It&#x27;s your choice to ignore it. More precisely, it&#x27;s your privilege to ignore it.<p>&quot;...how do we as a technical industry even change that when we need to focus...&quot;<p>The point of startups is not blindly attacking the biggest pile of work at hand. It&#x27;s to find blindspots and exploit them. If every single one of your competitors is systematically undervaluing entire classes of potential workers, dontcha think that just maybe there&#x27;s an opportunity to be had there?<p>But no. For all the talk of merit, getting shit done, hustle, etc, it&#x27;s mostly about connections. You can&#x27;t hold onto the meritocratic myth and ignore completely obvious evidence to the contrary forever. But damn, so many rich white guys around here love to try.