Tech Talk

14 Feb

Posted at 09:00h in News 2, Tech Talk by
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In the last few months roughly 20 tech companies broke with traditional silences around data transparency, publicly releasing their diversity demographics. Before then, a few companies, such as Intel, had been releasing their company-wide equal opportunity data for quite some time. But until last year, few, if any, companies had revealed their demographic data for technical occupations, in particular.

13 Feb

Posted at 09:00h in News 2, Tech Talk by
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For one of the most innovative and progressive industries, technology is having a tough time fixing its diversity problem. Many major tech companies have decided not to publicly display their minority statistics, but some tech giants are beginning to open up about the absence of people of color and women in their offices. Earlier this month, Microsoft released its EEO-1 form, a federal filing that outlines employment data by race and gender. The results weren’t pretty. The company is 60 percent white and 71 percent male, according to a Jan. 5 Fortune.com article.

12 Feb

Posted at 09:03h in News 2, Tech Talk by
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Let's be clear about one thing from the start: I'm a Black female with a Ph.D. in computer science. No shade, Sheryl Sandberg, but I've been "leaning in" since birth. This topic (and blog post) has been a long time coming. I wasn't sure, at first, how to best put my thoughts to words. Then I wasn't even sure if I should say anything at all, since it may ruffle some feathers. In the end, I didn't care. Some things need to be said. Most people think it, but few say it. I'll take one for the team.

11 Feb

Posted at 09:00h in News 2, Tech Talk by
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There's no doubt that many employers feel most comfortable hiring people like themselves. But in InfoSec, this approach can lead to stagnation. Whenever the lack of diversity in tech is discussed, you can always count on it sparking a debate over whether it is due to a “pipeline” problem or a “culture” problem. In other words, are there too few “minorities” interested in studying tech, or are they being repelled for some reason?

10 Feb

Posted at 09:00h in News, News 2, Tech Talk by
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Just before the holidays I had coffee with Anne, an ex-MBA student running a fairly large product group at a search engine company, now out trying to raise money for her own startup. She had an interesting insight: Existing content/media companies were having the same problem as hardware companies that rarely made the leap to new platforms. And she had a model for a new media company for mobile and wearables. I thought we were going to talk about her product progress, so I was a bit taken aback by her most pressing question, “Why is it still so hard for a woman to get taken seriously by a venture capitalist?”

09 Feb

Posted at 09:00h in News 2, Tech Talk by
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The Rev. Jesse Jackson will focus in part on increasing diversity at the world’s biggest technology companies at the 18th annual Rainbow PUSH Wall Street Project Economic Summit, which kicks off in New York on Tuesday. Increasing opportunities for minority- and women-owned investment firms will also be among issues tackled at the three-day conference, Jackson said.