Comment by dinobones | Hacker News Reader

Comment by dinobones | Hacker News Reader

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I take issue with it because Leetcode gives tech people a fake feel good, “yeah but at least it’s fair” illusion, when really it’s probably just as biased as any other hiring method.

This is ironic considering these companies have forced mandatory DEI seminars (which I have no problem with btw), inclusive language, #EveryoneCanCode, and so on.

But despite all this, you end up with teams and organizations that are 99% of the same X somehow. Replace X with race, school, even state from home country sometimes.

You know there are websites where people share all the interview questions to these hard interviews / referrals exclusively in their language and behind a pay or rep wall? And there are Telegram groups where international students leaks the questions or do interviews in place for one another.

It’s inevitable these types of issues arise when there’s so much at stake, ex: in just 5 years, a $200k TC advantage at a top company, becomes $1m or more with appreciation.

I just really dislike the veneer of “fairness” when there are so many problems with the process, even beyond the questions that have nothing to do with the job.

> This is ironic considering these companies have forced mandatory DEI seminars (which I have no problem with btw), inclusive language, #EveryoneCanCode, and so on.

I really do wonder what those sanctimonious sermons are meant to accomplish. People who are already ideologically aligned with them won't learn anything new and may just resent it, while people who aren't aligned won't become aligned as a result of that "training".

But you're talking about it as though you expect it to have a constructive impact, resulting in irony when it doesn't. I don't see the irony because I don't expect any benefit from those struggle sessions in the first place.

They're supposed to absolve the corporation and its leadership of responsibility and liability. By giving that training they get to claim they did all they could.

I think that's precisely right.

You'd be surprised how much self-perception and reality can differ. Lots of types that think they're the best allies ever and then show a total lack of empathy (especially if someone's different in their immediate family) that'd need a reality check.

Though usually the intersection of people running DEI initiatives and those people make a large set. Assimilated gay people love talking shit about how trans people make "us" look bad.

struggle sessions usually involve public torture or executions. it's laughable to compare "being mildly inconvenienced" with that.

Struggle sessions in their basic form used social coercement to extract confessions of guilt against some collective cause. This describes the DEI training sessions I've been in well. Admit that you have bias (effectively confessing guilt to a "crime" that gives your employer leverage over you) or get dogpiled and have your refusal to admit guilt cast as evidence of your guilt anyway.

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