How one tech company promotes diversity and inclusion | #GHC16 by Timothy Walden

24 Oct How one tech company promotes diversity and inclusion | #GHC16 by Timothy Walden

Technology hasn’t always been the most diverse industry, and today it still needs more work, but progress has been made. More women are becoming engineers and programmers, and the landscape is shifting to compensate for the lack of equality.

Dr. Rebecca Parsons, CTO at ThoughtWorks Inc., addressed this and other important issues regarding ThoughtWorks and the tech industry. Parsons talked with host Rebecca Knight (@knightrm) and guest host Tori Bedford (@tori_bedford), of theCUBE, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, during the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing about diversity and inclusion in the technology field.
Making Progress

Dr. Parsons has been programming since she was 13 and has been heavily involved in the tech industry most of her life. Over the years she’s seen a change in the landscape that should be celebrated, but there’s still much work to be done, according to Parsons.

There are some behaviors and standards that are no longer tolerated but women in the workplace pushing for equality still receive “some backlash,” said Parsons.
Transparency and problem solving

Women across the globe are working to create an era where they aren’t seen as women computer scientists but “simply as computer scientists,” said Parsons. To do this there has to be a high level of transparency in companies to acknowledge their shortcomings, she added.

It’s that very transparency that attracted Parsons to ThoughtWorks. She wanted a workplace that would allow her to “deal with the world as it is,” said explained.
Bringing in talent

Companies today are looking for agile talent and innovative solutions, according to Parsons. That means creating an environment that encourages feedback and has rapid communication.

To attract the best fitting talent and women leaders, ThoughtWorks recruits employees “in different places and from nontraditional routes,” said Parsons.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of the Anita Borg Institute’s Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing.

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Photo by SiliconANGLE

Timothy Walden

A new and compelling author, Tim Walden is a SiliconANGLE writer covering live news events with theCUBE.He got his start with personal blogging before moving to copy editing and brand management in corporate consulting. Two years later he decided to move back into the writing scene and did some moonlighting with local Atlanta podcasts. What are his topics of interest you ask? Love and technology and the various intersections that come along with them.

Tim Walden is constantly looking for inspiration in quirky places and is currently working on publishing his first book of poetry in the next year

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