The Change You Want to See in the World

Tech—the industry of changing-the-world—has some well-known issues with including people from all walks of life. So how to change this part of this world?

The clarity of thought and commitment to making a difference really struck me when I first read the diversity pledge that @aphyr wrote— his public statement on directly giving covering expenses and giving tickets to anyone from an under-represented group who wishes to travel to a tech conference:

So let’s shift the ratio. If you’re a member of an under-represented group, and you can’t afford to attend a technical conference, I want to help you get there. I will register conference passes, buy plane tickets, and make hotel reservations in your name.

Tech conferences are perhaps a small step, but a meaningful one: attendance at these can be a source of both intellectual enrichment and a place for professional connection, either of which can be incredibly impactful especially early in a person’s career.

Who pays for this?

I do, out of pocket. My salary is roughly $100,000. There’s no corporate or nonprofit sponsorship involved.

I’m especially impressed by the directness of the giving — this is the clearest example of someone enacting the “be the change you wish to see” ethos that I think I’ve seen in this field.

As I absorbed the idea that a single person could have an impact in this way, I developed some questions.

For one, I know that it’s challenging to email a stranger on the internet to ask for help covering attendance at a conference—on the other hand, I definitely know people for whom this sort of thing would have made a big difference. Couldn’t that part be made to function better?

It also seems like you could reach a lot of people, who would have an gain a lot by attending technical conferences, by having a system or process for identifying people to support this way. What if this were run by an organization?

Kyle’s position on this:

What about an org?

Market rate for backend engineers in San Francisco is something like $80–140K, so there are a lot of folks who can spare a few thousand to send a person or two to a conference. A bunch of engineers have talked about setting up something more formal, so there’s definitely interest. I just can’t organize it myself — I can barely keep my apartment in good repair and do my taxes, let alone run a company, haha. Interested in stepping up to organize a 501(c)3 or something? That’s a great idea and you should totally do it and tell me/everyone.

So, I’ve started thinking about this further. Here are my rough thoughts on what I’d like to see happen, and how I think an organization like this should work:

• create a real organization to run this (step 1, figure out an appropriate structure, get grants?)

Then —further detail on functioning/operations:

• proactively reach out to find people who want to go to conferences, and accelerate them.
• ask attendees to suggest/nominate others for future, to lower the barriers around applying for things
• cover conference fees, and ideally cover flights/hotel/food stipend also
• ask attendees to rate the conferences afterward. Publish the ratings (tbd: either publicly or as available within-network)
• get individual people to pledge support — perhaps patreon-style (monthly percentage-of-salary donations), and ask for matching donations from employers
• get conferences on board and aware — make sure the conference will provide a welcoming environment, make sure the organizers share an alignment of goals, determine whether the conference has a code of conduct, see if discounted tickets are available, etc.

Structuring the network:

• give members of the club a way to meet — perhaps sponsor a members’ dinner during the events for participants to meet up and network, get to know each other and/or perhaps find some subtle way to enable group recognition.
• reward supporters with stickers, shirts, jackets etc. This can help show who in this world is putting their money up for diversity.
• create a continuing network/alumni organization for attendees
• support the work of members, and track+groom those who have an interest in becoming speakers as well

Is anyone working on this already? Please let me know! Or get in touch with me (@starsandrobots) if you’re interested in seeing it go, and want to work on it.

Star