←back to thread

For black CEOs in Silicon Valley, humiliation is a part of doing business

(www.bloomberg.com)
677 points saeedjabbar | 5 comments | 16 Jun 20 15:19 UTC | HN request time: 0.231s | source
Show context
ibudiallo ◴[16 Jun 20 22:05 UTC] No.23544856[source]▶
I usually choose to believe in "the honest mistake". It happens, two people walk in, one of them is the CEO, you assume it is the one on the right. And then when you realize it is a mistake, you apologize. We are only human.

But when it happens over and over and over, you can't help but feel frustrated. You realize that people natural instinct is to think you are the subordinate. One second your are on stage at Techcrunch (I was in 2017), where you have clearly introduced yourself. You get off-stage, they greet your colleague and ask him the questions as if he was on stage.

I was often in the interview room waiting for my interviewer, only to have him show up, and tell me I must be in the wrong room. A simple "Hey are you XYZ?" could have avoided this frustration.

I've written an article about my experience working as a black developer, I'll post it here in the near future. You wouldn't believe how lonely it is. In my team of 150 people, we were two black people.

replies(15): >>23545199 #>>23545309 #>>23546055 #>>23546168 #>>23546426 #>>23548047 #>>23548134 #>>23548422 #>>23549653 #>>23549654 #>>23549765 #>>23550199 #>>23550203 #>>23550498 #>>23550535 #
dgb23 ◴[17 Jun 20 00:27 UTC] No.23546168[source]▶
> You wouldn't believe how lonely it is. In my team of 150 people, we were two black people.

This is a huge part of the problem isn't it?

I believe these painful interactions would be much less common if tech culture were more diverse in the first place.

Women share a similar fate. Whenever I hear some of these stories I cringe. Some of them are surprising/shocking even.

But this seems important. Hearing those stories including the ones you mentioned. Not necessarily to point fingers (although sometimes we should) but rather to fight this common, widespread ignorance.

replies(2): >>23548673 #>>23549634 #
1. peteretep ◴[17 Jun 20 09:53 UTC] No.23549634[source]▶
> I believe these painful interactions would be much less common if tech culture were more diverse in the first place.

I have this bias that people who get into programming as kids tend to end up as the strongest developers. My own personal effort to try and help tech diversify is support and promotion of https://www.blackgirlscode.com/

When I've worked in London I've been often surprised at how diverse QA teams are, especially compared to dev teams. I wonder if that's related.

replies(1): >>23549733 #
2. watwut ◴[17 Jun 20 10:11 UTC] No.23549733[source]▶
> I have this bias that people who get into programming as kids tend to end up as the strongest developers.

I don't think this is true. I think that this bias is pushing away a lot of people who could be those strong developers, but think it is already too late for them.

replies(3): >>23552182 #>>23557339 #>>23559009 #
3. historyremade ◴[17 Jun 20 14:57 UTC] No.23552182[source]▶
Early exposure has some impact.
4. mewpmewp2 ◴[17 Jun 20 22:05 UTC] No.23557339[source]▶
This should definitely correlate. If you want to be strongest in sports you have to start early. Same with programming. You will not only have more experience timewise, but also brain is more malleable in the young age to make the person naturally have the correct mindset.
5. da39a3ee ◴[18 Jun 20 02:00 UTC] No.23559009[source]▶
I just want to point something out -- it's not clear that you're making the mistake I'm referring to, but it's a common bone of contention.

Your second sentence is an "ought sentence". It's about how we would like the world to be (a world where everyone who has the potential to be strong at something doesn't get discouraged)

Your first sentence is an "is sentence". It's a statement about how you think the world is.

Putting the second sentence after the first makes some people think that you're confused about the relationship between "is" and "ought". This is a criticism often levelled at the more daffy left-wing/liberal/progressive extremes -- that they refuse to confront the distinction between how the world is and how we would like it to be.

People who want liberal/left political thought to be rescued from dumb 21st century "progressives" find this sort of thing upsetting when it comes from someone who, as in your case, obviously is expressing a worthy sentiment.