Hacker Bits, April 2016

Susan was (and is) amazing.
I learned so much working under
her, and a big part of what made
her awesome was that she was
very much Not Like Me. But how
could I have appreciated that
before meeting her? The fact is
that as human beings, we tend
to prefer what's comfortable,
and what's most comfortable of
all is … well, People Like Us. The
effect can be shocking because
it's so subtle, so unconscious –
and yet, surprisingly strong:
• Baseball cards held by a
black hand consistently sold
for twenty percent less than
those held by a white hand.
• Using screens to hide the
identity of auditioning musicians
increased women's
probability of advancing
from preliminary orchestra
auditions by fifty percent.
• Denver police officers and
community members were
shown rapidly displayed
photos of black and white
men, some holding guns,
some holding harmless objects
like wallets, and asked
to press either the "Shoot"
or "Don't Shoot" button as
fast as they could for each
image. Both the police and
community members were
three times more likely to
shoot black men.
It's not intentional, it's never
intentional. That's the problem. I
think our industry needs to shed
this old idea that it's OK, even
encouraged to turn away technical
candidates for anything less
than absolute 100% confidence
at every step of the interview
process. Because when you do,
you are accidentally optimizing
for implicit bias. Even as a
white guy who probably fulfills
every stereotype you can think
of about programmers, and who
is in fact wearing an "I Rock at
Basic" t-shirt while writing this
very blog post*, that's what has
always bothered me about it,
more than the strictness. If you
care at all about diversity in
programming and tech, on any
level, this hiring approach is not
doing anyone any favors, and
hasn't been. For years.
I know what you're thinking.
Fine, Jeff, if you're so
smart, and "hiring the
best" isn't the right strategy
for startups, and maybe
even harmful to our field
as a whole, what should be
doing?
Well, I don't know, exactly. I
may be the wrong person to ask
because I'm also a big believer
in geographic diversity on top of
everything else. Here's what the
composition of the current Discourse
team looks like. (figure
below)
I would argue, quite strongly
and at some length, that if you
want better diversity in the field,
perhaps a good starting point
is not demanding that all your
employees live within a tiny 30
mile radius of San Francisco
or Palo Alto. There's a whole
wide world of Internet out there,
full of amazing programmers at
every level of talent and ability.
Maybe broaden your horizons a
little, even stretch said horizons
outside the United States, if you
10 hacker bits