It does suck that it’s like this in an industry where you have a lot of non-neurotypical people though. People who are very good and capable but on the spectrum, or shy and reclusive, who really can’t do the networking and conference scene thing, etc. Wish there was a better answer than to tell them they just have to be wired differently.

Let's not forget that the type of work in this industry and hours needed in the name of cost savings hinders many peoples' desire for professional development work outside of work.

I don't know about most people but lately, at the end of the day when I make enough progress to meet expectations, the last thing I want to do is anything related to work anymore, even if it's an investment in myself. At some point my life takes precedent over my career.

If delivery expectations are reasonable (i.e. time requirements), I don't mind networking outside of work. I've worked in environments with reasonable expectations and environments with unreasonable expectations. My observation has been that environments with reasonable expectations are in decline in the name of competitiveness and cost cutting measures, passing costs to employees.

This industry is becoming significantly less enjoyable to work in and growing to a toxic point of hypercompetiveness at every layer. It's not healthy for those working in the industry.

There are other avenues. I've been excited to hire somebody in the past pretty much on the strength of their detailed technical blogging. Kind of a mess in the interview, but I knew they could do the job coming in. (They were great.)

That’s really not a problem. If you think about it, everyone wants to help their network by default. And in startups, you care about outcomes. It doesn’t really matter if you’re shy or gregarious if you can make the crucial thing.

It’s a big company problem, not a startup problem.

> conference scene thing

Who can? Conferences are so expansive!

Hiring primarily based on references almost guarantees bias. White engineers will tend to know more white engineers. Asian engineers will tend to know more Asian engineers.

This assumes white engineers only knows other white engineers etc.

This is very much not how the Silicon Valley I've been in for decades works!

Of course, you could have diverse acquaintances and friends, but most people are more inclined to be friends with people who share the same race and gender because they often share the same experiences. This puts a black female at a great disadvantage if her friends are mostly other black females because so few of them work in tech.

I would only refer people I've worked with. And they are as diverse as the industry.

This approach does discriminate against people who are looking for their first job. I think that's both unavoidable and fine.

This gap is covered mostly by internships.

that is not bias, but rather a lack of diversity

It's still a bias - one that's exacerbated by a lack of diversity