Apple has told Re/code that it is increasing the number of scholarship places offered at this year’s WWDC from 200 to 350 as part of its work to create greater diversity amongst developers. Those selected get a free ticket to the developer’s conference.
The Cupertino technology giant said it will extend […] scholarships to students age 13 and older and members of organizations working to promote science, technology, engineering and math education for young women, blacks and Latinos. The National Society of Black Engineers, App Camp for Girls and La TechLa are among 20 organizations whose members would be eligible for a scholarship.
The company last year published its first ever diversity report, showing that the company is fairly typical of tech companies today: 70% male, 55% white. CEO Tim Cook said then that he was not satisfied with the numbers, and was doing “meaningful and inspiring” work with women’s and minority groups to bring about change.
Let me say up front: As CEO, I’m not satisfied with the numbers on this page. They’re not new to us, and we’ve been working hard for quite some time to improve them. We are making progress, and we’re committed to being as innovative in advancing diversity as we are in developing our products
Cook said during last month’s shareholder meeting that he would work on equality “until my toes point up.”
Apple has, however, refused to make its full federal workforce diversity data public, believed to be on the basis that the job classifications are a poor match for actual roles in the tech sector. Microsoft, Twitter and Amazon also refused.
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Never understood the whole diversity thing. There’s No problem with having the smartest and best person get a job. But there is something wrong when a more qualified person is passed over due to thier skin color.
Who said promoting diversity means passing over a more qualified person due to their skin color?
Also, I can tell you from my personal experience communicating with recruiters, shadowing interviews, and sitting in on hiring committee discussions, hiring is very often about more than just “can this candidate do the job”. It is also very (if not equally) important that a candidate fits and contributes to the culture the company wants to promote. Because believe me, there are many people who place great importance in company culture when comes it comes to determining where they’d like to work and employers recognize this.
promoting diversity is taking people from all walks of life instead of taking the best people for the job.
Should a more deserving kid be passed over for a WWDC scholarship because of the color his skin?
I think you may be a bit hooked on skin color. The issue of diversity is bigger than that and you perhaps are not fully understanding the value/benefits of a diverse culture. That’s a huge topic that I won’t get too deep into here but there are resources out there about why it’s valued. Personally, I don’t see the promotion of diversity and hiring the right people (which often involves more than just qualifications) as mutually exclusive.
In regards to the question of “Should a more deserving kid be passed over for a WWDC scholarship because of the color his skin?”, I think we have to first understand what Apple’s goal is for extending these scholarships before making any judgement about who is “more deserving”, I phrase I hesitate to use as it’s rather vague in this context. At the very least, again, as further evidenced by the Re/code, the extension of these scholarships goes beyond skin color.
I understand the need for diversity in the workplace, But when diversity is just hiring people of different skin colors to bring the numbers up is silly, thats belittling the new hire just to be a ornament to make the numbers look good, thats discrimination against the new hire (Hey we hired you because your not white), I’m sure it does wonders to the persons self esteem too.
Anyone who questions the idea of diversity initiatives in the workforce and education system need to take a huge step forward in their thinking.
As a matter of fact, it’s people with the mentality of “let the person with the higher education have the job, let the person who has been privileged enough to receive a quality education have the job, let the person who is more qualified on paper but non-ethical in a leadership position have the job.”
Grow out of the mindset that embracing and seeking diversity is a way to keep qualified people out. It’s actually a funnel with the potential to let people in who could do the job better than no man before, presently, or after them can do.