There is more to social skills than culture, and there is more to culture than race & gender (not that you said that, but the article did). I've never worked an

There is more to social skills than culture, and there is more to culture than race & gender (not that you said that, but the article did). I've never worked anywhere that was less willing to hire women & minorities; if anything it was the opposite, sometimes explicitly. But you do need to hire people who can work together and (depending on the job) engineers who can interact with clients. I had a hiring manager tell me once he was worried I wasn't talkative enough (though he did make me an offer). I thought that was dumb, partially because I know I'm not reluctant to communicate & debate with my team, but more because it seemed like an uncritical devotion to the cult of culture. On the other hand, I once managed an engineer who found a reason that every one of his tasks couldn't be done (in my opinion as cover for lack of competence). I wouldn't want someone like that on my team.