How to improve diversity in your tech team

A talk I gave at the Android Australia User Group about different ways tech companies can improve diversity. It was a Ladies Who Lightning talk event, however, the things I mention are relevant for diversifying your team generally.

Transcript

1. Improving Diversity in your tech team Not just women - everyone who isn’t just like you Attacking technical, cultural, environmental problems from different angles helps you to find better solutions
2. All know development teams tend to be mostly male, and mostly white male in Australia (and USA) Interesting approaches - ThoughtWorks - for every man, had to hire a woman. Slowed rate of hiring, meant improved ratios Etsy is interesting - initially saw 35% decrease in diversity when they prioritised attracting female engineers but ~500% increase female engineers over 2 years
3. Why is it so hard to hire women? Fewer women but lowering standards is counter productive - reinforces the impression that women aren’t good at engineering. Junior programs coming through - community level tech - takes time. Tend to be conservative about changing jobs - feel accepted, less likely to go
4. Job ad - inclusive, not competitive, avoid hard hitting, checking tool - http://joblint.org/ List skills/responsibilities Women - self reject, men self select Environment - dude brogrammers/ninja/rockstar.. even hacker - not a selling point
5. Specific technologies, but not listed in a checklist Inclusive language, what you’ll build Details about environment, no brogrammer speak joblint.org
6. Potential Selection bias Remove names?
7. Interview Advice for all interviews really - be open, reasonably informal, but taking the process seriously, don’t make it too easy, but start off in a general chit chat to make the person comfortable - be inviting
 If possible, in interviews with more than one interviewer, try and have a woman as well. In pairing or whiteboard type exercises - build together, don’t prove how much smarter you as an interviewer are (or try and trick your interviewee) - understand diifferent app Consistent from interview to interview, male and female - structure for data collection
8. The offer: 18.2% underpaid - tend not to say what the want Negotiate pay increases less frequently Increasing salary from one underpaid job to the next
9. Your team The team: 1 woman = the woman in the team 2 women = part of the team Good news - Hire one then it gets easier to hire another Read any code of conduct - apply to the workplace - first woman Catch up regularly Tech communities around the world trying to improve diversity so you’re not alone
10. Questions? @GRobilliard 
 g@lookahead.com.au