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http://www.insanely-great.com/news.php?id=1705
Workplace Diversity? Not in the Tech Industry
By Remy Davison, Insanely Great Mac
February 18th 2003
Recruiting blacks and Latinos to the tech industry is proving difficult for some
science and engineering schools.
Latinos and black students are reasonably well-represented in science and engineering
faculties - at least at San Jose State University. But that doesn't mean a high level
of recruitment or representation by tech firms, reports the San Jose Mercury.
But despite making recruitment of Latino and black students a central part of their
program, San Jose has trouble attacting the students to its engineering faculty. Part
of the problem is the fact that the school relies on volunteers to act as recruiters -
mostly current students.
A report cited in the article says that for 1997-2000, Californian Latinos and blacks
were the least likely to be in college full-time; more opt for two-year college.
Nevertheless, major tech companies, such as HP, claim they actively work to help
recruit black and Latino
students. HP offers scholarships, internships and computer equipment.
One industry observer is critical of the tech firms however: John Templeton argues
that companies place too much responsibility at the feet of schools.
"The qualifications are generally just an excuse to avoid giving people an
opportunity,'' Templeton says. "Everybody I know in technology picked it up from
experience."
That was how Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Steve Wozniak started off. Neither Jobs nor
Gates completed their degrees. Woz was a largely self-taught inventor who later
pursued further studies.
Another obstacle for black and Latino students was Silicon Valley itself: high real
estate prices discourage younger graduates from moving to the area. As a result, firms
such as Oracle and Intel are looking beyond the Valley for recruits.
Analysis: As ever, business would rather pay as little as possible to help educate
students, while nevertheless reaping the benefits of public education. The tech
slowdown hasn't helped, obviously. It's getting harder to get a foot in the door and,
with venture capital less readily available, older, more experienced workers aren't
leaving the industry to run their own startup. Job security has become more important.
And, until the Next Big Thing shows up (like the PC itself or the internet), things
are likely to stay pretty flat.
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