7 ms·

I have to say most companies I’ve worked for have subscribed to the policies in Armstrong’s blog post, and it has worked very well. But these companies were mos

by nilkn 6y ago

I have to say most companies I’ve worked for have subscribed to the policies in Armstrong’s blog post, and it has worked very well. But these companies were mostly outside the Bay Area. I suspect the Bay Area is extremely nondiverse and homogeneous, and folks there aren’t actually used to having to work with and get along with people who strongly disagree with them on politics. In that kind of monoculture, it’s easy to think that politics can and should be part of work life. In a much more diverse workforce, though, it rarely works well. If Coinbase is going to be remote-first, as they recently announced, the company’s employees are certainly going to encounter a level of diversity they haven’t been exposed to in the Bay Area. This could be preparation for that.

ZephyrBlu 6y ago
> I suspect the Bay Area is extremely nondiverse and homogeneous, and folks there aren’t actually used to having to work with and get along with people who strongly disagree with them on politics This is extremely ironic given the hiring practices of Bay Area companies.
- chrischattin 6y ago
  I think he’s referring to diversity of ideas, not superficial attributes like race/gender/sexual preference/etc. A group of people that look different but all have the same world view is not a diverse group, imo.
- sharpneli 6y ago
  They’re only superficially diverse, perhaps due to the homogeinity of the Bay Area. Basically the companies only look at skin color and what’s between your legs. As long as you have an American middle class/upper class upbringing or at the minimum had your education in certain American universities. So culturally they are pretty much identical. From this point of view a white, black and asian American middleclass teenagers that have had identical education are wildly different and bring diverse viewpoints. Whereas a French, Italian and a Polish person would be non diverse. Even though the latter group has massively different cultural background compared to the first group.
- fernandotakai 6y ago
  from what i've seen, bay area companies try to be racially diverse (and mostly fail) but don't try to be culturally diverse. everyone might look different, but they 100% think the same way.
jcims 6y ago
>I suspect the Bay Area is extremely nondiverse and homogeneous I moved there from Ohio to work for a FAANG for six months. It's not nearly as bad on the ground as it might seem but you do witness spectacles with much more frequency. Racially and culturally its definitely not homogenous but there aren't any black folks to be found. Alameda county is the only one around the bay to break double digit percentages, mostly because of Oakland. SF at ~6% is on par with Colorado Springs and Portland lol. The rest (Santa Clara, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Napa, Marin, etc etc) are on the order of 1-2% black, and based on my short experience living and working there I imagine a good chunk of those are immigrants. I had no idea and when I first noticed it I got extremely creeped out. Not because I'm some diversity champ, it's just that everybody else is there and you realize there's clearly some kind of filter at work.
- renewiltord 6y ago
  SF did shove black people out with urban renewal but aren't demographics mostly like this in the West since the slave trade wasn't as extensive? The real indicator for the tech industry's lack of diversity is that CA's 39% Hispanic population reflects as some minor fraction of the tech population. Some extraordinary filter is occurring somewhere that's keeping Hispanic people out. Not alleging malice, just the scale is so huge.
  - tomjakubowski 6y ago
    No. Lots of black Americans moved from former confederate / "late era slave" states to the west coast, midwest, and northeast during the 20th century. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Migration_(African_American) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Migration_(African_Ameri...
    - renewiltord 6y ago
      That Wikipedia article has a measure for every 10 years from the Census starting with 1990: 1900 0.70% 1910 0.90% 1920 1.10% 1930 1.40% 1940 1.80% 1950 4.40% 1960 5.60% 1970 7.00% 1980 7.70% and then you can fill in the rest with Census / ACS data 1990 7.40% 2000 6.40% 2010 6.20% So, overall, it looks like it's about right. Black people were mostly in America through the slave trade and spread to areas adjacent to the South. The West saw very little increase. Anyway, thank you for sharing that. It was enlightening. I do have to leave this discussion, though. I promised not to participate in non-tech here.
TigeriusKirk 6y ago
>If Coinbase is going to be remote-first, as they recently announced, the company’s employees are certainly going to encounter a level of diversity they haven’t been exposed to in the Bay Area. A lot of companies are going to get some serious culture shock if they increase their remote hiring.
gkop 6y ago
> I suspect the Bay Area is extremely nondiverse and homogeneous Yes it's fair to say that about Bay Area tech companies. The geographic region that is the Bay Area however features extraordinarily diverse demographics: https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/10/14/three-bay-area-cities-considered-most-diverse-in-the-u-s/ https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/10/14/three-bay-area-cities...
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

by nilkn 6y ago

ZephyrBlu 6y ago

> I suspect the Bay Area is extremely nondiverse and homogeneous, and folks there aren’t actually used to having to work with and get along with people who strongly disagree with them on politics This is extremely ironic given the hiring practices of Bay Area companies.

chrischattin 6y ago
I think he’s referring to diversity of ideas, not superficial attributes like race/gender/sexual preference/etc. A group of people that look different but all have the same world view is not a diverse group, imo.
sharpneli 6y ago
They’re only superficially diverse, perhaps due to the homogeinity of the Bay Area. Basically the companies only look at skin color and what’s between your legs. As long as you have an American middle class/upper class upbringing or at the minimum had your education in certain American universities. So culturally they are pretty much identical. From this point of view a white, black and asian American middleclass teenagers that have had identical education are wildly different and bring diverse viewpoints. Whereas a French, Italian and a Polish person would be non diverse. Even though the latter group has massively different cultural background compared to the first group.
fernandotakai 6y ago
from what i've seen, bay area companies try to be racially diverse (and mostly fail) but don't try to be culturally diverse. everyone might look different, but they 100% think the same way.

jcims 6y ago

>I suspect the Bay Area is extremely nondiverse and homogeneous I moved there from Ohio to work for a FAANG for six months. It's not nearly as bad on the ground as it might seem but you do witness spectacles with much more frequency. Racially and culturally its definitely not homogenous but there aren't any black folks to be found. Alameda county is the only one around the bay to break double digit percentages, mostly because of Oakland. SF at ~6% is on par with Colorado Springs and Portland lol. The rest (Santa Clara, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Napa, Marin, etc etc) are on the order of 1-2% black, and based on my short experience living and working there I imagine a good chunk of those are immigrants. I had no idea and when I first noticed it I got extremely creeped out. Not because I'm some diversity champ, it's just that everybody else is there and you realize there's clearly some kind of filter at work.

renewiltord 6y ago
SF did shove black people out with urban renewal but aren't demographics mostly like this in the West since the slave trade wasn't as extensive? The real indicator for the tech industry's lack of diversity is that CA's 39% Hispanic population reflects as some minor fraction of the tech population. Some extraordinary filter is occurring somewhere that's keeping Hispanic people out. Not alleging malice, just the scale is so huge.
- tomjakubowski 6y ago
  No. Lots of black Americans moved from former confederate / "late era slave" states to the west coast, midwest, and northeast during the 20th century. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Migration_(African_American) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Migration_(African_Ameri...
  - renewiltord 6y ago
    That Wikipedia article has a measure for every 10 years from the Census starting with 1990: 1900 0.70% 1910 0.90% 1920 1.10% 1930 1.40% 1940 1.80% 1950 4.40% 1960 5.60% 1970 7.00% 1980 7.70% and then you can fill in the rest with Census / ACS data 1990 7.40% 2000 6.40% 2010 6.20% So, overall, it looks like it's about right. Black people were mostly in America through the slave trade and spread to areas adjacent to the South. The West saw very little increase. Anyway, thank you for sharing that. It was enlightening. I do have to leave this discussion, though. I promised not to participate in non-tech here.

TigeriusKirk 6y ago

>If Coinbase is going to be remote-first, as they recently announced, the company’s employees are certainly going to encounter a level of diversity they haven’t been exposed to in the Bay Area. A lot of companies are going to get some serious culture shock if they increase their remote hiring.

gkop 6y ago

> I suspect the Bay Area is extremely nondiverse and homogeneous Yes it's fair to say that about Bay Area tech companies. The geographic region that is the Bay Area however features extraordinarily diverse demographics: https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/10/14/three-bay-area-cities-considered-most-diverse-in-the-u-s/ https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/10/14/three-bay-area-cities...

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]