SAN FRANCISCO – On a weekday morning in September, Leslie Miley, an engineering manager with decades of experience in the tech industry, joined his colleagues streaming into Google’s San Francisco offices. He was wearing the kind of outfit typical of engineers – T-shirt, jeans and Adidas kicks. His employee badge was plainly visible, clipped to his belt.
That’s when Miley says a fellow Google employee raced in front of him and physically stopped him demanding to see Miley’s badge. “Welcome to being Black in Big Tech,” he tweeted.
Shouldn’t they be asking why there are so many Asians in Silicon Valley (way overrepresented)? I think Whites are about average for overall population, and Latinos and AA are severely underrepresented.
P.S. I figure this thread will last about 5 posts.
I’d think the “bias in badging” is the tech world’s version of prejudice/racism experienced by people of color every day.
Wasn’t it on this site that a woman of color said when she walks into an airplane, the flight attendants instantly point to economy when in fact she’s carrying a first class ticket?
Something like that happened to me and I’m white! In the Boston airport, I headed for the first class line (my dad had given me points that turned out to be enough for first class). An American Airlines employee looked at me and said, “Ma’am, the economy line is over there…” Ha! I guess I don’t look rich.
I would take this as a compliment. I guess that I do not look rich either. That does not stop me from having enough frequent flier miles to book first class seats on occasion.
I didn’t know they do that these days. So easy to upgrade. I got an el cheap ticket, basic economy, they upgraded it to priority., No idea how it happened.
In major universities, the student mix of most of the hard sciences (physics, math, etc. ), computer science and engineering fields are primarily Asians and Whites (generally a little more Asians than Whites). To achieve a higher representation of underrepresented minorities and people of color in the tech industry, they need to be encouraged to get into those majors and fields. This starts at a very early age and continues into high school and through college. The few URM that do make it through college are in very high demand.
It may be from the viewpoint of someone used to much of the rest of the US, where non-white non-black people are uncommon and not really the focus of race issues primarily seen in black and white terms.
I am a CPA in taxation. The URM issue also exists in my field, but not as glaring or pronounced as high tech. Again, encouragement and preparation starts early and into college.
In these technical fields, sometimes, especially the first job out of college, the employer might look many factors such as high GPA, experience, URM, the right college, communication skills, etc.
I guess my original point is why does the article talk about whites being overrepresented in Silicon Valley when in fact Asians are far more overrepresented? I understand that Blacks and Latinos are highly underrepresented.
I have to laugh because when is San Francisco been included in any definition of Silicon Valley? What cities are we including in Silicon Valley or are we just talking about employees, who may come from Fremont or even Tracy.
I live in Silicon Valley and my measure is the folks that frequent the local dog park. And it seems pretty mixed to me.
While the tech companies certainly hire for many positions other than engineering/ CS related ones, am jsut wondering… is there data somewhere with the # of AA/ latinos who mahor in engineering/ CS in college?
