4 ms·

Frankly, because the meaning and purpose of "diversity" has been corrupted to the point that it actually causes issues like the one described. Similar to the co

Frankly, because the meaning and purpose of "diversity" has been corrupted to the point that it actually causes issues like the one described. Similar to the corruption of the word "racism". I think you're missing the point by assuming git branch renaming is the primary (only?) cost. Diversity (meaningful diversity of thought and opinion, that is) actually has business value. That's the reason it was pushed so hard from the top way back in the day, it was seen as a means to improve product offerings and problem solving processes. These days "diversity" is nothing more than a euphemism for weird racial, sexual orientation, and gender fetishes. These "diverse" workplaces are, ironically, echo chambers for the same patterns of thought based around the idea that superficial characteristics like gender and skin color are meaningful predictive traits

throwawaaarrgh 4y ago
Every new movement has a hype cycle. It's fine. The hype will eventually die down, the useful stuff will remain, the rest will go. I still can't find any black people to hire for some basic positions. This is a problem. Research continues to show ML models to be biased in favor of the people who create them, and against the people who were never in the room. This affects society in a huge way when that model is used for law enforcement, health care, education, etc.
- hdisllcn 4y ago
  Why is that a problem? If you can’t find black people to hire, it means black people are not having problems finding employment. Why do we expect the population to perfectly segment itself in such a way that every workplace has the correct percentage relative to some interpretation of the population? This idea that black people are needed to provide some sort of black perspective on every team is so weird to me. You’re not your race and the type of black people who are qualified to work in top tier tech companies have more in common with the upper classes and college elites than they have with the stereotypical inner-city poor kid raised by a single mom.
  - throwawaaarrgh 4y ago
    > If you can’t find black people to hire, it means black people are not having problems finding employment. Yeah, no, that's not how that works dude. That's so incredibly far from reality I don't even know where to begin. > This idea that black people are needed to provide some sort of black perspective on every team is so weird to me. Of course you can't fathom why an outside perspective is necessary... You don't suffer discrimination. You've never needed to care about how black people are treated, or what opportunities they have, or how their lack of representation in all walks of life hurts them. It's hurting them, not you. The reason we care and want black representation on our teams, is we care about black people. That's pretty much it. There are other reasons ("diverse experience provides a wider perspective", "better serving customers who aren't white", etc) but the main one is just.... Wanting to be less shitty to black people. Expending slightly more effort to find and hire them is the very least thing we can do to move toward a more equitable world. > the type of black people who are qualified to work in top tier tech companies have more in common with the upper classes and college elites than they have with the stereotypical inner-city poor kid raised by a single mom. Um. No... So much wrong with that paragraph... Please don't repeat that at work... You would probably get repremanded, possibly fired. Holy crap dude. Besides all the weird racial and class assumptions there... Just for your edification, from my own anecdotal experience, the black people I work with have very little in common with me, culturally, class-y, etc. We get along fine, but we do not have anywhere near the same background or experience, and I have a million times more privilege. And besides all that, a lot of people in tech, who aren't black, don't come from an upper class or elite colleges. Maybe they do at FAANG? (If they do, I really don't wanna work there)

throwawaaarrgh 4y ago

Every new movement has a hype cycle. It's fine. The hype will eventually die down, the useful stuff will remain, the rest will go. I still can't find any black people to hire for some basic positions. This is a problem. Research continues to show ML models to be biased in favor of the people who create them, and against the people who were never in the room. This affects society in a huge way when that model is used for law enforcement, health care, education, etc.

hdisllcn 4y ago
Why is that a problem? If you can’t find black people to hire, it means black people are not having problems finding employment. Why do we expect the population to perfectly segment itself in such a way that every workplace has the correct percentage relative to some interpretation of the population? This idea that black people are needed to provide some sort of black perspective on every team is so weird to me. You’re not your race and the type of black people who are qualified to work in top tier tech companies have more in common with the upper classes and college elites than they have with the stereotypical inner-city poor kid raised by a single mom.
- throwawaaarrgh 4y ago
  > If you can’t find black people to hire, it means black people are not having problems finding employment. Yeah, no, that's not how that works dude. That's so incredibly far from reality I don't even know where to begin. > This idea that black people are needed to provide some sort of black perspective on every team is so weird to me. Of course you can't fathom why an outside perspective is necessary... You don't suffer discrimination. You've never needed to care about how black people are treated, or what opportunities they have, or how their lack of representation in all walks of life hurts them. It's hurting them, not you. The reason we care and want black representation on our teams, is we care about black people. That's pretty much it. There are other reasons ("diverse experience provides a wider perspective", "better serving customers who aren't white", etc) but the main one is just.... Wanting to be less shitty to black people. Expending slightly more effort to find and hire them is the very least thing we can do to move toward a more equitable world. > the type of black people who are qualified to work in top tier tech companies have more in common with the upper classes and college elites than they have with the stereotypical inner-city poor kid raised by a single mom. Um. No... So much wrong with that paragraph... Please don't repeat that at work... You would probably get repremanded, possibly fired. Holy crap dude. Besides all the weird racial and class assumptions there... Just for your edification, from my own anecdotal experience, the black people I work with have very little in common with me, culturally, class-y, etc. We get along fine, but we do not have anywhere near the same background or experience, and I have a million times more privilege. And besides all that, a lot of people in tech, who aren't black, don't come from an upper class or elite colleges. Maybe they do at FAANG? (If they do, I really don't wanna work there)