For us to make progress in developing and improving the tech industry, we have to acknowledge and address two facts. First, the tech community is currently lacking in diversity. Second, historical and cultural limitations placed on certain groups can be to blame for such a lack of diversity. If everyone could see this, then I don’t think there would be as much outrage against diversity conferences or affirmative action. Rather, I think people would be more willing to accept the fact that we need things like these to open up a community that has been closed off to many and is currently unbalanced for unfortunate reasons. It is going to take more effort and extra consideration to open up this community and truly make it a welcoming place for all who are interested. The process is not going to be easy, both for people entering the community as representatives for their minority groups, and for the people who historically have an advantage in the community as they will have to give up some power. From the conversations we saw in class, it is tough feeling the pressure and expectations of being a minority going into tech, and it can also be difficult for those who aren’t a minority in tech to see others get extra help or consideration especially in the job market. No one said this process was going to be easy or completely fair, if there was a potential perfect solution to solving tech’s diversity problems, then there wouldn’t be a controversy in the first place. Regardless of whether we can get everyone to recognize the problem, it is absolutely necessary that we try to solve it. The tech industry is continuously growing and terms of power and influence on the world. Given the current scale of globalization, it is dangerous to have this power be exclusively dominated by a homogenous group. If tech is going to serve the world, then we should make sure that the people it are diverse in every sense of the word. Also, the tech industry is taking over the job market, and there may be a point where the majority of available jobs are going to come from this industry. If at this point the issues of diversity have not been improved, then women and minorities may severely economically suffer as they may be left out of the only jobs that will provide them a source of income. For a society that has been putting great effort into empowering its underrepresented groups, we could take a big step backwards if we do not address this issue. There are good efforts right now being made to address the issue of the lack of diversity, but it seems like there are still a lot of people in the industry who still don’t acknowledge the issue. True change will require more hands on deck, so as we try to fix these issues we must put effort into converting people to at least recognize the issue, and then hopefully progress will be expedited.
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AuthorMarcos Salamanca Archives
October 2019
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