Tech IndustryJun 30, 2018
Oraclealive

How many of you feel there is actual bias in tech industry

Every now and then there seems to be a post about gender bias / LGBTQ bias/ race bias / etc. how many of you feel that this is real and not pure incompetence. In 2008, at my company we all knew that layoffs are coming. Two guys that were at the bottom of the performance chart announced that they are in a relationship. Guess what they survived the layoffs. Since that day , I feel that it’s pretty easy to claim bias and keep surviving and get promotions. What do you think ?

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Apple Okidoki Jul 1, 2018

A conversation I overheard once: Girl 1: I don’t believe in discrimination, I wasn’t ever discriminated. Girl 2 (from recruiting): Honey, if you are not in the room where they discuss your candidacy you have no idea whether you were discriminated or not. Trust me, I had a ton of these closed doors conversations and sometimes they don’t even tell me, I just know that no matter how many female resumes I put on the table they are not going to be looked at. I think we went a long way in the past 70 years and we probably don’t have an overwhelming discrimination/bias these days, but there are biased people here and there. The biggest bias that I often check myself for is the desire to hire/promote someone like you (or someone who resembles you when you were young).

Amazon Jеff Bezos Jul 1, 2018

So you trust ‘girl from recruiting’ to actually be able to tell which resumes were genuinely good and qualified and not useless?

Apple Okidoki Jul 1, 2018

Jeff Bezos, the girl from recruiting knows when the resume wasn’t even validated because it wasn’t opened. And the girl from recruiting knows the real reason the management doesn’t want to hire “a girl” during those behind-the-door conversations while she becomes the one who is supposed to come up with some semi-legit reason for “not moving forward”. Some people are jerks, and maybe those women dodged a bullet by not being hired to the jerk’s team. However, discrimination still happens and my point is you can’t always tell if you were affected or not. We can only judge by the results of the studies and complaints of the people we trust.

Microsoft PoolClosed Jul 1, 2018

Bias is absolutely real. It might go away if companies stopped specifically targeting certain races or a certain gender for hiring. Because of those preferences, it’s totally reasonable to conclude that the people of those targeted races/gender in the office could be less qualified than others. It also sends the message that people of those groups *need* the help, contributing to bias. Age bias is definitely also a thing in the tech industry.

Microsoft Lotl Jul 1, 2018

In my experience the largest bias is age, then gender, then race. But age is by far the larger bias I’ve seen.

Uber Mhftjh Jul 1, 2018

Age, race, then gender. White women have it better these days since that is what most companies focus on.

Microsoft Fy19 Jul 1, 2018

Read Brotopia if you really want to know some of the gross details. This is a really naive question. On the other hand if you are privileged to never have encountered bias or heard about it I guess it’s not

Oracle alive OP Jul 1, 2018

I have heard about it 3-4 times, but every time it’s like the victim claiming bias because of incompetence. I think as and when the recession hits, you will hear more about these discrimination allegations. When I was doing my undergraduate in India , there used to be 50% reservations in college for people of low income (SCST- it was meant to be low income but was later abused), there was also 20% women’s reservation, and also 5% NRI (people from outside India) reservation. This left 25% for the people like me. What obviously happened was that the people who could qualify within this 25% were actually good and scored better than the rest and landed better jobs. Now tell me who was discriminated against ? Can the SCST say they are discriminated against and do not get good jobs. The real truth is that they got admits because of the reservation system and never really had the skills for the job. Long story short : This nonsense diversity thing is lowering the bar for hiring and actually hiring incompetent folks. These same incompetent folks fail to realize that they just don’t perform as well as someone else and keep shouting discrimination every time they can’t perform.

Facebook FbECS Jul 1, 2018

I think you should stop worrying about the other 75% and just focus on yourself and doing well. Stop victimizing yourself. The world isn't fair and when the world tries to make things 'fair' by giving those with a disadvantage an advantage those with the previous advantage complain. So stop complaining and worry about your self.

Google 🍑☁️ Jul 1, 2018

I haven't seen a lot of discrimination against gay people in tech, but I hear a lot of horror stories from women

Oracle alive OP Jul 1, 2018

That’s what they exactly are- stories. Keep shouting discrimination and retain your job. When recession hits many guys will also claim to be gay and try avoid getting fired , because if they fire you then can file a discrimination lawsuit .

Apple Okidoki Jul 1, 2018

Actually many women leave their jobs voluntarily because they are tired of not being respected: being talked over in meetings, not getting their opinion acknowledged unless it was repeated by a man in the room etc.

Microsoft Treak Jul 1, 2018

Bias exists. Not every case where people cry about discrimination is valid, but you are living in a bubble if you honestly believe there's no discrimination anywhere in tech.

Intel hatt Jul 1, 2018

Age bias absolutely exists, mostly against old people but even against young people.

This comment was deleted by the original commenter.
Oracle alive OP Jul 1, 2018

does bias exist in the education system? Why are there lesser women in engg / computer science compared to men ? Also the way you look at life is the following: - If you get along fine and get promotions , then the team is good and there is no gender bias. - if the going gets tough , then it’s gender bias So simple answer is that there is nothing you could possibly be doing wrong. It’s just the world around you that can be bad or good. 🤔 Well , sadly for me being an Asian man, I need to prove myself everywhere , and any mistakes can cost me job because there are always the 30% entitled ones coming via the diversity crap doing crappy work and hence work is more for the other deserving 70%. I thought these reservation systems will just be in education system, never knew that the US corporate system would also be maligned by them.

Oracle alive OP Jul 1, 2018

lol 😀... if the going gets tough for white/Asian men then they are fired and they don’t WHINE like the women / LGBTQ / Black / Hispanic people do... I am not saying there is bias against me, but there is surely bias in favor of women... why are companies forced to have diversity targets... that’s because incompetent people need to be hired in the name of diversity... Google , Apple , Facebook , Amazon are what they are today because when they were small they focused on getting competent people and making better products... I am all for equality and that also means having no diversity preference.

Nvidia aicar Jul 1, 2018

There would always be bias because we are humans. Some biases would be justified and some not.

Oracle alive OP Jul 1, 2018

You mean the diversity incentives to hire incompetent people just to make the ratio better ?

Indeed Caldean92 Jul 1, 2018

There is bias against straight white males and people over 40. There is bias for nonbinary, female, black and hispanic people.

Oracle alive OP Jul 1, 2018

I am myself in that age group of and I can say even the age bias is incompetence. Ask yourself the question, can you slog the way you used to, when you were 25 ? It’s just pathetic that everyone tries to find reasons for discrimination and don’t want to face the reality. May be after few years, my daughter will go to work in the industry, and I am sure these diversity policies will make her life easier. I am also worried that it will also make her less hard working and eventually less performant.

Google fly_away Jul 1, 2018

Wow look at what kind of assumptions and expectations you are already putting on your daughter... You don't think it's possible that a girl wants to be an engineer (or whatever the does) because she loves what she does, and she works hard because she's ambitious, not because she wants an easier life?

Booking.com JEpv52 Jul 1, 2018

I don’t even get the question? Why would tech be unique from bias? Is the poll suggesting it’s in every facet of human society except tech? Lol

Oracle alive OP Jul 1, 2018

It’s like saying if people in every other field can claim bias against them when they really suck at work, then why can’t tech do it ? If you are good you thrive irrespective of gender/race/etc. when you can’t you either try and improve, or cry foul and claim discrimination.

Booking.com JEpv52 Jul 1, 2018

🤔 it’s actually not like saying that. If you’re seriously interested in answering your question, I can recommend some quick reads.