmer, are they going to be offered 5-10 times the regular salary? - Are all the other programmers at the company dramatically more effective than a regular programmer? Most competent people don't think of themselves as being exceptionally better than their peers, so if that's the case, they probably shouldn't bother. - Or, are the other programmers at the company just regular ones, and the incoming new person is expected to be more effective than all of them combined from day one? That's a lot of pressure to put on one person. What was the answer to the salary question again? - Many people who have developed exceptional skills in one area have neglected other areas. What types of personal problems is the company willing to tolerate for the privilege of hiring rock stars? Is alcoholism okay? How about being sexually creepy towards co-workers, due to lack of social skill practice? How about body odor? Not that all exceptionally skilled programmers have these types of problems, but you have to make a trade off somewhere. Really, how much are you paying them? Because someone who is 5 or 10 times more productive than a normal programmer without being a socially impossible weirdo is likely already in a job paying far more than what hr had in mind for this position. Is there no place for a programmer who's just basically competent and professional and will work for an average salary? Do you want to drive those programmers away?
Paul-ish 9y ago
"Evidence That Gendered Wording in Job Advertisements Exists and Sustains Gender Inequality"[1] looks at wording of job applications effect on applicant pool. I know there are some start-ups[2] in this area trying to automate the process the author describes. [1] http://gender-decoder.katmatfield.com/static/documents/Gaucher-Friesen-Kay-JPSP-Gendered-Wording-in-Job-ads.pdf http://gender-decoder.katmatfield.com/static/documents/Gauch... [2] https://textio.com/ https://textio.com/
adrianratnapala 9y ago
What the heck is a "brogrammer" anyway? It's one of those words I thought I understood just from its contsruction, but the more I see it used by others, the more confused I get.
- gertef 9y ago
  It means "a male working in tech who I don't like"
- conductr 9y ago
  I imagine Bill & Ted wearing node.js shirts
- 201709User 9y ago
  Visits gym has social skills AND does not suck at coding.
happypants23 9y ago
I'll add one - I immediately ignore any job ad that contains anything along the lines of "Work in an exciting/agile fast-paced, dynamic environment", which pretty much signals that only youngsters need apply. Of course, if the job really is chaotic and high-stress, then that signal should probably stay in the job ad.
- kafkaesq 9y ago
  "Work in an exciting/agile fast-paced, dynamic environment", Or they're just randomly cut-and-pasting whatever fast-sounding lingo they've seen in other ads. Either way, it's a negative tell.
- dominotw 9y ago
  https://s1.postimg.org/7m2i2xo5pr/jobad.jpg https://s1.postimg.org/7m2i2xo5pr/jobad.jpg
conductr 9y ago
On the other hand, if you were going to write your job posting the pre-edit way and the said applicant was turned off by it... will they even be a good fit in your org? Do you want to continue editing all of your communications? I’m kind of being devils advocate here but I do find it a drag to work with people who can’t read between the lines sometimes and get the gist of what someone means rather than feeling excluded by they’re word choices.
- ng12 9y ago
  I don't think you're being a devil's advocate, I think it's totally reasonable. I don't want to hire individuals with severe self confidence issues. If I'm not sure about your code I'm going to question it in a direct, constructive manner. If you disagree with my criticisms I expect you to pull upon your knowledge and experience to defend it. If expecting competence makes me a brogrammer then so be it.
- jdblair 9y ago
  So you actually do want a workplace culture that alienates women and people of color? [edit, but leaving original off-the-cuff comment] I think if your goal is to create an inclusive workplace then editing your communications in ways like this will be useful. I think its incorrect to think that being inclusive means hiring people that aren't confident in their skills.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - ng12 9y ago
    I think that assumption is fundamentally wrong -- that you have to tread softly around diversity or else it might be scared away. People who lack confidence are a liability, and honestly I'd rather leave a headcount unfilled than hire a baby bird who won't ever leave the nest. Maybe Google has the resources to cultivate candidates who make the company look better but I can't justify hiring people lacking important skills (e.g. basic confidence in their skills and experience).
  - 9y ago
fgjjgutjvnu 9y ago
"Of course if you actually practice martial arts, play in a rock band, or enjoy coding and going to the gym, you are welcome here." I don't think you'd be, though...
jasode 9y ago
>original: Your code will be exercised by 125,000 events every second, >revised: your contributions will be exercised by more than fifty billion events per day Why does 125 * 10^3 vs 50 * 10^9 influence diversity hiring? The scientific study the blog references does not mention anything about altering numerical figures (such as altering a numerator from 3 zeroes to 9 zeroes) to be more inclusive. Also, why is "code" a taboo word for inclusiveness? Here's female Ginni Rometty using the phrase "lines of code".[1] Another female (also a non-programmer) Mary Barra using the phrase "lines of code".[2] [1] "New cars today have 100 million lines of code": https://www.ibm.com/ibm/ginni/01_06_2016.html https://www.ibm.com/ibm/ginni/01_06_2016.html [2] “A car today has hundreds of millions of lines of code,” : http://www.triplepundit.com/2017/07/gm-boosts-stem-education-girls-women/ http://www.triplepundit.com/2017/07/gm-boosts-stem-education...
- jordigh 9y ago
  I was reading Girl Code today: https://www.girlcodethebook.com/ https://www.girlcodethebook.com/ One of the girls there describes her expectation of coding as coming from Hollywood: indecipherable zeroes and ones, weird symbols, all very fast-paced. When she saw that it was just "System.out.println()" to make something appear on the screen, she realised how much more mundane this all was. I guess this sort of suggests that "code" is some kind of secret, difficult thing, which may be off-putting to some people. I agree that most people wouldn't balk at the word "code", but if you can make even fewer people balk, why not do it? The worst that can happen is that you broaden your search and get more people applying for your job.
  - ng12 9y ago
    Still not really a gendered thing. Nobody understands how tech works until they do it themselves.
Mz 9y ago
For those interested, another take on using language to bring down social barriers: http://micheleincalifornia.blogspot.com/2016/07/less-exclusive.html http://micheleincalifornia.blogspot.com/2016/07/less-exclusi...
johnpython 9y ago
Job postings that emphasize mandatory after-hours events especially based around alcohol are incredibly off-putting to multiple groups of candidates (senior engineers with families, introverts, non-drinkers, etc.). Things like "we have a beer keg in the office", "happy hours", or "work hard play hard".
beingmyself2 9y ago
Why not just skip all the weasel words and have a big "WHITE MEN NEED NOT APPLY"? If you are looking to specifically discriminate against white males then say so, I'm sure the potential minority candidate would be much more encouraged to apply knowing that their major competition has been disqualified already.
- mmelaniej 9y ago
  The revised language is attempting to widen the applicant base. If you consider that eliminating your chances of getting the job, I would re-evaluate your own application not the job ad.
  - beingmyself2 9y ago
    Then what does it have to do with "diversity"? Why does the author even mention it if the only goal is to get more people to apply? Dropping your experience requirements in a job ad quite obviously would increase number of applicants, why do we need an article for that?
mmelaniej 9y ago
It's been found that women generally look at job ads and find the things they can't do. They will feel underqualified and not apply. I think that's the reasoning behind taking out "several years", etc. As a female junior software dev, I honestly would be more likely to apply to the revised job ad than the original. So, good job to them I guess.

67 points by tbh 9y ago

At my current job, we used to advertise that we wanted someone with deep knowledge of Python, who had written their own Python metaclasses. How many of you know off the top of your head exactly what a metaclass is and why you would want to write one? While we did have one hand-rolled metaclass in our own codebase, it was just there, written long ago, worked fine, and didn't need any modification. None of us actually working at the job have to think about metaclasses on our day-to-day tasks. By putting that very specific bit of Python arcana in our job ad, we were just scaring away lots of potential candidates who could have done the job just fine. They stopped mentioning metaclasses in the ad and we've gotten some really good new hires since who are very competent, and best of all, are very nice people.

tbh 9y ago
Yep, agreed! Thanks for sharing that, nice point. Most of the work we do as developers isn't the sort of John Carmack's Magic Numbers sort of wizardry, so looking for more of the same sort of dev skill can be counterproductive as you've found. Nice people are where it's at. After all, we've gotta work together, and someone will always be able to learn the tech...
hinkley 9y ago
When someone asks me in a job conversation if I have some arcane bit of knowledge, I'm going to say yes if I know it, but I'm going to start worrying that they will expect me to use this sort of arcane knowledge on a regular basis. And then I start wondering what else is wrong with them...

HillaryBriss 9y ago

many of the job listing phrases suggested by this post make the company seem more inviting, open, comfortable in general. i don't see these phrasings as tied strongly to inclusion of specific underrepresented gender, sexual preference, racial or ethnic groups. many white males who dislike brogrammer culture will find these phrases more appealing too. also, these phrases actually advertise for a different type of job in a different type of company, a company that isn't looking for a ninja/messiah to save its ass and make all the critical decisions singlehandedly, a company with a management team that isn't a gang of lazy, entitled, technical illiterates who are ignorant about how to organize and run a software dev operation. in other words, this company is not just looking for a bro (sucker) to dump all the shit on (exploit). this company knows what it's doing.

sk0g 9y ago

I guess I could be classified under "POC," even though I'm half white. I was fully expecting this to be full of overly sensitive trite, but now I wish everyone writing job ads reads this first! The other issue is HR usually does the postings, where they just get handed some skills and they make up random numbers and go from there. But seriously, you don't need a Java guru that has achieved nirvana with the JVM to write CRUD apps, so why not just advertise what you're actually looking for?

Will_Parker 9y ago

I honestly don't understand what any of this has to do with inclusion. Maybe the aim is to de-emphasize competitiveness, directness, and individual responsibility, which is fine if that's the kind of employees you want to hire. But is there strong scientific evidence that women lack these qualities compared to men? What if you'd like to hire people with the qualities of, say, the Williams sisters of tennis fame?

kaybe 9y ago
There is evidence that women are penalized for showing these traits. The same behavior is seen as direct and competitive in men and as bossy and stuck-up in women. Which is also why negotiating while perceived as female can be a very different experience. Generalizing, of course. It's interesting to read the experiences of trans people who have truly seen both sides.

maxxxxx 9y ago

I would replace " No ninjas, rockstars or brogrammers, please; just nice, caring humans." with "Just nice, caring humans". "no..." sentences sound defensive to me.

bighi 9y ago
That is the one "no..." sentence that I'd leave there. It serves to distinguish them from the a particular culture. That message is lost when you just say "nice, caring humans".
- ng12 9y ago
  Don't you think it's odd to be replacing a non-inclusive culture by creating a new one?
  - fleitz 9y ago
    Life involves choices, most of the reason I dislike the 'no brogrammer/ninja/rockstar/competent people' culture is because its so wishy-washy about what it actually does and does not like. I'd rather know that my talents aren't welcome than waste time in meetings explaining why their feels don't make the code work. There are plenty of companies that want people who can manage to code something that works without involving 16 other people. There are plenty of people who want to work in that environment and it helps me filter out the places I don't want to work by knowing they don't want individual contributors.
jimmaswell 9y ago
I've heard ninja is just the new term for full stack developer, though.
twic 9y ago
You could say: We value the ability to work with others over exceptional technical skills. That is, while there is value in the latter, we value the former more. No "no", no defensiveness, but the preference is clear.

SomeStupidPoint 9y ago

> No ninjas, rockstars or brogrammers, please; just nice, caring humans. I like how in a post about inclusive job ads, they still wanted to show off that they Exclude The Right People. Their cultural based discrimination is obviously correct and should be applied universally; previous cultural based discrimination is a crime we should all strive to avoid! I actually enjoyed the post (and agree with most of the points about writing job postings) and don't mean to be overly critical, I just think it's an interesting chance to reflect on how easily these habits come to us as people. (And so some of the language above is dramatic for effect.)

clairity 9y ago
i think you might be conflating the discouragement of a behavior with the application of an identity to people, something the article seems to try to avoid. hostedgraphite isn't saying they don't want competent programmers, even if they've copped the brogrammer attitude in the past, but rather, to leave the brogrammer stance at the door. if you can't do that, then (and only then) don't apply for the job because you probably won't fit in (and likely as a result, won't be as successful). we wear different faces at different times (shout out to billy joel!), and can discard one (or put it in the back pocket) as desired/needed.
- TACIXAT 9y ago
  I understand that their message is "this is not a frat". However, I still absolutely hate the pejorative usage of brogrammer. People do not use it to exclusively refer to culture. It is absolutely a label that is applied to people. Sitting here, I feel like I am part of the specter of brogrammers that looms over the industry. Whether it was their intended usage or not, I feel like this term is referring to programmers like me. Their job ad is not going to have the context of this blog post. Their job ad doesn't say "no brogrammers, but we don't mean men who work out and code, we actually mean the toxic culture of exclusivity that you would see in a frat." Nope, their job ad just says "no brogrammers". If I saw that I would assume that their culture would be toxic toward me. Please stop using this term. There are people out there who feel like it applies to them and it alienates us. I agree with OP, it is not a term that encourages inclusivity because there is a stereotypical image of a person that comes to mind when it is used.

interlocutor 9y ago

Can someone define what a "rockstar programmer" is and why a company would want to not hire rockstar programmers? Here's one definition I found: http://www.urbandictionary.com/author.php?author=ChrisTTT http://www.urbandictionary.com/author.php?author=ChrisTTT A computer programmer with such strong skills and so much specific experience that they are the equivalent of a rock star in the domain of software. Many people play guitar pretty well, but only a few become rock stars. These programmers can develop more software than 5 - 10 newly hired regular programmers because they know what needs to be done and how to do it. They also might set the architecture of the product that dozens will build upon. What's wrong with that?

doktrin 9y ago
Every company, all else equal, wants the best talent available. There are two separate and not necessarily related issues here : 1. all else is not always equal, and the most technically proficient developer is not always the one that adds the most to a given team (and in fact is not even always a net-positive) 2. Great developers don't always self-identify as great developers, and conversely not-so-great developers do occasionally self-identify as great developers. In short, I suspect they're trying to weed out a psychological profile - not aptitude per se.
Kluny 9y ago
I'll tackle this. - If they are expected to do 5-10 times the amount of software development as a regular new programmer, are they going to be offered 5-10 times the regular salary? - Are all the other programmers at the company dramatically more effective than a regular programmer? Most competent people don't think of themselves as being exceptionally better than their peers, so if that's the case, they probably shouldn't bother. - Or, are the other programmers at the company just regular ones, and the incoming new person is expected to be more effective than all of them combined from day one? That's a lot of pressure to put on one person. What was the answer to the salary question again? - Many people who have developed exceptional skills in one area have neglected other areas. What types of personal problems is the company willing to tolerate for the privilege of hiring rock stars? Is alcoholism okay? How about being sexually creepy towards co-workers, due to lack of social skill practice? How about body odor? Not that all exceptionally skilled programmers have these types of problems, but you have to make a trade off somewhere. Really, how much are you paying them? Because someone who is 5 or 10 times more productive than a normal programmer without being a socially impossible weirdo is likely already in a job paying far more than what hr had in mind for this position. Is there no place for a programmer who's just basically competent and professional and will work for an average salary? Do you want to drive those programmers away?

Paul-ish 9y ago

"Evidence That Gendered Wording in Job Advertisements Exists and Sustains Gender Inequality"[1] looks at wording of job applications effect on applicant pool. I know there are some start-ups[2] in this area trying to automate the process the author describes. [1] http://gender-decoder.katmatfield.com/static/documents/Gaucher-Friesen-Kay-JPSP-Gendered-Wording-in-Job-ads.pdf http://gender-decoder.katmatfield.com/static/documents/Gauch... [2] https://textio.com/ https://textio.com/

adrianratnapala 9y ago

What the heck is a "brogrammer" anyway? It's one of those words I thought I understood just from its contsruction, but the more I see it used by others, the more confused I get.

gertef 9y ago
It means "a male working in tech who I don't like"
conductr 9y ago
I imagine Bill & Ted wearing node.js shirts
201709User 9y ago
Visits gym has social skills AND does not suck at coding.

happypants23 9y ago

I'll add one - I immediately ignore any job ad that contains anything along the lines of "Work in an exciting/agile fast-paced, dynamic environment", which pretty much signals that only youngsters need apply. Of course, if the job really is chaotic and high-stress, then that signal should probably stay in the job ad.

kafkaesq 9y ago
"Work in an exciting/agile fast-paced, dynamic environment", Or they're just randomly cut-and-pasting whatever fast-sounding lingo they've seen in other ads. Either way, it's a negative tell.
dominotw 9y ago
https://s1.postimg.org/7m2i2xo5pr/jobad.jpg https://s1.postimg.org/7m2i2xo5pr/jobad.jpg

conductr 9y ago

On the other hand, if you were going to write your job posting the pre-edit way and the said applicant was turned off by it... will they even be a good fit in your org? Do you want to continue editing all of your communications? I’m kind of being devils advocate here but I do find it a drag to work with people who can’t read between the lines sometimes and get the gist of what someone means rather than feeling excluded by they’re word choices.

ng12 9y ago
I don't think you're being a devil's advocate, I think it's totally reasonable. I don't want to hire individuals with severe self confidence issues. If I'm not sure about your code I'm going to question it in a direct, constructive manner. If you disagree with my criticisms I expect you to pull upon your knowledge and experience to defend it. If expecting competence makes me a brogrammer then so be it.
jdblair 9y ago
So you actually do want a workplace culture that alienates women and people of color? [edit, but leaving original off-the-cuff comment] I think if your goal is to create an inclusive workplace then editing your communications in ways like this will be useful. I think its incorrect to think that being inclusive means hiring people that aren't confident in their skills.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- ng12 9y ago
  I think that assumption is fundamentally wrong -- that you have to tread softly around diversity or else it might be scared away. People who lack confidence are a liability, and honestly I'd rather leave a headcount unfilled than hire a baby bird who won't ever leave the nest. Maybe Google has the resources to cultivate candidates who make the company look better but I can't justify hiring people lacking important skills (e.g. basic confidence in their skills and experience).
- 9y ago

fgjjgutjvnu 9y ago

"Of course if you actually practice martial arts, play in a rock band, or enjoy coding and going to the gym, you are welcome here." I don't think you'd be, though...

jasode 9y ago

>original: Your code will be exercised by 125,000 events every second, >revised: your contributions will be exercised by more than fifty billion events per day Why does 125 * 10^3 vs 50 * 10^9 influence diversity hiring? The scientific study the blog references does not mention anything about altering numerical figures (such as altering a numerator from 3 zeroes to 9 zeroes) to be more inclusive. Also, why is "code" a taboo word for inclusiveness? Here's female Ginni Rometty using the phrase "lines of code".[1] Another female (also a non-programmer) Mary Barra using the phrase "lines of code".[2] [1] "New cars today have 100 million lines of code": https://www.ibm.com/ibm/ginni/01_06_2016.html https://www.ibm.com/ibm/ginni/01_06_2016.html [2] “A car today has hundreds of millions of lines of code,” : http://www.triplepundit.com/2017/07/gm-boosts-stem-education-girls-women/ http://www.triplepundit.com/2017/07/gm-boosts-stem-education...

jordigh 9y ago
I was reading Girl Code today: https://www.girlcodethebook.com/ https://www.girlcodethebook.com/ One of the girls there describes her expectation of coding as coming from Hollywood: indecipherable zeroes and ones, weird symbols, all very fast-paced. When she saw that it was just "System.out.println()" to make something appear on the screen, she realised how much more mundane this all was. I guess this sort of suggests that "code" is some kind of secret, difficult thing, which may be off-putting to some people. I agree that most people wouldn't balk at the word "code", but if you can make even fewer people balk, why not do it? The worst that can happen is that you broaden your search and get more people applying for your job.
- ng12 9y ago
  Still not really a gendered thing. Nobody understands how tech works until they do it themselves.

Mz 9y ago

For those interested, another take on using language to bring down social barriers: http://micheleincalifornia.blogspot.com/2016/07/less-exclusive.html http://micheleincalifornia.blogspot.com/2016/07/less-exclusi...

johnpython 9y ago

Job postings that emphasize mandatory after-hours events especially based around alcohol are incredibly off-putting to multiple groups of candidates (senior engineers with families, introverts, non-drinkers, etc.). Things like "we have a beer keg in the office", "happy hours", or "work hard play hard".

beingmyself2 9y ago

Why not just skip all the weasel words and have a big "WHITE MEN NEED NOT APPLY"? If you are looking to specifically discriminate against white males then say so, I'm sure the potential minority candidate would be much more encouraged to apply knowing that their major competition has been disqualified already.

mmelaniej 9y ago
The revised language is attempting to widen the applicant base. If you consider that eliminating your chances of getting the job, I would re-evaluate your own application not the job ad.
- beingmyself2 9y ago
  Then what does it have to do with "diversity"? Why does the author even mention it if the only goal is to get more people to apply? Dropping your experience requirements in a job ad quite obviously would increase number of applicants, why do we need an article for that?

mmelaniej 9y ago

It's been found that women generally look at job ads and find the things they can't do. They will feel underqualified and not apply. I think that's the reasoning behind taking out "several years", etc. As a female junior software dev, I honestly would be more likely to apply to the revised job ad than the original. So, good job to them I guess.