4 ms·

So I quickly looked up the employee demographics for Google, Facebook and Apple (but particularly for the percentage balance of males and females, as that appea

So I quickly looked up the employee demographics for Google, Facebook and Apple (but particularly for the percentage balance of males and females, as that appears to be the hottest topic), and from their official sources the numbers are, respectively: 30% [1], 32% [2] and 30% [3]. The number of CS graduates who are women differs in how it's gauged, but it's roughly 18% [4]. Though obviously there are non-technical positions, even accounting only for tech jobs the numbers are still 17%, 15% and 20%, respectively. They all fit around the same range. There's certainly room for improvement, but I'm not sure why the onus should be on tech companies. They seem to be doing well enough with the available resource pool. Having profit-motivated entities be the initiators of social change seems like a clunky band-aid solution to me that won't be of any particular efficacy. [1] http://google.com/diversity/at-google.html http://google.com/diversity/at-google.html [2] http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2014/06/building-a-more-diverse-facebook/ http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2014/06/building-a-more-diverse-... [3] https://www.apple.com/diversity/ https://www.apple.com/diversity/ [4] http://www.ncwit.org/sites/default/files/resources/btn_02282014web.pdf http://www.ncwit.org/sites/default/files/resources/btn_02282...

Lewisham 12y ago
If we take "diversity is better for tech companies" as a truism (which I would), then all this means is that part of the hiring budget should go to increasing the pipeline by getting diversity candidates interested in CS when they are much younger (if you believe your company will still exist in 20 years). This is where, say, Google's Made With Code initiative came from.[1] [1] https://www.madewithcode.com/ https://www.madewithcode.com/
frostmatthew 12y ago
I think what's more interesting is that these companies are "less white" than the country (~72% white, or ~63% non-Hispanic white)[1] but get criticized for being "mostly white." [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States#Race_and_ethnicityhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States#Race_and_ethnicity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_Sta...
- DanBC 12y ago
  There are posts on HN from people asking why they should diversify their workforce; stating that they would feel uncomfortable employing someone who disclosed a history of mental illness; asking why it's acceptable to give womenTernity leave (and blaming the lack of women in tech on those women for becoming de-skilled during motherhood); and the "cultural fit" thing is really strong on HN. SF companies do well on one measure of diversity (they employ Asian males) but pretty poorly on other scales (women; older people; people with disabilities, etc)

Lewisham 12y ago

If we take "diversity is better for tech companies" as a truism (which I would), then all this means is that part of the hiring budget should go to increasing the pipeline by getting diversity candidates interested in CS when they are much younger (if you believe your company will still exist in 20 years). This is where, say, Google's Made With Code initiative came from.[1] [1] https://www.madewithcode.com/ https://www.madewithcode.com/

frostmatthew 12y ago

I think what's more interesting is that these companies are "less white" than the country (~72% white, or ~63% non-Hispanic white)[1] but get criticized for being "mostly white." [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States#Race_and_ethnicityhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States#Race_and_ethnicity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_Sta...

DanBC 12y ago
There are posts on HN from people asking why they should diversify their workforce; stating that they would feel uncomfortable employing someone who disclosed a history of mental illness; asking why it's acceptable to give womenTernity leave (and blaming the lack of women in tech on those women for becoming de-skilled during motherhood); and the "cultural fit" thing is really strong on HN. SF companies do well on one measure of diversity (they employ Asian males) but pretty poorly on other scales (women; older people; people with disabilities, etc)