{"id":49,"date":"2018-10-16T21:15:16","date_gmt":"2018-10-16T21:15:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/publicknowledge.sfmoma.org\/civic-data-solidarity\/?p=49"},"modified":"2018-10-16T21:15:16","modified_gmt":"2018-10-16T21:15:16","slug":"heres-the-clearest-picture-of-silicon-valleys-diversity-yet-its-bad-but-some-companies-are-doing-less-bad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/publicknowledge.sfmoma.org\/civic-data-solidarity\/heres-the-clearest-picture-of-silicon-valleys-diversity-yet-its-bad-but-some-companies-are-doing-less-bad\/","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s the clearest picture of Silicon Valley\u2019s diversity yet: It\u2019s bad. But some companies are doing less bad"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This story was produced by Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting (link organization name to revealnews.org), a nonprofit news organization. Get their investigations emailed to you directly by signing up at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.revealnews.org\/newsletter\/?utm_source=Republish&amp;utm_medium=Partner&amp;utm_campaign=republish_signup\">revealnews.org\/newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Ten large technology companies in Silicon Valley did not employ a single black woman in 2016. Three had no black employees at all. Six did not have a single female executive.<\/p>\n<p>In stark contrast, women outnumbered men in the executive ranks of two Silicon Valley companies, and at another firm, nearly a third of executives were women of color.<\/p>\n<p>A first-of-its kind analysis of 177 of the largest San Francisco Bay Area tech firms by Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting found that while racial and gender disparities are grave, many companies haven\u2019t been held back by conventional excuses.<\/p>\n<p>Prominent tech companies often say they are trying to improve, but hiring diverse staff is difficult. Facebook has blamed a lack of qualified minority candidates.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt has become clear that at the most fundamental level, appropriate representation in technology or any other industry will depend upon more people having the opportunity to gain necessary skills through the public education system,\u201d its chief diversity officer, Maxine Williams, <a href=\"https:\/\/newsroom.fb.com\/news\/2016\/07\/facebook-diversity-update-positive-hiring-trends-show-progress\/\">wrote<\/a>\u00a0in 2016.<\/p>\n<p>For that same year, Reveal\u2019s data shows that a majority of large tech companies headquartered in Silicon Valley \u2013 91 of them \u2013 had a higher percentage of black, Latino and multiracial employees among their ranks of executives, managers and professionals than Facebook. That included powerhouses such as Intel and the two firms that used to make up Hewlett-Packard: HP Inc. and Hewlett Packard Enterprise.<\/p>\n<p>Facebook spokesman Anthony Harrison said the company has recruited students of color with specialized training programs, including an engineer-in-residence program at historically black colleges and Hispanic-serving institutions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe understand we need to create real training opportunities for students that build on their academic experience,\u201d Harrison said in an email.<\/p>\n<p>Facebook is among a handful of firms that have erred on the side of transparency by routinely releasing diversity data. Identifying other tech leaders and stragglers is difficult \u2013 even though the numbers are reported to the government annually.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity commission collects data on race, gender and job category for every company in the United States with more than 100 employees, but it keeps the information confidential.<\/p>\n<p>Last fall, Reveal\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/apps.revealnews.org\/silicon-valley-diversity-list\/\">asked<\/a>\u00a0the largest tech companies based in Silicon Valley to share their one-page, federally mandated forms, known as EEO-1 reports.<\/p>\n<p>After Reveal\u2019s<a href=\"https:\/\/www.revealnews.org\/article\/hidden-figures-how-silicon-valley-keeps-diversity-data-secret\/\">\u00a0initial report<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.revealnews.org\/blog\/slack-releases-official-diversity-numbers-for-the-first-time\/\">Slack<\/a>\u00a0and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.revealnews.org\/blog\/paypal-gains-in-diversity-but-top-managers-still-white-male\/\">\u00a0PayPal<\/a>\u00a0released their EEO-1 reports for the first time. Reveal obtained forms from electronics manufacturer Sanmina and data services firm NetApp through Freedom of Information Act requests. Besides Facebook, some other tech giants \u2013 including Google, Apple and Intel \u2013 regularly publish theirs.<\/p>\n<p>In all, the data is public for only\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/apps.revealnews.org\/silicon-valley-diversity-list\/\">26<\/a>\u00a0firms for 2016.<\/p>\n<p>But a collaboration between Reveal and the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.centerforemploymentequity.org\/\">Center for Employment Equity<\/a>at the University of Massachusetts Amherst offers the most detailed picture ever of the entire field and allows those that are public to be compared with all their peers. The equity center, after a confidentiality review by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, provided Reveal with anonymized statistics for 177 companies.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.revealnews.org\/blog\/how-we-created-a-baseline-for-silicon-valleys-diversity-problem\">Reveal<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.centerforemploymentequity.org\/reports-1\">equity center<\/a>\u00a0then independently analyzed the data.<\/p>\n<p>When it comes to diversity, companies often want to shift responsibility to others, according to Donald Tomaskovic-Devey, a sociology professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst\u2019s Center for Employment Equity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is not something they do for any other part of the production process,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Disparities particularly stark at leadership level<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Nearly a third of the firms in Reveal\u2019s analysis, including two that have made their statistics public \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/take.lyft.com\/diversity\/EEO1-Reports-2016.pdf\">Lyft<\/a>\u00a0and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/4107501-Square-2016.html\">\u00a0Square<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 had no executives who were women of color.<\/p>\n<p>And the number of black executives is so low that having any at all catapulted companies to the top of the rankings. Three of 36 executives at NetApp were black, for instance, but that\u2019s 8 percent, making it the second highest among large tech firms.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/wwwimages.adobe.com\/content\/dam\/acom\/en\/diversity\/pdfs\/consolidated-eeo-1-2016.pdf\">Adobe Systems<\/a>, a larger company, had almost three times the number of executives of NetApp, but none were black in 2016, according to its EEO-1 report.<\/p>\n<p>Among companies that shared their data publicly, only\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/fbnewsroomus.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/08\/eeo-1-report-2017.pdf\">Facebook<\/a>\u00a0had more than 10 black executives.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/4107513-Nvidia-2016.html\">Nvidia<\/a>\u00a0ranked in the bottom four of the 177 large tech companies for gender representation. The venerable chipmaker \u2013 whose stock price has increased more than tenfold in the last three years with its advances in artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, self-driving cars and virtual reality \u2013 had a lower percentage of women than its direct competitor, Intel. Nvidia\u2019s workforce was 17 percent women, while Intel\u2019s was 26 percent. Reached by email, Nvidia declined multiple requests to discuss its record.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_50\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-50\" class=\"size-full wp-image-50\" src=\"http:\/\/publicknowledge.sfmoma.org\/civic-data-solidarity\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2018\/10\/AP_17150295523518-1024x707.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"707\" srcset=\"https:\/\/publicknowledge.sfmoma.org\/civic-data-solidarity\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2018\/10\/AP_17150295523518-1024x707.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/publicknowledge.sfmoma.org\/civic-data-solidarity\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2018\/10\/AP_17150295523518-1024x707-300x207.jpg 300w, https:\/\/publicknowledge.sfmoma.org\/civic-data-solidarity\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2018\/10\/AP_17150295523518-1024x707-768x530.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-50\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang delivers a speech about AI and gaming during the Computex Taipei exhibition at the world trade center in Taipei, Taiwan, Tuesday, May 30, 2017. (AP Photo\/Chiang Ying-ying)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Three companies had even lower representation of women than Nvidia, however, including the smart-glass manufacturer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/4107504-View-2016.html\">View<\/a>. The other two are among those that keep their diversity statistics anonymous.<\/p>\n<p>And while both Nvidia and online retail giant\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/static.ebayinc.com\/assets\/Uploads\/Documents\/eBay-2016-EEO-1-Report.pdf\">eBay<\/a>\u00a0had a high proportion of Asian professionals, such as analysts, designers and engineers, they employed among the lowest percentages of black, Latino and multiracial professionals.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>A gradual cultural shift<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Genetic testing company\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/4107286-23andMe-2016.html\">23andMe<\/a>\u00a0had one of the highest percentages of female executives, ranking third.<\/p>\n<p>The Mountain View-based company joined\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.paypalobjects.com\/digitalassets\/c\/website\/marketing\/global\/shared\/global\/media-resources\/documents\/PayPal-September-2016-EEO-1-Consolidated-Report.pdf\">PayPal<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/4107284-Airbnb-2016.html\">Airbnb<\/a>\u00a0and financial services software firm\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.intuit.com\/content\/dam\/intuit\/intuitcom\/documents\/company\/intuit-EEO-report-2016.pdf\">Intuit<\/a>\u00a0in employing large numbers of women as executives and managers \u2013 more than 40 percent, far higher than the average of 28 percent at large tech companies.<\/p>\n<p>At the helm of 23andMe is one of Silicon Valley\u2019s few female CEOs, Anne Wojcicki. Having a female co-founder and CEO has been helpful, said Mark Lipscomb, the company\u2019s vice president of people.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_51\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-51\" class=\"wp-image-51 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/publicknowledge.sfmoma.org\/civic-data-solidarity\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2018\/10\/AP_19947031815-1024x800.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/publicknowledge.sfmoma.org\/civic-data-solidarity\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2018\/10\/AP_19947031815-1024x800.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/publicknowledge.sfmoma.org\/civic-data-solidarity\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2018\/10\/AP_19947031815-1024x800-300x234.jpg 300w, https:\/\/publicknowledge.sfmoma.org\/civic-data-solidarity\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2018\/10\/AP_19947031815-1024x800-768x600.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-51\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Anne Wojcicki, CEO of genetic testing company 23andMe, is one of the few women at the helm of a large Silicon Valley tech company. Credit: Jeff Chiu\/Associated Press<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cOther companies that I have come from have coined diversity as an \u2018initiative,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cHere, diversity is not really an initiative. It\u2019s more embedded in our culture. It\u2019s an attitude driven by Anne and permeates to the executive team and rest of the company.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In addition to leading among black executives, NetApp also was among the leaders for women of color in executive roles, ranking sixth.<\/p>\n<p>But even some of the most diverse companies have work to do.<\/p>\n<p>View, a billion-dollar company, had the second-highest share of black workers, but none were executives. And it ranked second to last for women. A spokesman said that the company\u2019s numbers have improved over time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile we\u2019re encouraged to see the numbers of women at View improve year over year, we\u2019re continuing to invest in recruiting efforts to attract more,\u201d said Cameron Craig, View\u2019s head of global corporate communications. \u201cWe see diversity as a key competitive advantage that fuels innovation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And all of 23andMe\u2019s executives were either white or Asian in 2016, according to its EEO-1 reports. Lipscomb acknowledged this shortcoming and said the company is working to develop diverse talent for leadership roles.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s been a gradual cultural shift toward seeing diversity as an important value that not only adds to the bottom line, but also is a moral responsibility, said Katherine Emerson, a researcher at Mills College in Oakland who studies corporate diversity.<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Diversity has been a frequent topic of research interest in the past decade, she added. The difference today, she said, \u201cis that people are listening.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Airbnb\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/airbnb-engineering\/beginning-with-ourselves-48c5ed46a703\">laid out a plan<\/a>\u00a0in 2016 to recruit more female data scientists.<\/p>\n<p>Google, in an effort to be more transparent,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/diversity.google\/annual-report\/\">released<\/a>\u00a0its own 2018 diversity report with attrition data for the first time. The report acknowledged that even though it was hiring more black workers, it also was losing them at a higher rate than other groups.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/4107499-Pinterest-2016.html\">Pinterest<\/a>\u00a0announced its diversity goals <a href=\"https:\/\/newsroom.pinterest.com\/en\/post\/our-plan-for-a-more-diverse-pinterest\">publicly<\/a>\u00a0in 2015 and followed that up with reports on <a href=\"https:\/\/newsroom.pinterest.com\/en\/post\/a-2016-update-on-diversity-at-pinterest\">progress and failures<\/a>. It had the highest share of managers who were women of color among the named companies in Reveal\u2019s analysis.<\/p>\n<p>The company\u2019s CEO, Ben Silbermann, sets the tone for what diversity should look like at the company, said Ken Coleman, an industry veteran who serves as an adviser to the company.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe tone at the top matters a lot,\u201d Coleman said. \u201cThe leader of the organization has to be clear and vocal about their commitment to diversity.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Most companies keep data secret<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Getting reliable diversity data from tech companies has been an uphill climb not just for journalists, but also for tech employees and civil rights advocates.<\/p>\n<p>The Rev.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.revealnews.org\/blog\/jesse-jackson-calls-out-silicon-valley-empty-promises-on-diversity\/\">\u00a0Jesse Jackson<\/a>, who has been at the forefront of advocating for data transparency and accountability initiatives at tech companies, criticized the numbers for black and Latino workers for remaining low several years after companies made public commitments.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese are the greatest planners in the world,\u201d he said. \u201cThey plan global markets. They plan technologies. They have not planned inclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Strangely, some of the companies doing the best choose to remain anonymous. One company reported that a third of its executives are from underrepresented minority groups. Another company \u2013 it could even be the same one because its identity also is hidden \u2013 said 82 percent of its executives and managers were women.<\/p>\n<p>Despite having one of the more diverse executive rungs in the industry, NetApp\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.revealnews.org\/article\/11-men-and-1-woman-on-management-team-no-need-for-diversity-report\/\">opposed<\/a>\u00a0a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/Archives\/edgar\/data\/1002047\/000119312517244241\/d420710ddef14a.htm#toc420710_111\">shareholder resolution<\/a>\u00a0to release its data. It refused to give the information to Reveal directly, too, but didn\u2019t object to its release by the government when we filed a FOIA request with the Labor Department for its 2016 data.<\/p>\n<p>NetApp, Facebook and other tech companies say EEO-1 reports don\u2019t accurately reflect how they think about their workforces. The EEO-1 is a snapshot in time and doesn\u2019t include all of NetApp\u2019s employees because the form covers only the U.S., according to Barbara Hardy, the company\u2019s global head of diversity, inclusion and belonging.<\/p>\n<p>Nonetheless, NetApp earlier this year released its\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.netapp.com\/us\/media\/2017_eeo-1.pdf\">2017 EEO-1 form<\/a>\u00a0on its website.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were just like, \u2018Here, take a look at our EEO-1. We have work to do just like everybody else,\u2019 \u201d Hardy said.<\/p>\n<p>Other federal contractors such as Palantir Technologies, Oracle and Pandora Media opposed the release of their data, calling it a trade secret, and the Labor Department obliged.<\/p>\n<p>In April, Reveal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/4448356-CIR-v-DOL-Complaint.html\">filed<\/a>\u00a0a federal lawsuit alleging that the government violated the Freedom of Information Act by withholding companies\u2019 EEO-1s. That lawsuit is pending.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>White men dominate executive ranks<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>If career paths were staircases, the stairway leading women of color to the top narrows as it rises. For white men, it widens.<\/p>\n<p>Reveal\u2019s data shows that the share of women of color drops higher up at large tech companies. Among professionals \u2013 engineers, designers and analysts, for example \u2013 12 percent were Asian women in 2016, but 8 percent of managers and 4.5 percent of executives were Asian women.<\/p>\n<p>The reverse is true for white men, who accounted for about 39 percent of professionals, 47 percent of managers and 59 percent of executives. The share of white women across job levels remained relatively consistent.<\/p>\n<p>Many factors contribute to this trend, including the hostilities that some women say they face every step of the way while working in tech.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-52\" src=\"http:\/\/publicknowledge.sfmoma.org\/civic-data-solidarity\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2018\/10\/white-and-asian-final-dark-blue-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1914\" height=\"1746\" srcset=\"https:\/\/publicknowledge.sfmoma.org\/civic-data-solidarity\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2018\/10\/white-and-asian-final-dark-blue-1.png 1914w, https:\/\/publicknowledge.sfmoma.org\/civic-data-solidarity\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2018\/10\/white-and-asian-final-dark-blue-1-300x274.png 300w, https:\/\/publicknowledge.sfmoma.org\/civic-data-solidarity\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2018\/10\/white-and-asian-final-dark-blue-1-768x701.png 768w, https:\/\/publicknowledge.sfmoma.org\/civic-data-solidarity\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2018\/10\/white-and-asian-final-dark-blue-1-1024x934.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1914px) 100vw, 1914px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>According to a 2017 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaporcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/TechLeavers2017.pdf\">study<\/a>\u00a0by the Kapor Center for Social Impact, a think tank, women and other underrepresented groups are more likely to experience unfair treatment, stereotyping and bullying in tech workplaces, and these experiences directly drive turnover.<\/p>\n<p>June Manley, co-founder of Female Founders Faster Forward, a nonprofit that helps female entrepreneurs raise venture capital funding, said she felt disrespected while interviewing for a leadership position last year at VMware, a large cloud computing software company.<\/p>\n<p>Manley said her interviewer, a senior vice president, told her that she shouldn\u2019t expect to join his team as a vice president because he \u201cprefers a flat organization.\u201d At the time, Manley had founded a tech company of her own and had 17 years of experience working in tech, including in high-profile roles at firms such as HP and Citrix.<\/p>\n<p>After the interview, Manley said one of the male vice president\u2019s subordinates told her that she shouldn\u2019t join the company if she wanted to work as a vice president on that team, because it was unlikely she\u2019d get promoted once she was on board. The company was an \u201cold boys\u2019 club,\u201d the employee advised.<\/p>\n<p>VMware doesn\u2019t release its EEO-1s publicly. In the 2015 report obtained by Reveal through FOIA, the company had 20 percent female executives, about the average for large Silicon Valley tech firms. Reveal has requested the company\u2019s 2016 form through FOIA.<\/p>\n<p>Manley wrote an email to company executives highlighting the incident. VMware spokesman Michael Thacker said the company took her feedback seriously.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGrowing and advancing women\u2019s leadership and representation will remain a key focus area for investment and a business priority at VMware,\u201d Thacker said in a statement.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Missed opportunities for women of color<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Even when women and minorities get through the door, companies aren\u2019t doing enough to help them grow into leaders, said Karla Monterroso, chief executive officer of Code2040, a nonprofit that focuses on developing black and Latino talent in tech.<\/p>\n<p>Shanea King-Roberson, who is black, joined Google in 2013 as a contractor answering user questions on company forums. She later was hired as a full-time <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=eEM-chmk7jU\">program manager<\/a>\u00a0on different teams, including Google Assistant.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_53\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-53\" class=\"size-full wp-image-53\" src=\"http:\/\/publicknowledge.sfmoma.org\/civic-data-solidarity\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2018\/10\/LJ2A0447-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" srcset=\"https:\/\/publicknowledge.sfmoma.org\/civic-data-solidarity\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2018\/10\/LJ2A0447-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/publicknowledge.sfmoma.org\/civic-data-solidarity\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2018\/10\/LJ2A0447-1024x683-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/publicknowledge.sfmoma.org\/civic-data-solidarity\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2018\/10\/LJ2A0447-1024x683-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-53\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shanea King-Roberson was a program manager at Google. But a manager told her that she probably wouldn\u2019t pass Google\u2019s official tests when she tried to move into a higher-profile position for a product manager. She left and is now a senior technical product manager at eBay.<br \/>Credit: Sinduja Rangarajan\/Reveal<\/p><\/div>\n<p>When a higher-profile position for a product manager opened up four years later, she said Google\u2019s bureaucratic processes made it difficult to switch paths, especially for non-engineers such as her.<\/p>\n<p>She had domain knowledge, some technical expertise and experience doing everything a product manager would do. She had created product roadmaps, set metrics and planned strategy, but, she said, that was not enough.<\/p>\n<p>After interviews with five people on the team she wanted to join and positive verbal feedback, King-Roberson said the team manager pulled her aside and told her that she probably wouldn\u2019t pass Google\u2019s official tests.<\/p>\n<p>She said the manager told her that the tests were hard and that her lack of a computer science degree or years of software engineering experience was an obstacle.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201c<\/em>I would rather have the actual title of having product manager for two years plus a CS degree so I can go and do whatever I want to do, rather than what Google tells me that I can or cannot do,\u201d she said. \u201cSo I left.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>King-Roberson already had started pursuing a bachelor\u2019s degree in computer science to add to her degree in business and expects to graduate this summer. After leaving Google, she soon was hired as a senior technical product manager at eBay, where she works on machine learning products.<\/p>\n<p>She acknowledged that the role of a product manager at Google is a coveted position and having a technical degree would have helped, but she also thinks she could have done the job if given the opportunity.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201c<\/em>I think I would have been just fine,\u201d to be honest, she said.\u00a0<em>\u201c<\/em>And I say that objectively because I am doing it now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A computer science degree is not a requirement to be a product manager at Google, a spokeswoman for the company said via email: \u201cThere are a variety of skills we look for in PM candidates, and technical ability and experience is only one of the areas we evaluate and a degree is just one way to capture that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Google did not directly answer questions about whether an emphasis on technical abilities keeps women and minorities from advancing at the company.<\/p>\n<p>Serena Cheng left Google in 2014 after working there for three years as a business product manager. She said the company\u2019s everyday culture was informal and valued innovation through collaboration. But the company\u2019s processes often rewarded engineering experience over other skills in roles such as product management.<\/p>\n<p>And more often than not, women \u2013 and particularly women of color \u2013 didn\u2019t neatly fit into the boxes that hiring managers look for, Cheng said, and companies lose out on the value they can bring.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-54\" src=\"http:\/\/publicknowledge.sfmoma.org\/civic-data-solidarity\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2018\/10\/all-minorities-tech-dark-blue.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1002\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Some tech companies have a process to bring in people from nontraditional backgrounds, said Carissa Romero, a partner at Paradigm, a consulting firm that advises companies on how to create a diverse and inclusive workforce. Pinterest has an <a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/pinclusion-posts\/building-a-more-diverse-pinterest-through-apprenticeship-4732f064091c\">apprenticeship<\/a>\u00a0program to allow people without a degree in computer science to enter the tech industry and help them grow in their company.<\/p>\n<p>Sharla Alegria, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of California, Merced, studies racial and gender inequities in tech. She interviewed dozens of tech workers for one\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/sharlanalegria.wordpress.com\/gender-race-and-migration-in-high-tech-work\/\">study<\/a>\u00a0and found that women of color struggled to switch teams or change career tracks within their companies.<\/p>\n<p>She found that white women in technical roles were offered opportunities to become managers in which they could use their communication skills to translate between technical teams and management \u2013 even if the women weren\u2019t actively seeking those jobs.<\/p>\n<p>As part of her research, Alegria met a 21-year-old white woman who was still in school and interviewing for her first job out of college as an engineer. The interviewers asked her if she\u2019d like to be a manager instead because of her communication skills.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey tried to give her a role of a team lead or project manager instead of an engineer because she was particularly gregarious, even though she had no experience in management,\u201d Alegria said. She \u201chad a degree in computer science and was barely qualified for this engineering position that she was trying to get.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Those same promotions weren\u2019t offered to the women of color in Alegria\u2019s study.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery woman of color I interviewed was in a position that she had exactly the skills and credentials for,\u201d she said. \u201cThere was none of this \u2018oh you have these fantastic communication skills; this job is really good for you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When white women move into managerial roles, some say they feel like it\u2019s a step down from the social status of being an engineer, Alegria found. But they at least had options to move to other roles that offered more flexibility and an escape from male-dominated engineering teams.<\/p>\n<p>Women of color didn\u2019t get those opportunities, she said, so they\u2019d be more likely to leave tech.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Women, minorities overrepresented in support jobs<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Even in some companies with more diverse workforces, women and minorities \u2013 especially black workers \u2013 were overrepresented in support positions such as administrative assistants, customer service and retail.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/fbnewsroomus.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/08\/eeo-1-report-2017.pdf\">Facebook<\/a>, for instance, had 21 times as many women as men in its administrative support jobs in 2016, a proportion much higher than most other companies that have released their numbers. At the executive level, it was two and half times as many men, according to its EEO-1 report.<\/p>\n<p>More than half of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.apple.com\/diversity\/pdf\/2016-EEO-1-Consolidated-Report.pdf\">Apple\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0Latino and black employees worked in retail or administrative support.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/4107497-Lyft-2016.html\">Lyft<\/a>\u00a0had a higher representation of black workers across job levels compared with its peers. But still, 70 percent of its black employees worked in administrative support.<\/p>\n<p>The distribution of a company\u2019s workforce \u2013 who\u2019s working and in which positions \u2013 sends signals to minority groups, said Katherine Emerson, the Mills College researcher.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAm I welcome at the top and they just haven\u2019t found anybody to be up there first? Or is it that people like me are going to be relegated to lower-level positions?\u201d she said. \u201cAnd that experience for women and for people of color is so exhausting and so stressful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Angelica Coleman, who is black, worked as an executive assistant supporting engineering teams at the online file storage company Dropbox. She said she learned to code from her colleagues and friends and had a verbal offer to move onto a design team at the company. But, she said, her boss blocked the move.<\/p>\n<p>Coleman wrote in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/angelica.coleman.7\/posts\/10204946714727724?pnref=story\">Facebook post<\/a>\u00a0at the time that another \u201cwhite manager sat me down, looked me in the eye and told me, \u2018If you ever want to be anything other than an admin, you need to go somewhere else.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dropbox did not respond to Reveal for this story and is one of the companies that hasn\u2019t released its EEO-1 report.<\/p>\n<p>After leaving Dropbox in 2015, Coleman was able to move up. She worked at Zendesk, a software company, as a developer relations manager, supporting the platform\u2019s third-party developers and doing some programming. She currently works as a community director at the nonprofit Lesbians Who Tech.<\/p>\n<p>Companies should create pathways for people in support roles to move up the ladder through training and mentorship, Code2040\u2019s Monterroso said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the previous generations, folks who were working in the mailroom at Kodak would all of a sudden become the manager of an entire region because they worked themselves up little by little,\u201d she said. \u201cThat is not the life that current entry-level and working-class people have.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Is there a pipeline problem?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Studies\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.leakytechpipeline.com\/\">repeatedly<\/a>\u00a0have exposed a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/02\/26\/upshot\/dont-blame-recruiting-pipeline-for-lack-of-diversity-in-tech.html\">gap<\/a>\u00a0between the percentage of black and Latino computer science graduates in the country and the percentage of black and Latino engineers in Silicon Valley.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUsually companies feel like it\u2019s more of a pipeline problem, but often, the pipeline has more diversity than the current employee population,\u201d said Romero, the Paradigm diversity consultant. \u201cAnd that\u2019s particularly true when you look at race and ethnicity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tech companies care too much about pedigree and schools, Monterroso said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStanford is not a skill. MIT is not a skill. Harvard is not a skill,\u201d she said. \u201cThey have yet to identify the skills that are disproportionately coming from those universities that make them top-tier talent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In addition, minorities hold a far higher percentage of tech jobs outside the tech sector, suggesting that there may be more workers available than the current narrow pool from which tech companies recruit.<\/p>\n<p>A recent Government Accountability Office\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gao.gov\/assets\/690\/688460.pdf\">report<\/a>\u00a0estimated that 8 percent of professionals at companies such as banks, universities and hospitals were black, including employees in technical roles. Meanwhile, 4 percent of all professionals in leading tech companies were black, according to the report.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf there is a pipeline problem here,\u201d said Donald Tomaskovic-Devey, the University of Massachusetts Amherst professor, \u201cit may simply be the failure to build the pipe.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ten large technology companies in Silicon Valley did not employ a single black woman in 2016. Three had no black employees at all. Six did not have a single female executive.<\/p>\n<p>In stark contrast, women outnumbered men in the executive ranks of two Silicon Valley companies, and at another firm, nearly a third of executives were women of color.<\/p>\n<p>A first-of-its kind analysis of 177 of the largest San Francisco Bay Area tech firms by Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting found that while racial and gender disparities are grave, many companies haven\u2019t been held back by conventional excuses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":55,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diversity-in-silicon-valley"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/publicknowledge.sfmoma.org\/civic-data-solidarity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/publicknowledge.sfmoma.org\/civic-data-solidarity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/publicknowledge.sfmoma.org\/civic-data-solidarity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/publicknowledge.sfmoma.org\/civic-data-solidarity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/publicknowledge.sfmoma.org\/civic-data-solidarity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/publicknowledge.sfmoma.org\/civic-data-solidarity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/publicknowledge.sfmoma.org\/civic-data-solidarity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/publicknowledge.sfmoma.org\/civic-data-solidarity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/publicknowledge.sfmoma.org\/civic-data-solidarity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/publicknowledge.sfmoma.org\/civic-data-solidarity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}