Readings

The readings for this week focus on issues related to diversity and behavior in the workplace.

Diversity

These readings provide some background on the lack of diversity in the technology industry:

1. Google finally discloses its diversity record, and it's not good

   • Apple Makes Slight Progress on Diversity While Its Rivals Are Making Practically None

   • Why Isn’t the Tech Industry Doing Better on Diversity? It’s Google's and Facebook’s Fault

2. Diversity Imbalance

   • Why Prejudice Alone Doesn't Explain the Gender Gap in Science

   • Why the STEM gender gap is overblown

3. Boys' Math Scores Hit Highs and Lows

   • Girls feel less 'smart' than boys by age 6, research says

   • When Women Stopped Coding

Current Events

These readings are about some relatively recent events: one at Uber and another at Google:

1. Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber

   • Reflecting on Susan Fowler’s Reflections

   • I am an Uber survivor.

   • Inside Uber's Aggressive, Unrestrained Workplace Culture

   • The Uber manager who headed Susan Fowler’s department has departed

2. Exclusive: Here's The Full 10-Page Anti-Diversity Screed Circulating Internally at Google

   • A Googler's Would-Be Manifesto Reveals Tech's Rotten Core

   • As a Woman in Tech, I Realized: These Are Not My People

   • Why I Was Fired by Google

   • I’m An Ex-Google Woman Tech Leader And I’m Sick Of Our Approach To Diversity!

Women

These readings are about the challenges for women in the tech industry:

1. Why Is Silicon Valley So Awful to Women?

   • Girls Who Code: The Real Reason Women Only Earn 18% of CS Degrees

   • Why Do So Many Women Who Study Engineering Leave the Field?

   • Melinda Gates: The Tech Industry Needs to Fix Its Gender Problem—Now

2. A new survey explains one big reason there are so few women in technology

   • Masculine culture responsible for keeping women out of computer science, engineering

   • "I had so many advantages, and I barely made it": Pinterest engineer on Silicon Valley sexism

   • I’m not a woman in tech

Minorities

These readings are about the challenges for ethnic and racial minorities in the tech industry:

1. Why Doesn't Silicon Valley Hire Black Coders?

   • "Silicon Valley is hostile to diversity," says Slack Director of Engineering Leslie Miley

   • Racial Fault Lines in Silicon Valley

2. The Other Side of Diversity

   • On Being a Black Man

   • I’m a Latino in Tech, and I Think the ‘Diversity’ Discussion Is Utterly Broken

Education

These readings are about some educational approaches for improving diversity:

• Most computer science majors in the U.S. are men. Not so at Harvey Mudd

• Nerdy Strutting: How to Put Women Off the Tech Industry

• Steps Teachers Can Take to Keep Girls and Minorities in Computer Science Education

Codes of Conduct

These readings have to do with codes of conduct:

1. The Code of Conduct

   • Open Code of Conduct

   • Django Code of Conduct

   • Proposal: A Code of Conduct for the Go community

These readings are about the Linux community:

1. Closing a door

   • Linus Torvalds defends his right to shame Linux kernel developers

   • Code of Conflict

   • Kindness is Underrated

These readings are a reaction to the push for codes of conduct:

1. An anonymous response to dangerous FOSS Codes of Conduct

   • Why the Open Code of Conduct Isn't for Me

   • Why Hackers Must Eject the SJWs

   • On the Proposed PHP Code of Conduct

These readings further explore the ramifications of the Google incident above:

1. Note to employees from CEO Sundar Pichai

   • By firing engineer, Google shows what you can say — and what you can't — at work

   • Randazza: Outrage over Google memo goes too far

   • Google Can’t Seem to Tolerate Diversity

These readings are about another relatively recent event:

1. An update regarding keynote changes.

   • Why I won't be speaking at conferences with Douglas Crockford anymore.

   • In Defense of Douglas Crawford

   • Inclusivity Is a Joke

Questions

Please write a response to one of the following questions:

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

   • If you believe it is a problem, then what are some obstacles faced by women and minorities? Why do these challenges exist and how could the technology industry (or society in general) work to remove these barriers and encourage more participation from women and minorities?

   • If you don't believe it is a problem, then why do you think there is this recent focus on diversity? Is it fair that there are programs targeted to women and certain minorities, but not other groups? How would you address claims of privilege?

   • What do you make of either the Uber or Google controversies? What is your reaction on the events and the aftermath and what do these events say about diversity in technology?

2. From the readings and in your opinion, are Codes of Conduct necessary for technology companies, organizations, and communities? Do they serve a valid purpose or are they just another form of political correctness?

   • What do you make of some of the Codes of Conduct above? What jumps out at you as reasonable and what seems unreasonable?

   • What do you make of the recent Google memo controversy? Should employees be fired for "violations of codes of conduct"? What sort of speech should be tolerated within the workplace?

   • What do you make of the recent Douglas Crockford situation? Is his removal from the Nodevember conference justified? Would you attend or support an event with a speaker that may or may not make you feel uncomfortable or have opposing views?

Feedback

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding the course, please provide your feedback at the end of your response.