We ran the numbers, and there really is a pipeline problem in engineering hiring
I think it&#x27;s pretty bold to post something like this. As a person of color, I absolutely observe bias in hiring processes and recruiting...however as someone who majored in CS it&#x27;s undeniable that we have far less women and minorities going through these programs.<p>After I graduated, my university managed to get the number closer to 60&#x2F;40 of men vs. women but when I graduated there was just one woman in our graduating class. I heard anecdotally from those majoring in EE how they had professors actually discourage them from continuing because they were &#x27;too anxious&#x27; about grades and other stuff.<p>I&#x27;m male and I was the only LatinX person in my CS major; there were several more in EE by comparison. Part of the problem might be cultural pressure...my parents were extremely disappointed when I decided to major in &#x27;Computer Science&#x27; rather than a major with &#x27;Engineering&#x27; in the title. They did not get that it was part of the school of engineering, that for all intents and purposes I was an engineer, and the job kicks ass. They wanted to be able to say I was an &#x27;ingeniero&#x27; to family in Peru. I ignored them.<p>As for bias in interviewing, I think it&#x27;s really hard for non-POC to understand the more subtle parts of what sucks about interviewing. Even tho I grew up in the states and have been around white people my entire life...there is something about the way most caucasian Americans telegraph (or don&#x27;t) feelings and communicate during a technical interview that put me totally on edge. I get anxious with the &#x27;Zuck&#x27; white guy personality type and somehow these feelings of being poor, being bilingual, going to a shit public school, etc bubble up in my head while I&#x27;m trying to rotate a binary tree. The two times I interviewed onsite at Google I couldn&#x27;t escape the feeling. It felt like the &#x27;whitest&#x27; place ever and that everyone I spoke to was Linus Torvalds or James Damore or someone like that. The fact they didn&#x27;t seem coached to be friendly added dramatically to that effect.<p>It feels stupid to say but when I interview with people of other races, I feel more confident. When I interview with immigrants as well. It&#x27;s my personal bias that I need to work against.<p>EDIT:<p>I&#x27;m not arguing that these anxieties are rational or desirable...they simply exist in my mind and that makes interviewing more challenging. Just as a musician may fear they&#x27;ll forget their parts when they go on stage even if they are virtuosos, these sources of anxiety are real. For engineering interviews, not acknowledging some of these issues lowers your signal to noise ration. Someone might be a fantastic engineer but a 45 minute interview might present enough anxiety that they won&#x27;t be able to show it.