Jesse Jackson to take on tech's lack of diversity

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By MARTHA MENDOZA AND JESSE WASHINGTON

The Rev. Jesse Jackson plans to lead a delegation to the Hewlett-Packard annual shareholders meeting on Wednesday to bring attention to Silicon Valley's poor record of including blacks and Latinos in hiring, board appointments and startup funding.

Jackson's strategy borrows from the traditional civil rights era playbook of shaming companies to prod them into transformation. Now he is bringing it to the age of social media and a booming tech industry known for its disruptive innovation.

"We're talking about a sector that responds to future trends," says Ronald C. Parker, president and CEO of the Executive Leadership Council, a group of current and former African-American Fortune 500 executives who work to increase diversity at the top levels of American business. "He's speaking at one organization. I'm sure the people at Hewlett-Packard have and will continue to put some focus on it. Whether it will accelerate is to be seen. But it's a start."

Earl "Butch" Graves Jr., president and CEO of Black Enterprise magazine, says Jackson is shining a light on the fact that technology companies don't come close to hiring or spending what is commensurate with the demographics of their customers.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20140319/DACKGG884.html

---

In this Friday, July 26, 2013, file photo, the Rev. Jesse Jackson speaks as he takes part in a panel discussion during the National Urban League's annual conference, in Philadelphia. Jackson plans to lead a delegation to the Hewlett Packard annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday, March 19, 2014, to bring attention to Silicon Valley’s poor record of including blacks and Latinos in hiring, board appointments and startup funding. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

[DetlefK]

1. "Now hiring: 1 latino male and 2 black women."

[Adrahil]

2. I don't think hiring is necessarily the issue....

At my company (an engineering services company), we about 100 technical employees. How many are black? 2. How many women engineers? 4.

But this isn't because of any discrimination in hiring, at least at our company. According to the National Action Council on Minorities in Engineering, only about 5% of engineering bachelor's degrees are awarded to African-Americans despite being about 12% of the population. That might be somewhat understandable given the economic class many African-Americans come from, but more on that later. It's worse when you consider the state of women in engineering, where less than 15% of BSxEs are women, despite being a majority of the general population. And generally speaking, those numbers can't even be explains by economic class.

Engineering is one of the few reasonably accessible professional occupations that pays good-excellent salaries. Yet, it is dominated by white (and to a lesser extent, Asian) men. This actively works against efforts to close wage gaps for most racial minorities and women.

Many, if not most, African-Americans don't get the secondary education they need to be successful as engineering students, and few of them have anything like a real-life role model. And women, while quite often well-prepared academically, are sometimes put off by the sausage fest that is most engineering programs in this country, and if they do run into trouble, are encouraged to pursue a less academically challenging career path, whereas men are often encouraged to simply buckle down and work harder.

We need more and better supported programs to help make technical careers accessible to a broader range of students, and we need to improve the quality of technical education of schools more frequently attended by economically disadvantaged students. Even when they get a degree from an accredited university, the quality of the education is often iffy, in my experience.

For the record, I'm a white male engineer.

[wilt the stilt]

3. ding ding ding- we have a winner

I'm also in tech. It is a math science industry. That is the engine that drives everything. A typical tech company consists of 5 areas- software developers(math science) marketing-,HR, support, project management and sales. African. Latinos and African Americans don't take advanced math in high school. Sales is white dominated. I'm one of the few Asians in sales and that is because it is a naked profession. All you have is your face and minorities stay away including Asians. There are few African Americans or latinos in accounting. The rest really are open to anyone.
The one thing about tech it is a tough culture. In sales if you have 12 months to produce or you are at. It is ultra competitive.

[Adrahil]

4. Good Post.... a bit more...

... I have found that many engineers that have attended "second tier" engineering schools (whatever their race or sex), are not trained or culturally acclimated to taking a proactive attitude, which is extremely important when surrounded by smart, well-trained white guys who are used to being taken seriously and are used to other people being advocates of their own positions. So many minorities and ESPECIALLY women, are used to having their ideas marginalized and being deferential to white men. And in the tech environment, while there are assuredly racists and misogynists there, most of us just assume that all the other nerds in the room will be just as assertive in representing our obviously superior ideas as we are. I won't use the "P" word just yet.

[Jerry442]

5. Engineering is a fantastic career path...

...if you don't plan to live past 40.

[Adrahil]

6. errr.... what? Care to elaborate? NT

[Jerry442]

8. Google "Age Discrimination in Engineering."

This article is light on statistics, but it does state the case succinctly:

http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130422020049-8451-the-tech-industry-s-darkest-secret-it-s-all-about-age

[exboyfil]

10. That is why I tell my daughter to develop

skill sets in addition to engineering (marketing and sales for example). An engineering degree, especially mechanical engineering which is a very general degree, is a great foundation to moving into many different areas of employment.

[wilt the stilt]

20. marketing- blah

There are very few people in marketing past 50. On the other hand sales is where it is at financially. Enterprise software sales is rough and tumble occupation. I am taking my son under my wing and will be teaching him sales. I am one of the best cold callers in the country. If I told you the deals I have found you would be in awe and the people I talk to it would blow your mind. I have a rolodex people would kill for.

[Adrahil]

12. Hmmm.... that's not my experience...

I am 48 years old and busier than ever as an engineer. We have any number of engineers over 40. That might be the case at the giant cubical farms in Silicon Valley, but it's not been my experience at all, and the unemployment numbers seem to back me up. In fact, getting qualified senior engineers is damned tough. Unemployment rates for engineers are still well below 5%.

However, if we DO cut back on Defense R&D, which seems likely to me, we need to put those engineers and scientists to work.... I suggest green energy infrastructure and the Space Program!

[Throd]

16. I'm two weeks shy of 47 and agree with your assessment.

The industry I work in is depends on a lot of structural engineering. Engineers with experience seem to be valued.

Here in California, the industry is still dominated by white males, but there are many Asians and Latinos as well. After 20 years, I can recall only a few black males, an no black females.

[NobodyHere]

7. I'm in college right now studying Computer Science

There are a few non-whites(most come from other countries) in my classes and even fewer women.

[Adrahil]

14. Sorry to hear that, but sadly, not surprised. NT

[exboyfil]

9. I am also a white male engineer

My oldest daughter will be graduating high school this year and starting at our flagship university in mechanical engineering in August. She has some dynamite women graduating with her (two heavily involved in the robotics team and also four year Project Lead the Way). Her high school teachers have been very supportive of my daughter even helping her with her college classes (she has taken all of her math, physics, and three engineering courses online). She will start in the fall as a 2nd semester sophomore/1st semester junior.

One great program is Project Lead the Way. My oldest did two years of it (she wished she could have done all four years but it conflicted with her journalism). She learned solid modeling last year and is doing computer integrated machining this year. There is also a Principles class which is equivalent to a freshman engineering survey course (she took the actual university course which is offered online), and a fourth year project course in which the students actually work with industry.

We do not have very many African Americans in my daughter's high school. Our sister community has a high school that is 30% African American, but in the picture of one of their PLTW classes, not a single African American can be seen. This class is available to all students. I do not know how you change the culture to get more involvement. The education is available for those wanting to take advantage of it.

The Robotics competition also develops useful engineering skills. Instead of spending so much on varsity sports, more should be spent to field more teams in this area. The competition is fierce but very sportsmanlike with veteran teams doing their best to help out novice teams.

My daughters' selected college has three support programs that apply to her. Women in Science and Engineering (her dorm assignment, academics, and other social activities), Women in Mechanical Engineering (social and professional), and Society of Women Engineers (social and professional).

What I think happens is some of the very best academic women go into engineering in science, but the next tier academically go off and pursue other occupations such as nursing and teaching. Men on the other hand have representatives from both tiers in engineering. This is what makes it so hard to increase percentages with merit scholarship. The mechanical engineering department sets aside $1,000/yr for women (I don't know if it is all women but just the higher academically performing ones). That is really not an incentive.

[Adrahil]

13. well said. Thanks! NT

[joeglow3]

11. EXACTLY. I worked in public accounting and faced similar challenges

All three companies I worked for spent a lot of resources trying to recruit minorities. When I was involved in recruiting, we were directly told to focus on any minority before looking at anyone else. The first question in my exit interview at one of the companies was "what do you think we can do differently to attract more minorities?" However, in a field that requires a masters degree, you are stuck with the available pool of applicants. They have realized this and have programs where they work with high schools to get minorities interested into going to college and majoring in accounting. They also participated in a program called Inroads where they would identify minorities entering college and give them menial jobs. Then, as they moved on and began to learn skills for the job, give more opportunities.

We had one guy who started off in a typical college job: doing mail. By the time he was a junior, he was going along on audits and working with the staff accountants. Sadly, he eventually decided he did not want to do accounting. Overall, the issue is MUCH greater than why are companies not hiring minorities. Big companies realize there is a huge relatively un-tapped market of great employees. However, you are limited by the pool that is qualified. Personally, I think resources would be MUCH better spent in high schools, encouraging kids to realize the opportunities available.

[Munificence]

22. dupe

Last edited Wed Mar 19, 2014, 06:14 PM - Edit history (1)

[Munificence]

23. I hired an African American

Engineer around 20 years ago. I too am an engineer. It was for a supplier to Honda.

He was a great guy, not your typical "nerd" engineer but was well rounded like the 5 or 6 of us that were already in place in our department...engineers that pretty much drink beers, act goofy and were common guys for the most part.

On the 3rd day of work he approached me and said "Do you think we can go talk to HR an eliminate any record of me working here so I can quit?". I asked him why he wanted to quit and he pretty much said "Man I am a black guy that is 24 years old with an engineering degree, I can pretty much write my own ticket getting a job with the big guys due to a quota system".

After we left the HR meeting (They agreed to erase his record) I was walking him out, looked at him and told him that I was sorry to be losing him and told him that if I was in his position I'd be doing exactly what he is doing and that I did not blame him for doing what he was doing. He pretty much looked at me and said "I intend on using my blackness to work for NASA one day, I am shooting for the moon".

He was pretty much a young kid at the time and that was 20 years ago. Guy had smarts across the board and had all the potential in the world. I hope however that he used his talents to progress through his career vs his skin color status as he was a pretty smart guy and could make it to where he wanted with his talent.

He was the only African American engineer in the place out of maybe 40 of us that were white /Asian engineers.

Of note: I later went to work for Kodak in Research and Development. There were around 600 of us in the facility that consisted of all engineers and engineering techs.... and I can't say that I recall seeing an African-American engineer among us.

One thing however that I will note and really do not understand, is the resentment from production worker level folks that are black towards other black people that excelled and had a degree or worked their way up....the production workers despised any/all of them that were in management or had a specialized degree. Most were considered and portrayed as "Uncle Toms" and their life was pretty much made miserable at work by folks from their own ethnic background. With this said, I come from a rural "redneck" upbringing. I wanted to get out from the Appalachia region and do better in life and most of my friends/family that I left behind there are still proud of me "getting out" and becoming successful (I retired 3 years ago at age 40 after selling a business). It seems my peers were proud that I broke the mold and like to live vicariously through me, however from what I have seen had I been black, my peers would have labeled me an "Uncle Tom".

[exboyfil]

15. He should be pushing for more funding for science, math, and Project Lead the Way

at high schools with large minority enrollment. The universities would be happy to have more strong minority candidates. The high flyers already have their choice of many colleges (an African American young man at our table at Engineering Scholar's Day at the university my daughter is going to listed three schools in addition to Iowa State). I believe ISU would be very happy to have him. A degree from a middle or top tier engineering university is not guaranteed employment, but placement rates are very high. The young man is planning on studying Computer Engineering.

[valerief]

17. I don't understand. I thought the U.S. tech industry was all outsourced Indian and Chinese. nt

[Android3.14]

18. "hiring or spending what is commensurate with the demographics of their customers"

If that were the case, they'd be hiring mostly high school students.

[cemaphonic]

21. How are high school students the primay customer base of the tech sector?

And I agree with the posters upthread - this sort of top-down approach isn't likely to be very successful when the companies in question are limited by their pool of qualified applicants. Expanding minority access to good education at all levels is what's needed, but that's a much harder nut to crack than writing a stern letter to the CEO of H-P.

[Android3.14]

26. My teens use tech more than I do, and I base my career on the tech

Most of the new crap we buy is for them.
I meant more as humor, since the basis of Jackson's pique seems a bit silly
But here is more data on youth and technology.
http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheets/teens-fact-sheet/

[mahatmakanejeeves]

19. I am a white, male engineer and HPQ shareholder.

Now that we have the disclaimers out of the way, let's look at HPQ's directors:

Hewlett-Packard Company 2014 Notice & Proxy Statement

I've started on page 34, where the descriptions of the directors begin.

I voted my shares via computer last week. I also voted my shares of Canon. (Why, yes, I do have a remarkable ability to pick stocks that go down after I buy them.) For an interesting contrast, take a look at their directors:

Notice of Convocation of the Ordinary General Meeting os Shareholders for the 113th Business Term

The descriptions and photographs of Canon's directors begins on page 6. Gee, that's not what I'd call diversified.

I wouldn't say that what I do is glamorous or exciting. Can you think of a TV series about an engineer? I can't. Even architects had TV series:



The upside is that engineers run the world, and we do such a good job of it that non-engineers never know it. (Was I supposed to let that out? Whoops.)

By the way, my supervisor is a white, female engineer.

[kelliekat44]

24. Behind the scenes, blacks have contributed significantly to the tech sector..it just isn't

publicized. At IBM, HP, JPL etc. several black engineers hold patents on some pretty heady technology. A lot more could and should be done to publicize this and this alone would give incentives to minority school children. Many don't choose they fields because they don't see others like them..when there are quite a few behind the scenes. Notice NASA and the last Mars landing...look at who holds some of the top positions. Also, unknown to many is that a black engineer hired from NBC NY by Hughes when it started DirecTV was responsible for building the DTV from the ground up, hiring the first 200 employees and acquiring the resources and infrastructure to get DTV off the ground. But I bet you never heard about him?

Added for reference: http://www.nsbe.org/

[WhoWoodaKnew]

25. Jesse should work on getting a more diverse group into math and science.

Companies are gonna hire from the pool that's there. As a long time business owner, I just hire the best person for the job. I can't afford to make mistakes.