Why is this guy being downvoted? Why should companies hire based off skin colour and not skill?

To a first approximation, "zero" is the number of firms that believe they should hire "based off skin colour and not skill". Such a hyperbolic characterization over diversity concerns can't possibly generate a useful conversation.

Even with equal skills, minorities are still discriminated against:

http://www.nber.org/papers/w9873

>The results show significant discrimination against African-American names: White names receive 50 percent more callbacks for interviews.

It's a shame that study appears to have been comparing "weird" black names like Lakisha with "normal" white names like Greg. I'd be interested to see a study that uses "weird" white names like Track or Jairyd or Zaiden for comparison, because I suspect those would also suffer compared to Greg. (Even if an anti-"weird" name bias is all that's at work, this would still probably disproportionately affect black people, unfortunately. I'm just wondering about the causation.)

While I have probably faced what I would consider to be very minor discrimination, I would say that if you're good at what you do people will accept you and you can succeed.

I mention it in another comment, but the pressure I faced to stay in the culture I was brought up in was much more of a deterrent to success than any headwinds I faced in the professional world for being "different".

Because "skill" is not a well defined measure, and it often ends up meaning "people similar to me" in practise?

Diversity isn't about telling white males to step back. It's about encouraging other types of person to step forward, and creating an environment that welcomes and values them.

This isn't the same though as handing out jobs to minirities that they wouldn't have got on merit though.

This is attempting to encourage a larger group to get into the field in the first place.

Well put. +1

You don't understand, you lack a certain privilege (or probably have it, depending upon whether we can convince you).

You may be a 'minority', but if you are Asian or Indian, then you don't count because you're not an underprivileged minority.

I'm hispanic (not that it should matter!) and grew up dirt poor. Yes, I lacked the privilege of many of my now peers. In the end though I've built a successful career for myself. I'm proud at having done that through working hard and being good at what I do. My ethnicity is only a distraction to my tale.

Do you disagree that there are underprivileged hispanics, or people who were in a similar situation as you, but didn't "make it"?? What solution do you suggest for them?

There are absolutely underprivileged people of every race! I happened to grow up around poor hispanics and whites. I would say on average that the hispanics have actually faired a bit better due to (imho) a stronger family culture that offered a bit of a support net.

A lot of the poor white people I know ended up in legal trouble or worse, actually dead.

The solution that I would advocate for is one of individual responsibility and confidence to make your own choices. Nearly everyone I grew up around (regardless of race) thought it was "lame" that I was into technology. Having the strength to follow your passions in the face of that pressure is key. In fact I would say pressure from people of my own background to continue their lifestyle was much harder to overcome than the small amount of discrimination I've faced in the professional world.

It sounds almost too good to be true, but in the tech industry, if you can write great code you will succeed.

> It sounds almost too good to be true, but in the tech industry, if you can write great code you will succeed. <

Yes, but the narrative is that minorities who don't write better code as good as the members of majority because the former never had privilege to learn how to write good code.

Also do check out the articles which convinced Github that Meritocracy is not a good thing[1]. And the site 'Is Tech a meritocracy dot com" [2].

[1] https://modelviewculture.com/pieces/the-dehumanizing-myth-of...

[2] http://istechameritocracy.com/