From the readings and in your opinion, is the lack of diversity a problem in the technology industry? Is it something that needs to be addressed or is it just a (possibly unfortunate) reality?

The lack of diversity is a problem in the technology industry. Coders are predominately white and Asian males, and everybody knows it. The stereotype of the programmer reflects this view; just ask anyone to describe a typical Computer Science major and they will start talking about a nerdy kid who doesn’t know how to talk to girls. This stereotype itself is a negative side of Computer Science, and probably prevents many young men from choosing programming as a career path. Even more than men, however, women are completely repulsed by the idea of being a computer scientist. This stereotype, in other words, becomes self-fulfilling. As Bonnie Marcus says in her article, “The Lack of Diversity in Tech is a Cultural Issue,” people will go where they think they fit in. People who think they fit the computer science stereotype will become computer scientists.

Okay, then is this necessarily a problem? Can’t we just rely on the slightly nerdy portion of the population to do our coding for us? Well, as Martin Fowler talks about in his article, “Diversity Imbalance,” we need to take this divide more seriously. The need for good programmers is only increasing, and the future of our society will be affected by how good these programmers are. If we are limiting the selection pool to a certain stereotype, we are limiting our ability to move forward as a society. We absolutely need to take this problem seriously and find a solution to make Computer Science accessible to more people.

But where does the foundation of the problem lie? Well, the big (and small) tech companies have incredibly imbalanced statistics regarding their employee demographics. Surely they must be to blame. Well, in my opinion, the tech companies are not at fault. While there is definitely more they can do to in terms of internal equality, the hiring process is the direct antecedent of the overarching inequality statistic. Why are companies hiring more men than women? It is not because of any sexist agenda; in fact, societal pressure and government programs in place might even favor a woman to be hired over her (otherwise equal) male counterpart. The pool that these companies are choosing from are imbalanced: there are more qualified men than women in the workforce they are leveraging. To tip their process towards hiring more women than are qualified is just as sexist as doing the opposite. This problem stems from far earlier than college graduation.

We need to change our societal view of computer scientists, and urge young women to join computer science earlier. If we overcome the stereotype, then balancing genders and demographics at tech companies becomes automatic. These companies will hire the most qualified people they are presented with, we just have to present them with the full potential society has to offer.