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I have had the EXACT same experience with humanities majors. I actively avoid hiring anyone from those on my teams even with bootcamp experience. The best emp

I have had the EXACT same experience with humanities majors. I actively avoid hiring anyone from those on my teams even with bootcamp experience. The best employees I've had are from technically focused universities with some kind of STEM background.

lapcat 4y ago
I was a philosophy major, and my former coworker who is now on the Swift Runtime team at Apple was an English major. I would recommend reconsidering whether this bias is just based on your anecdotal data. Also, I would recommend not bragging publicly about this bias, for legal reasons. Do your bosses know that you actively discriminate against humanities majors, and are they ok with that? Is it company policy? Do the public job postings say that humanities degrees do not meet the job requirements? Your comment does suggest that humanities majors are applying for jobs at the company.
- stuckinhell 4y ago
  We have official human resources policies that back up our hiring practices after a series of poor hires.
  - lapcat 4y ago
    What's the policy exactly? Do the job postings have specific degree requirements?
- gnicholas 4y ago
  I agree that it is unwise to blanket-reject any humanities major. But I'm at a loss for what legal reasons you are referring to (IAAL). Although political party/activity is a protected attribute in some states, I don't think college major is protected anywhere. I can't imagine that it could be protected, since nearly every employer filters applicants based on major for at least some jobs. The only argument I could imagine is that major is a proxy for political belief, and that using it as a pretense is illegal. This would be pretty tough to prove, especially since many people who major in STEM disciplines are politically aligned with humanities majors. What am I missing here?
  - lapcat 4y ago
    > What am I missing here? I'm not suggesting that humanities majors are a protected class. I am suggesting that it's legally problematic for job postings to lie about the job requirements. For example, if it says "Bachelor's degree in CS or equivalent experience", but the company flat out rejects all applicants without a CS degree, regardless of experience.
    - gnicholas 4y ago
      Ah, gotcha. I'm not sure if they post descriptions like the one you hypothesized, but even if they did I don't think that would be actionable. For example, there are plenty of prestigious law firms that require "a JD and X years of experience", but in reality never hire outside the top 10 schools. I don't think they could be sued for not explicitly saying that no one outside the top 10 ever gets hired. Also, in your example they aren't lying, since they apparently accept non-CS majors (just not humanities) with the relevant experience. I could be wrong though — I'm not an employment lawyer.

lapcat 4y ago

I was a philosophy major, and my former coworker who is now on the Swift Runtime team at Apple was an English major. I would recommend reconsidering whether this bias is just based on your anecdotal data. Also, I would recommend not bragging publicly about this bias, for legal reasons. Do your bosses know that you actively discriminate against humanities majors, and are they ok with that? Is it company policy? Do the public job postings say that humanities degrees do not meet the job requirements? Your comment does suggest that humanities majors are applying for jobs at the company.

stuckinhell 4y ago
We have official human resources policies that back up our hiring practices after a series of poor hires.
- lapcat 4y ago
  What's the policy exactly? Do the job postings have specific degree requirements?
gnicholas 4y ago
I agree that it is unwise to blanket-reject any humanities major. But I'm at a loss for what legal reasons you are referring to (IAAL). Although political party/activity is a protected attribute in some states, I don't think college major is protected anywhere. I can't imagine that it could be protected, since nearly every employer filters applicants based on major for at least some jobs. The only argument I could imagine is that major is a proxy for political belief, and that using it as a pretense is illegal. This would be pretty tough to prove, especially since many people who major in STEM disciplines are politically aligned with humanities majors. What am I missing here?
- lapcat 4y ago
  > What am I missing here? I'm not suggesting that humanities majors are a protected class. I am suggesting that it's legally problematic for job postings to lie about the job requirements. For example, if it says "Bachelor's degree in CS or equivalent experience", but the company flat out rejects all applicants without a CS degree, regardless of experience.
  - gnicholas 4y ago
    Ah, gotcha. I'm not sure if they post descriptions like the one you hypothesized, but even if they did I don't think that would be actionable. For example, there are plenty of prestigious law firms that require "a JD and X years of experience", but in reality never hire outside the top 10 schools. I don't think they could be sued for not explicitly saying that no one outside the top 10 ever gets hired. Also, in your example they aren't lying, since they apparently accept non-CS majors (just not humanities) with the relevant experience. I could be wrong though — I'm not an employment lawyer.