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So you're arguing that diversity of background (age, previous career, class) is more useful diversity than ethnicity/race? In some ways I agree; we're all shap

So you're arguing that diversity of background (age, previous career, class) is more useful diversity than ethnicity/race? In some ways I agree; we're all shaped by adversity and experience. But I don't think you can ignore the incredible lack of people from black or hispanic backgrounds in tech either. The goal of increased diversity in entry level hiring is advanced by the suggested HBCU recruitment drive. Supporting it doesn't preclude recruiting from other talent pools.

sidlls 6y ago
> So you're arguing that diversity of background (age, previous career, class) is more useful diversity than ethnicity/race? That isn't at all what the commenter argued. They argued that diversity in ethnicity/race is not the same as diversity in background. The commenter did not provide a superlative or other qualifier.
tomjen3 6y ago
You assume that hiring a black person to an all white team, gives much thought diversity. My argument is that it does not, if that person had a middle class background and similar upbringing. If you hire a former gang-banger who is a wiz with eletronics, then you will have some real diversity.
- angry_octet 6y ago
  You don't think that hiring a black guy will provide some useful perspective? (Or an immigrant?) I don't get why you contend that class is the only fundamental distinction here. Tech is often focused on the minutiae of our machines, but even then information and learning is not evenly distributed. I've worked with various minority engineers and also Indian/Chinese/Persian/etc and they've all had really different views on how to approach things, how to manage conflicts, and different mathematical backgrounds too.
  - sidlls 6y ago
    "does not give much diversity" isn't the same as "will not provide some useful perspective." This is the issue I have when discussing these matters with certain people. When everything is presented in such stark black-and-white terms there's little room for discussion.

sidlls 6y ago

> So you're arguing that diversity of background (age, previous career, class) is more useful diversity than ethnicity/race? That isn't at all what the commenter argued. They argued that diversity in ethnicity/race is not the same as diversity in background. The commenter did not provide a superlative or other qualifier.

tomjen3 6y ago

You assume that hiring a black person to an all white team, gives much thought diversity. My argument is that it does not, if that person had a middle class background and similar upbringing. If you hire a former gang-banger who is a wiz with eletronics, then you will have some real diversity.

angry_octet 6y ago
You don't think that hiring a black guy will provide some useful perspective? (Or an immigrant?) I don't get why you contend that class is the only fundamental distinction here. Tech is often focused on the minutiae of our machines, but even then information and learning is not evenly distributed. I've worked with various minority engineers and also Indian/Chinese/Persian/etc and they've all had really different views on how to approach things, how to manage conflicts, and different mathematical backgrounds too.
- sidlls 6y ago
  "does not give much diversity" isn't the same as "will not provide some useful perspective." This is the issue I have when discussing these matters with certain people. When everything is presented in such stark black-and-white terms there's little room for discussion.