Readings

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

1. Why Women Don’t Code

2. Why Is Silicon Valley So Awful to Women?

3. Sex and STEM: Stubborn Facts and Stubborn Ideologies

4. Just Because You Always Hear It, Doesn’t Mean It’s True: Gender Difference Explanations For Disparities in Tech Are Not Supported by Science

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

6. The Code of Conduct

7. An anonymous response to dangerous FOSS Codes of Conduct

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

9. Note to employees from CEO Sundar Pichai

10. Why I Was Fired by Google

Optional: Diversity

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

• When Women Stopped Coding

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

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

• Why the STEM gender gap is overblown

Optional: Culture

These readings are about the possible toxic nature of tech culture:

• Getting free of toxic tech culture

• “Oh My God, This Is So F---ed Up”: Inside Silicon Valley’s Secretive, Orgiastic Dark Side

• Study Finds Women and Minorities in STEM Are Discriminated Against, to the Shock of No One

• The Empathy Gap in Tech: Interview with a Software Engineer

Optional: Women

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

• The First Women in Tech Didn’t Leave—Men Pushed Them Out

• What's behind the tech industry's toxic masculinity problem? Inside the Valley of the Bros

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

• Push for Gender Equality in Tech? Some Men Say It’s Gone Too Far

Optional: Minorities

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

• Why Tech Leadership Has A Bigger Race Than Gender Problem

• 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

Optional: Uber

These readings are about some relatively recent events at Uber:

• 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

Optional: 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

Optional: Codes of Conduct

These readings have to do with codes of conduct:

• Open Code of Conduct

• Django Code of Conduct

• Proposal: A Code of Conduct for the Go community

Optional: Linux

These readings are about the Linux community:

• Closing a door

• Linus Torvalds defends his right to shame Linux kernel developers

• Kindness is Underrated

Optional: Political Correctness

These readings discuss the fears of political correctness in regards to these codes of conduct and the push for greater diversity:

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

• The Culture Wars Have Come to Silicon Valley

• Survey Finds Conservatives Feel Out of Place in Silicon Valley

Optional: Google

These readings explore the recent Google diversity memo:

• The Dirty War Over Diversity Inside Google

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

• What James Damore Got Wrong About Gender Bias in Computer Science

• Google Can’t Seem to Tolerate Diversity

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 the events at Uber? 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? Are the arguments in the memo reasonable or unreasonable? What do you make of the reaction to the memo, the firing of James Damore, and the subsequent lawsuits?

   • Should employees be fired for "violations of codes of conduct"? What sort of speech should be tolerated within the workplace? What responsibilities do you believe individuals have in speaking out against certain types of speech or in tolerating different viewpoints?

   • Can you separate politics and beliefs from the workplace? Should you?