Three Ways to Diversify Your Programming Team (That Have Nothing to Do With Hiring)
It’s becoming common knowledge that learning to code is a cream-of-the-crop professional skill. Inspirational posters and graphics of Steve Jobs, Stephen Hawking, and Don Knuth tell us that coding is for everyone — that it’s the new means of exploration in the 21st century.
Why, then, do only 20% of women in the United States and many other places in the world take programming jobs? If coding is for everyone, why are women and minorities so underrepresented in the tech world? And what sorts of things might they be building, exploring, or innovating that we are losing out on right now simply because they aren’t participating?
These are important questions. And they’re questions that reveal that true diversity in tech comes from more than ramped up recruiting efforts. The push to bring more females and other non-traditional coders into software development roles relies on plumping up the employee pipeline. But, that isn’t all that matters.
Companies dedicate resources and time to employee funnels without checking in on what’s happening down the line. Creative recruiting techniques, blind hiring, and even collaborations with Hollywood to get diverse representation in the field is a start — but it doesn’t matter if companies can’t hold on to these employees. New studies show that women and other programmers with non-traditional backgrounds leave the field faster than they enter, which proves it doesn’t make sense to line up recruits without also considering what pushes them away.
There are three primary ways companies in all industries — especially tech — can work toward long-term diversity.
1. A Better “Algorithm” for Shop Talk and Office Language
Your manager cracks a joke that sends the entire meeting room into laughter. You laugh too, even though those words would never come out of your own mouth. Does this sound familiar? It’s not a crime, but it is a prime example of how individuals can be unintentionally isolated through racist, sexist, or just plain distasteful jokes and “harmless” chatter.
Most employees follow the office’s lead by reacting similarly to their coworkers or manager. But imagine what happens when one person doesn’t mimic the group.
Waltzing into the room and speaking your mind without considering how it’ll gel with others is a major blind spot when trying to build and retain a diverse team — especially if these opinions don’t allow room for differing views. Over time, faking laughter to fit in or staring awkwardly at the desk can make employees feel like outsiders in the office. It’s no surprise, then, that they would start looking to work elsewhere.
2. Expand the Mentorship Horizons
The Harvard Business Review recently ran a study to look at the mentorship gap between men and women. The team’s assumption was that women weren’t mentored at the same rate as men. Turns out, women actually get mentored more than men, but in completely different ways. While men tend to receive what could be considered sponsorship, focused on promotions, opportunities, personal growth strategies, and public skill endorsements, women are tutored on personal topics and behavior. Yikes.
For women, mentorship focuses on feeling good and surviving in the workplace. For men, it’s about seizing opportunities introduced by mentors who overwhelmingly share their personal or physical qualities. To disrupt this pattern, companies need to facilitate professional partnerships based on more than gender, ethnicity, and background.
I, for example, was mentored by a man who differed from me in almost every way — except for our mutual interest in code. He introduced me to programming, encouraged my development within the field, sought out new opportunities for me, and expedited my progress to and through the Flatiron School, where I now help grow the online programming curriculum. This, ladies and gents, is how you make an underrepresented programmer feel welcome.
3. Don’t Mistake Superficial Perks for “Culture”
Fast-paced tech companies are notorious for shaping company cultures with Ping-Pong tables and kegs while sports play in the break room. Women like Ping-Pong too, but this trifecta of traditionally “bro-y” perks can exclude anyone who doesn’t subscribe to this lifestyle. Silicon Valley is proof, where only 12% of women take jobs in those cushy tech startups.
This certainly isn’t intentional. These perks are fun, and who doesn’t like having fun? But that doesn’t mean all people have fun in the same way. If a company’s annual holiday celebration is a swanky cocktail party, think of how uncomfortable that night could be for someone who doesn’t drink. Already-underrepresented employees may generalize their isolating experiences to the field as a whole. Then, their next step often becomes finding a workplace more in line with their values, beliefs, and personality.
Instead of beefing up your company’s office perks, introduce core values that anyone can get on board with, such as well-structured thinking or creative problem solving. These, in turn, could be translated into team-wide Demo Days or competitions (which still allow for plenty of startup perks like junk food and socialization).
It’s true that expanding hiring and recruiting efforts is a great first step to building a more diverse force of coders. Our next goal should be supporting diverse employees after they accept the job.
I’ve got plenty to say about leadership, mentoring, and being a female programmer at the Flatiron School. For more on all that, check out my YouTube channel CompChomp.
