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I've never worked with another black engineer and have only worked closely with another black person on a team (PM) over 10 yrs. That being said I wouldn't say

I've never worked with another black engineer and have only worked closely with another black person on a team (PM) over 10 yrs. That being said I wouldn't say the industry sucks, especially compared to other industries. The majority of people I work with are intelligent so that's step 1 in regards to people being able to reason beyond basic stereotypes and attitudes. I appreciate being a representative of sorts even if it's unfair. I have worked with some conservative types who have moved to tech centers from less diverse areas and take the opportunity to explain certain things to them logically and for the most part they understand. Professionally I usually get glowing feedback and reviews and at times I have suspected it's because expectations were lower (imposter syndrome). All I can do is try to represent myself the best that I can

busterarm 8y ago
I have unfortunately twice been involved in hiring decisions where we had interviewed very qualified black engineers who were good culture/team fits, but the company decided to go with a different candidate because someone else on the team 'got along with that other candidate better'. Both times that other candidate didn't work out (like, they were straight up terrible people to work with). It's frustrating and I can't imagine how frustrating it is on the other side of the table.
- denverkarma 8y ago
  Unfortunately it cuts both ways. I’ve been in hiring meetings where people from underrepresented backgrounds applied but really didn’t have the required skills, they got hired anyway because the company wanted to feel good about hiring diversity, and then the people really struggled down the line - in one case the person got fired, in another case quit. I don’t know how we get there but we eventually need to just get over skin color. When we interact with other people we generally don’t even notice or think about what color eyes or what their nose shape is. We should be able to get to that point regarding all aspects of physical appearance.
- pbhjpbhj 8y ago
  It seems you are either intimating that you knowingly kowtowed to someone's racist choice, or that team-fit should be given different priority depending on the race of the applicant? The latter would sound like "I'm racist; but it's against non- blacks!". The former seems like something you could call out? But, are you sure you didn't just assume it was racism; perhaps because you dislike the people involved.
  - busterarm 8y ago
    I can't help but read your post as intentionally inflammatory and honestly it's a bit hard to respond to, but yes I did discover in one of the instances that my boss at the time was a bit of a bigot. That boss also didn't stay my boss either.

busterarm 8y ago

I have unfortunately twice been involved in hiring decisions where we had interviewed very qualified black engineers who were good culture/team fits, but the company decided to go with a different candidate because someone else on the team 'got along with that other candidate better'. Both times that other candidate didn't work out (like, they were straight up terrible people to work with). It's frustrating and I can't imagine how frustrating it is on the other side of the table.

denverkarma 8y ago
Unfortunately it cuts both ways. I’ve been in hiring meetings where people from underrepresented backgrounds applied but really didn’t have the required skills, they got hired anyway because the company wanted to feel good about hiring diversity, and then the people really struggled down the line - in one case the person got fired, in another case quit. I don’t know how we get there but we eventually need to just get over skin color. When we interact with other people we generally don’t even notice or think about what color eyes or what their nose shape is. We should be able to get to that point regarding all aspects of physical appearance.
pbhjpbhj 8y ago
It seems you are either intimating that you knowingly kowtowed to someone's racist choice, or that team-fit should be given different priority depending on the race of the applicant? The latter would sound like "I'm racist; but it's against non- blacks!". The former seems like something you could call out? But, are you sure you didn't just assume it was racism; perhaps because you dislike the people involved.
- busterarm 8y ago
  I can't help but read your post as intentionally inflammatory and honestly it's a bit hard to respond to, but yes I did discover in one of the instances that my boss at the time was a bit of a bigot. That boss also didn't stay my boss either.