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> Start with: “How do you spend most of your time?” Not “What do you do?” It opens people up beyond job titles. This is something that feels alien in SF people
by konsalexee 1y ago
> Start with: “How do you spend most of your time?” Not “What do you do?” It opens people up beyond job titles.
This is something that feels alien in SF people. A fundamental difference for example from Greece and people living in SF is this.
- Greek opening question: "Which city are you from?"
- SF opening question: "Which company do you work for?"
- bsilvereagle 1y ago> "Which city are you from?" Many big tech companies have inclusion training calling this question out as inappropriate on the grounds it provides an opportunity to introduce bias.
- yard2010 1y agoThis is nonsense as there is no such thing as unbiased personal interaction.
- andix 1y agoIn most parts of the world this is not true.
- bigstrat2003 1y agoEven in the US it's ridiculous advice, driven by fear rather than a rational assessment of policy. Asking people where they are from is just fine.
- gunsch 1y agoSure, that's advised in interviews, where you're about to make a decision on someone's livelihood, hence the importance of reducing bias. That's a completely different context than in casual conversation at a social event.
- pvtmert 1y agoIt's a networking event, not an interview loop. In the same lines, don't ask anything. Everything is a bias. ie, What do they do? - Also a bias as they are engineer, or product, or sales, or whatever.
- oncallthrow 1y agoIn SF, people are from so many different places that there is little to no chance that you have personal experience or knowledge of the city that the person would answer your question with. The same is probably not true of someone who grew up in Greece, asking someone else who grew up in Greece