Diversity in the Tech Community
I just saw this gotcha article which is a quick read and an example of link bait. I feel like it is not helping. Back in 2014 Apple did state that it would work to increase diversity at the company and because I have watched Apple closely for years I have noticed the changes. It may not be progress at the rate some would like but there has been progress.
The first notable problem and now improvement was the lack of women on stage during major events and WWDC keynotes. For the past few years it was a common complaint on Twitter during Apple events that there were no women presenting. And then the very first time Apple did have a woman on stage it was for the Apple Watch event it was Christy Turlington who is a supermodel who was demonstrating how she used the new device to prepare for a marathon. She’s great but hardly relatable to a young engineer aspiring to advance her career. It was not a good first step.
Then in 2015 Apple made a step forward. One of my favorite presenters at WWDC has been Eliza Block who has given amazing talks on scroll views 3 years in a row. It has been a real crowd pleaser. In 2015 she did not continue these talks and instead did a demo of the Apple Watch during the WWDC Platform State of the Union. It was essentially a promotion from being a regular presenter to a much higher level. It was a move which indicates she could one day be among the Apple leadership with Eddy Cue and Craig Federighi. If Apple had a female engineer in a top level position that would be indeed be a huge milestone because Apple is an engineering company. You can see the current Apple leadership is a lot of men with a few women. So far of those 3 women none are engineers. It clearly does not look good at the moment but women like Eliza Block could be on track to get there.
As I watched the demo that Eliza Block gave at WWDC this past year she looked nervous to me. I wanted her to do as well as she had done her previous presentations. This was a big stage and a lot of people were watching her. It was a lot of pressure. When I watched the talks she gave on scroll views I was mesmerized because I swear I could see she was cycling through lines of code in her head as she covered the topic like a human compiler. It was like I could see her continuing to the next breakpoint with each slide. What she presented was so ingrained in her because that is who she is as an engineer. She wrote the code which made that presentation work. It was natural for her to talk about it so presenting it was also natural and even fun and that came across.
What I hoped as I watched Eliza Block give this talk in 2015 was that she was taking the first step outside her comfort zone which is not easy. Either she was stepping up entirely on her own ambition or she was being encouraged by those around her. She certainly is qualified by every measure. She’s a strong engineer and a great presenter and many look to her with a great deal of respect.
Prior to WWDC this past year Tim Cook promised more women would be on stage. And that happened. The first woman presented and I instantly read tweets which expressed some shock that it finally happened. Some tweets were snarky and suggested that this would be the only woman on stage this year. Then she was later followed by another woman. It was a milestone and should continue each year going forward.
Also at WWDC 2015 there was a presentation by an engineer who is transgender. She’s actually presented at WWDC in previous years. I noticed that the audience clapped a lot louder as she began the presentation to show support. (Note: I am happy to be a part of a community which behaves in this way.) The past year has been a big year for the transgender community. The tech community has discussed these issues and has been working to be more inclusive and welcoming. It has taken time for this limited amount of progress to happen but it is happening even if the article linked above does not cover it.
But what more can be done? I do not call the shots at Apple. I only can control my own actions so I choose to start there. I believe brief interactions add up to an overall experience which will either be positive or negative. Some experiences may be negative and from what I have discussed with women in the tech industry and read on Twitter many experiences are negative and highly discouraging. It is disheartening to hear what some have endured. It is no wonder so many leave this industry for a more welcoming community in another discipline.
So I try to make the experience people have with me positive. That is what I can control so that is my choice and my contribution. I also try to treat people like people, not just coders who are clearing tasks to finish before the current sprint is over. People want to feel like they are valued for more than just the code they write so I try to learn a little bit about them. Where do they live in the Bay Area? Did they move here from someplace else? What made them move here? What do they like to do when they get away from their computer? I find getting to know someone away from the code can go a long way toward making the tech industry actually feel more welcoming and inclusive. And you get invited to more cookouts this way which is a personal bonus.
And once a woman starts to have at least as many positive experiences in the tech industry they will be more likely to stay in it and advance her career. I have pushed myself outside my comfort zone for years. It is not always easy but what was once hard is now almost natural.
Here is one example. At a meetup recently I arranged to go with a friend for the presentation. We sat down at a table with some pizza and chatted with another friend who also happened to be attending. There were a few other guys sitting next to us so we all started talking. There was a woman at the far end of the table who I noticed looking over at us and not talking with the others around her. I got the impression that she wanted to be involved so for a minute I debated if I should invite her to join us. I finally stood up and placed a chair next to mine and walked over and invited her, perhaps awkwardly, to join us. She smiled and took the chair next to me. She introduced herself and joined our conversation. After the presentation she exchanged contact information with a few of these people, perhaps making a few new friends in the industry. And I hope that one experience becomes one of many in her career over the next several years.
I’d like to encourage you all to look for opportunities to invite someone at a meetup or conference to join in with your conversations with others you already know. Connect on Meetup.com or email or Twitter. Invite them to future meetups which you plan on attending. Also connect on GitHub and look for ways you can work on some projects together, either your own or an existing Open Source project. I can only control my actions and these are ways I can contribute. I won’t put a lot of energy into concerns over the diversity of a corporate leadership team that I do not control. Instead I will look at the diversity of the people I interact with in my professional life. I can count the women I talk with in the past month and try to increase that number every month. If you measure it, you can improve it, they say.
As for Apple as well as other big tech companies such as Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Amazon, I think the same advice applies. At every level we can make our environments more welcoming and inclusive. Opportunities come out of every day conversations so the more conversations we can have with a more diverse selection of people the more opportunities there will be.
