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Comment by mydpy | Hacker News Reader

I have always viewed tech diversity as a supply-side problem. Demand is definitely there.

The article points out that Facebook recruiters seem to be able to bring in people through the funnel (tackling the supply-side) only to have candidates rejected in the latter half of the process when these candidates don't fit within the mold of senior engineers tasked with approving candidates.

True, but I think the issue is that quality engineers of color are few. When I say supply side, I mean, there are far fewer graduates of color in STEM from top universities, etc.

I'm shocked you're not grayed out already, despite being correct as far as I can tell. Minorities are highly sought after everywhere I work, yet I've seen extremely few. Most of my teams have wanted some diversity because we grow tired of the same kind of people, just on a personal level it's fun to have new dynamics and to stir things up. I just don't think you can force people to want particular kinds of careers. No one could have encouraged me enough to get me to sign up for mental health, or communications.

Maybe that is because education in top universities is very expensive so only people from rich and middle class families can afford it?

You're both begging the question that only candidates from top universities get interviews.

I'll reiterate my comment above : the view that those candidates were absolutely fit for purpose and got rejected only because they didn't fit some mold, is the disgruntled recruiters' opinion (the people that missed out on a doubled bonus for these candidates), and theirs alone until further proof.

Why would you trust their judgment more than the seniors engineers' verdict ? Have you ever met an engineering manager who would miss out on an awesomely impressive team member simply because of their color or gender ?

The article portrays the opposite. They succeeded in increasing the supply but offers weren't made.

Depends how they did it. If they're trolling the bus station for minorities to compete against seasoned engineers then the hiring numbers are not going to look good.

Bloomberg seems to fail to understand you cannot create engineers from ethnic minority overnight.

It might be sexist and racist to imply that there are not sufficient number of blacks, Latinos and women who might cross Facebook's bar compared to their proportion of the US population. You must adjust your eyes to see the possibilities than reality! :sarcasm

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