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

   • The Origins of Diversity Data in Tech

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

   • 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

   • Study finds robust sex differences in children’s toy preferences across a range of ages and countries

   • When Women Stopped Coding

Culture

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

1. Getting free of toxic tech culture

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

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

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

Women

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

1. Why Is Silicon Valley So Awful to Women?

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

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

   • The Dangers of Keeping Women Out of Tech

   • The Numbers of Women in Tech Rise and Fall, But Sexual Harassment is Ever Present

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

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

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

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?

   • Why Tech Leadership Has A Bigger Race Than Gender Problem

   • Black members of Congress push for more diversity in Silicon Valley hires

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

2. The Other Side of Diversity

   • Racial Fault Lines in Silicon Valley

   • On Being a Black Man

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

Uber

These readings are about some relatively recent events at Uber:

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

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

Linux

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

Political Correctness

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

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

2. Survey Finds Conservatives Feel Out of Place in Silicon Valley

   • The Culture Wars Have Come to Silicon Valley

   • Mark Zuckerberg has finally broken his silence on Peter Thiel. Context: Why tech billionaire Peter Thiel just endorsed Donald Trump

   • E Pur Si Muove

Google

These readings explore the recent Google diversity memo:

1. The Dirty War Over Diversity Inside Google

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

   • Ex-Google Employee's Memo Says Executives Shut Down Pro-Diversity Discussions

   • James Damore just filed a class action lawsuit against Google, saying it discriminates against white male conservatives

2. Note to employees from CEO Sundar Pichai

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

   • In response to anti-diversity memo, YouTube CEO says sexism in tech is ‘pervasive’

   • So, about this Googler’s manifesto.

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

   • Ask A Female Engineer: Thoughts on the Google Memo

3. Why I Was Fired by Google

   • No, the Google manifesto isn’t sexist or anti-diversity. It’s science

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

   • 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

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 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?

Feedback

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