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Transparency about our interviewing process: http://bjk5.com/post/3340326040/in-any-language-you-want-khan-academy-interviews http://bjk5.com/post/3340326040/in

by kamens 14y ago

Transparency about our interviewing process: http://bjk5.com/post/3340326040/in-any-language-you-want-khan-academy-interviews http://bjk5.com/post/3340326040/in-any-language-you-want-kha... (which comes from the hiring cultures at Fog Creek and Google, see http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/GuerrillaInterviewing3.html http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/GuerrillaInterviewing...). Transparency about all past internships, their expectation and accomplishments: http://bjk5.com/post/36067210182/khan-academy-internship-summer-12 http://bjk5.com/post/36067210182/khan-academy-internship-sum... http://bjk5.com/post/8826207372/khan-academy-internship-summer-11 http://bjk5.com/post/8826207372/khan-academy-internship-summ... http://bjk5.com/post/15500332273/khan-academy-internship-fall-11 http://bjk5.com/post/15500332273/khan-academy-internship-fal... Transparency from previous interns about their work, which I believe speaks for itself: http://david-hu.com/2011/11/02/how-khan-academy-is-using-machine-learning-to-assess-student-mastery.html http://david-hu.com/2011/11/02/how-khan-academy-is-using-mac... http://dylanv.org/2012/09/14/the-khan-academy-internship-experience/ http://dylanv.org/2012/09/14/the-khan-academy-internship-exp... http://jamie-wong.com/2012/08/22/what-i-did-at-khan-academy/ http://jamie-wong.com/2012/08/22/what-i-did-at-khan-academy/ If any piece of evidence from the above points to an organization that values quotas over excellence in interns and the work expected of them, well please raise the alarm. We need to get past our default response being a knee jerk assumption of discrimination.

cantastoria 14y ago
Fogcreek and Google's interview process both seem to yield a far larger number of male employees than females yes? David, Dylan and Jamie are all men yes? If any piece of evidence from the above points to an organization that values quotas over excellence in interns and the work expected of them, well please raise the alarm. No one is accusing you of using quotas and no is saying you do not value excellence in interns. What's being asked is why was there such a steep increase in the number of female interns accepted? Were there more female applicants? Were interview questions changed? How did this result come about?
- kamens 14y ago
  And what I'm asking you is: can you come up with any possible explanations for an increase in women devs over time that should be celebrated, especially at an organization that values equal education for everyone, without first wondering if our interview questions have changed?
  - cantastoria 14y ago
    Can you come up with any possible explanation period? You're dodging my question.
    - kamens 14y ago
      An increase in women in tech majors and a company mission that strongly appeals to both women and men.
      - cantastoria 14y ago
        I'm pretty sure most universities have a company mission that appeals to both men and women and they haven't suddenly seen a 2:1 f/m ratio in CS majors. What makes Khan so different?
        Tichy 14y ago
        He might have a point in that a lot of women seem to aspire to be teachers. For example when I got my maths degree, 99% (estimated) of the women sitting in the lectures with me were studying to become teachers. Perhaps working for Khan Academy somehow seems close enough to teaching.
      - yummyfajitas 14y ago
        What % of the applicant pool was women? Some hard numbers would help this discussion.
    - tghw 14y ago
      Why is an explanation required? Any developer worth his or her salt knows that, statistically, something like this is bound to happen over enough companies and enough years, even if the trend is so heavily skewed the other way. Is this a 3 sigma deviation? Maybe. Or could it be that, on average, women might be drawn to educational software more than other types? Doesn't sound unreasonable. Regardless, your insistence on an explanation shows that you're still stuck in the bad old days.

by kamens 14y ago

cantastoria 14y ago

Fogcreek and Google's interview process both seem to yield a far larger number of male employees than females yes? David, Dylan and Jamie are all men yes? If any piece of evidence from the above points to an organization that values quotas over excellence in interns and the work expected of them, well please raise the alarm. No one is accusing you of using quotas and no is saying you do not value excellence in interns. What's being asked is why was there such a steep increase in the number of female interns accepted? Were there more female applicants? Were interview questions changed? How did this result come about?

kamens 14y ago
And what I'm asking you is: can you come up with any possible explanations for an increase in women devs over time that should be celebrated, especially at an organization that values equal education for everyone, without first wondering if our interview questions have changed?
- cantastoria 14y ago
  Can you come up with any possible explanation period? You're dodging my question.
  - kamens 14y ago
    An increase in women in tech majors and a company mission that strongly appeals to both women and men.
    - cantastoria 14y ago
      I'm pretty sure most universities have a company mission that appeals to both men and women and they haven't suddenly seen a 2:1 f/m ratio in CS majors. What makes Khan so different?
      - Tichy 14y ago
        He might have a point in that a lot of women seem to aspire to be teachers. For example when I got my maths degree, 99% (estimated) of the women sitting in the lectures with me were studying to become teachers. Perhaps working for Khan Academy somehow seems close enough to teaching.
    - yummyfajitas 14y ago
      What % of the applicant pool was women? Some hard numbers would help this discussion.
  - tghw 14y ago
    Why is an explanation required? Any developer worth his or her salt knows that, statistically, something like this is bound to happen over enough companies and enough years, even if the trend is so heavily skewed the other way. Is this a 3 sigma deviation? Maybe. Or could it be that, on average, women might be drawn to educational software more than other types? Doesn't sound unreasonable. Regardless, your insistence on an explanation shows that you're still stuck in the bad old days.