Diversity & Inclusion in the Tech Industry

Reading

1. What occurred during the same time as the beginning of the decline of women in computer science? Personal computers started showing up in people’s homes.

2. Why does it matter that males had been playing on computers growing up? It matters because when they hit college level computer science classes it is assumed that people should have an understanding of computers, even if they had no opportunity and weren’t in the target demographic.

Video

1. When are diversity efforts most successful? When everyone in the company is on board and the company culture is behind it.

2. Why do diverse companies perform better? They have a more diverse set of viewpoints in the conversation when making decisions or making products, they are a more creative team, and they don’t lose out on great talent.

3. Give an example of how a diverse company can serve a diverse user base or vise-versa. The left handed example was an interesting, how there is a non-insignificant population that would always have their videos upside down on their phone if it didn’t have auto-rotate. Just the idea that I had never thought of that particular inconvenience is indicative of why diversity is so important. If you have more viewpoints people will think about problems differently, or even more problems will be realized as problems so that they can be addressed.