Diversity and inclusion at tech companies
On [#stanier-effective-manager], 16th chapter:
It's not an understatement to say that diversity in tech is a big problem. The environment is usually unfavorable and the attrition along the career cause minorities to drop out of the profession.
The problem can be separated in two aspects:
- Pipeline - as in available talent
- Culture - as in how things are within the company
What one can do to improve these:
- Be aware of your biases, both at daily work and at interviews. Always question why you think about a certain person in a certain way and if you'd have a different impression were they from another group
- Call out incorrect behavior
- Champion inclusiveness: listen to everyone, arrange things in a way that suits all your team members, considering their individual struggles
This is a deep, important topic, so, obviously, the book is not able to cover it fully, it provides good pointers, though, check the book for them.
Some works and books that are good starting points to broaden your world view and think about these systemic issues:
- Discriminating System: Gender, Race and Power in AI: West, S.M., Whittaker, M. and Crawford, K, 2019 (#todo: read) - Suggested in [#stanier-effective-manager]
- #todo: incluir Liberdade é uma luta constante, Krenak, Livro Tarcísio
[#stanier-effective-manager]: Stanier, Dr. James. Become an Effective Software Engineering Manager. 1st ed. S.l.: Pragmatic Bookshelf, 2020.