Ah, well, I didn't want to go on some long tangent. I'm sure elsewhere in the thread people are hashing out the pros and cons of giving underrepresented people an unfair advantage.

I just wanted to say that I don't think anyone should feel bad or like an impostor if they manage to get their foot in the door some way other than the traditional routes: you get lucky on a coding quiz, your dads meet at the country club, you bust your hump for 10 years in crappy jobs to work your way up to a good one, etc.