Re: pipeline, if a tech company really wanted to do well by minorities-in-tech, probably the best thing they could do would be to sponsor and support high-school-level education in tech in their own community.
Basically: privileged kids have the free time and structure to just end up "picking up" programming and other tech subjects on their own, as a hobby. Because of this, there's relatively little top-down structure supporting introduction to technical subjects at the age where kids' minds are most malleable to thinking in new mindsets.
If you want diversity in tech, you have to ensure that even the kids that will never think "oh, reading this C manual in my spare time sounds like fun" will still get introduced to the concepts, and to thinking analytically, while they're still forming a self-image. Because—if you miss that window—they end up—even in college, even if they were a straight-A student—as the type who thinks "oh, I can't go into [CS/math/engineering], that's not the type of person I am, I'd never be able to do it as well as the people who love that." (I.e., the people who define themselves in those terms, because it became part of their self-image at the right time.)
So, for example:
• Volunteer engineers' time at local schools (especially schools in lower-income areas) to give introductory-level talks. Get kids interested.
• Set up after-school clubs for e.g. game development (or any other tech-related subject that kids usually get fascinated by.) If those clubs already exist, donate to them.
• Lobby school boards and PTAs for initiatives to ensure 'equal encouragement' for minorities—none of this "counsellor discourages women from tech; says they'd do better in the arts" business.
There's probably tons more I'm not thinking of, too.
i couldnt agree with this more. i think most things related to diversity are currently being approached with far to much emphasis on short term and not nearly enough on the long term.
Basically: privileged kids have the free time and structure to just end up "picking up" programming and other tech subjects on their own, as a hobby. Because of this, there's relatively little top-down structure supporting introduction to technical subjects at the age where kids' minds are most malleable to thinking in new mindsets.
If you want diversity in tech, you have to ensure that even the kids that will never think "oh, reading this C manual in my spare time sounds like fun" will still get introduced to the concepts, and to thinking analytically, while they're still forming a self-image. Because—if you miss that window—they end up—even in college, even if they were a straight-A student—as the type who thinks "oh, I can't go into [CS/math/engineering], that's not the type of person I am, I'd never be able to do it as well as the people who love that." (I.e., the people who define themselves in those terms, because it became part of their self-image at the right time.)
So, for example:
• Volunteer engineers' time at local schools (especially schools in lower-income areas) to give introductory-level talks. Get kids interested.
• Set up after-school clubs for e.g. game development (or any other tech-related subject that kids usually get fascinated by.) If those clubs already exist, donate to them.
• Lobby school boards and PTAs for initiatives to ensure 'equal encouragement' for minorities—none of this "counsellor discourages women from tech; says they'd do better in the arts" business.
There's probably tons more I'm not thinking of, too.