----- Original Message -----
> There's certainly other possibilities. As with all of these sorts of
> "population-demographic comparisons", it's possible that they simply
> aren't interested. That maybe a smaller percentage of
> ${minority_vector} candidates have any interest at all, even exposed
> to the option and opportunity, and maybe that explains the decreased
> career adoption rate.
>
One of the biggest 'controllable' factors involved is that there is very poor
exposure of the field.
- How many "hollywood" portrayals of "people good with computers" show them in
a positive light socially? Typically it's 'socially awkward'. At least Die hard
4 introduced villainy.
- Is the field of IT or System Administration being introduced at the high
school levels? Or are people left to discover it on their own?
- Is there a definition of System Administration that can be explained to the
grandmother that sounds more impressive than "I work with computers"?
I'm not sure of the exact methods to introduce junior-high/high school students
to the profession of System Administration but it doesn't seem impossible. I
lucked out in that I was introduced to computers in second grade (TI-99), my
mother listened when I offhandedly mentioned that I wanted a computer
(Commodore 64) and my high-school was an engineering school that had it's own
mainframe where we learned fortran.
However the biggest stumbling block I see is that there is a cultural stigma to
working with computers. Besides all of the negative connotations with being a
'geek', there is a growing concern where "If you know computers you're smart.
If you're smart you're acting white". I'm old enough that that few times I've
been given that statement ("you're the whitest boy I know") I ignore it. But
for a teenager still trying to find their way in the world, it can be a huge
road block.
If SysAdmins want to encourage more ${minority_vector} students to take a look
into the tech field we need to somehow expose younger students to the field.
Let's not wait until college where the cast is mostly set.
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