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> I believe the problem with diversity in tech is a retention and training problem, not a pipeline problem. I saw one guy setting up a hiring pipeline in large
by dopidopHN 6y ago
> I believe the problem with diversity in tech is a retention and training problem, not a pipeline problem.
I saw one guy setting up a hiring pipeline in large industrial/tech company in the south, and changing the face of a office for that company.
- When he start : The city is 60% black, almost not black dev. A few in IT/Support.
- He strike a deal with a local bootcamp, being extremely specific on the training content.
Basically the boot-camp became a dedicated training ground for that company.
several hiring event a year, summer internship program. Young folks from diverse backgroun. usually a solid 40/60 female/male blend.
- 2 years later I see junior black devs male AND female in a lot of teams. When I left some were promoted senior and a few really good recruits were on track to become team-lead/architect/whatever they wanted.
It's highly anecdotal, and that was matching that industrial behemoth goal to 'blend' into the culture of the south. ( read : hire black folks )
But I do think that a hiring pipeline do make a difference. Maybe this particular exemple was just too easy. Again, more than a majority of folk here are black, so it just natural to find more black candidate.
- ibudiallo 6y agoHi, I would really like to know more about this guy and his program, and maybe get in touch. My contacts are in my profile.
- entee 6y agoTo be clear, I don’t think input pipelines are not a problem at all, I think they’re just a part of the problem. Sounds like this person is doing things right by investing time and effort across pipeline AND developing talent once hired. You can’t have success without both and the latter is often a secondary consideration at best.
- dopidopHN 6y agoyou are very right. Junior hire were strategically placed in 'ok' teams. they had common "low-key" projects on top of their regular assignments, and a particular effort was put on exposing them to various roles ( dev, TPM, BA, design ). The idea was to create a community of new hires that can tap into to reach for help, advices and the like. This person took advantage of a large company with a fat belly to do awesome thing. I'm not even sure they realized.