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> My impression was that D&I initiatives are far more prevalent in tech/SV companies than elsewhere Well of course, blacks in the US are over 12% of the popula

> My impression was that D&I initiatives are far more prevalent in tech/SV companies than elsewhere Well of course, blacks in the US are over 12% of the population and are 12% of the L5s in FAANG companies. Which of course is not the case - less than 2% of Facebook's technical workers in the US are black, 3% of Google overall is black etc. It's clear that diversity is not prevalent at all in Google, Facebook etc.

908B64B197 5y ago
> Well of course, blacks in the US are over 12% of the population and are 12% of the L5s in FAANG companies. Which of course is not the case - less than 2% of Facebook's technical workers in the US are black, 3% of Google overall is black etc. It's clear that diversity is not prevalent at all in Google, Facebook etc. Is it? Keep in mind that the target hires for these companies are grads from serious CS programs. Are CS programs 12% blacks? Were they 15 years ago (when a now L5 graduated)? It's like setting shop in Puerto Rico and favoring whites because, since Puerto Rico is part of the US and the US is ~55% white you should have that same proportion in your business. The real question is, and that's an uncomfortable one, is why aren't we seeing enough minorities in serious CS programs.
- ZeroGravitas 5y ago
  Puerto Rico identified at 70% white in the 2010 census, which might add some unnecessary complexity to your example.
Manuel_D 5y ago
I think saying that "diversity is not prevalent at all" at these companies is being simplistic. Google's technical workforce is 50% white and 50% racial minority [1]. Facebook is similar. Granted, most of the latter is Asian and not Black or Latin. On my team we have one Anglo American, one Cuban (me, and I consider myself white as my family is mostly Spanish, and I'm typically regarded as such by society), one Vietnamese, and one Indian. Are you really going to say that there's no diversity in this group because we lack representation from two specific continents? The fact that everyone is from different countries, thousands of miles apart isn't diversity enough? Unless "diversity" entirely a function the presence of people of African and South American descent, I fail to see how Google, Facebook, and my team are not diverse. https://diversity.google/annual-report/representation/#methodology-note https://diversity.google/annual-report/representation/#metho...

908B64B197 5y ago

> Well of course, blacks in the US are over 12% of the population and are 12% of the L5s in FAANG companies. Which of course is not the case - less than 2% of Facebook's technical workers in the US are black, 3% of Google overall is black etc. It's clear that diversity is not prevalent at all in Google, Facebook etc. Is it? Keep in mind that the target hires for these companies are grads from serious CS programs. Are CS programs 12% blacks? Were they 15 years ago (when a now L5 graduated)? It's like setting shop in Puerto Rico and favoring whites because, since Puerto Rico is part of the US and the US is ~55% white you should have that same proportion in your business. The real question is, and that's an uncomfortable one, is why aren't we seeing enough minorities in serious CS programs.

ZeroGravitas 5y ago
Puerto Rico identified at 70% white in the 2010 census, which might add some unnecessary complexity to your example.

Manuel_D 5y ago

I think saying that "diversity is not prevalent at all" at these companies is being simplistic. Google's technical workforce is 50% white and 50% racial minority [1]. Facebook is similar. Granted, most of the latter is Asian and not Black or Latin. On my team we have one Anglo American, one Cuban (me, and I consider myself white as my family is mostly Spanish, and I'm typically regarded as such by society), one Vietnamese, and one Indian. Are you really going to say that there's no diversity in this group because we lack representation from two specific continents? The fact that everyone is from different countries, thousands of miles apart isn't diversity enough? Unless "diversity" entirely a function the presence of people of African and South American descent, I fail to see how Google, Facebook, and my team are not diverse. https://diversity.google/annual-report/representation/#methodology-note https://diversity.google/annual-report/representation/#metho...