The first step in working through a problem is acknowledging that there IS a problem, so in that respect, this conversation is going well so far!! Here are some thoughts (some of which are barely half-baked, so pardon the "raw dough").
SHORT-TERM BRAINSTORMING I know that HBaseCon2016 is very close, and all the speaking slots and topic sessions are locked into place, but I do have a few suggestions: (1) At *several* points (not just once!) throughout the plenary sessions, make a statement that this conversation has come up on hbase-dev, and it's an issue that you think is worthy of our attention and discussion. (I think we're just at the beginnings of a very long conversation, but just announcing that the conversation is underway and inviting people into it seems a good way to start.) (2) I see that Intel is sending four representatives to make presentations (two women and two men!). Intel seems to be at the forefront of diversification efforts in the broader IT community, having set its goal for "full representation" in its workforce by 2020. If these Intel presenters feel comfortable, it would be great to devote a few minutes in one of the plenary sessions to allow them to informally talk about how the Intel "Global Diversity and Inclusion" project is going from their perspective, and whether that offers any lessons that might be applied in the Hadoop/HBase ecosystems. (3) For HBaseCon2017, devote complete sessions to the issue of diversification. (Perhaps invite Intel's Chief Diversity Officer, Danielle Brown, to lead up some proactive discussions.) LONGER-TERM STRATEGIZING Stepping back to the generic questions of how and why to "recruit" new contributors, perhaps this is where my "newbie" eyes can assist in taking a fresh look at things, beginning with a big lead-in question: The current "staff" of the HBase project: how were we "recruited", and why are we here? When I look at the contributors list, I see what I expect to see: Almost all of the contributors are employees of companies that are the biggest stakeholders in the HBase ecosystem, with the biggest number coming from those companies that are existentially bound to the HBase/Hadoop ecosystems, and a smaller number of contributors coming from companies that make strategically vital use of HBase in their operations. My assumption is that these companies are not magnanimous philanthropists, they're just (quite appropriately) looking after their own vital interests. Bottom line: this majority of contributors are *paid* to be here; their employers "allow" them to spend a percentage (or maybe in some cases, all) of their working hours tending to the care and feeding of the open-source golden goose that keeps their proprietary enterprises going. And then there are people like me (likely in much smaller numbers) who are here to beef up their expertise in current technologies in a way that also gives them a publicly-displayed "portfolio" of work with which to subsequently seek out paid engagements (of either the contract or employment variety). I'm sure I don't fully buy into the prevailing wisdom that "code is the new resume" and "just put your stuff out there on GitHub -- WE'LL find YOU!!"; nonetheless, for the last several months I've been setting aside my doubts and building just such a "portfolio". So, if my take on the current "staffing" situation is approximately correct, it suggests to me that the quickest path to "full representation" in the HBase project is initially through conversations with the Human Resources chiefs and the CEOs of the corporations that provide the majority of this project's "staff". What initiatives are underway in these firms (1) to recruit a diverse workforce and (2) to assure that once members of underrepresented minorities are brought in, that they find themselves in a safe, supportive environment in which they want to stay? Finally, if good initiatives are already underway, what might be done to hasten the "trickle down" from these initiatives into a more diversely-staffed HBase project? On Sat, May 14, 2016 at 12:39 AM, Sean Busbey <[email protected]> wrote: > On Thu, May 12, 2016 at 10:10 PM, Stack <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Thu, May 12, 2016 at 8:37 PM, Daniel Vimont <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > > > > > >> With regard to recruiting new contributors, I'll just toss out a > question > >> which I hope does not give offense: What can be done to encourage more > >> gender-diversity in this project (and projects like it)? > >> > >> > > Thank you for raising this 'awkward' question up here on the dev list. > > > > Our ratio is awful. I'm ashamed to cite numbers. > > > > I don't know what we can do to encourage participation. I'd be interested > > in any ideas others might have and would be up for acting them to try and > > make redress. > > > > > Yes, thank you Daniel. This is an issue that weighs on me. The ASF in > general has a demographic problem, and our particular corner of it > seems particularly homogenous. > > I'm a firm believer in "can't fix what you don't measure." Stack do > you have numbers from somewhere? I was looking at ways we could run an > opt-in poll to get an idea of how our community looks outside of what > I can already see in the committer and PMC ranks from meetups. > > I don't think there are any fast answers to this issue, but I think > there are some things we could try doing that would help the project > generally: > > 1) We could use better student outreach. Presuming we come up with > some materials for trying to get students involved overall, we should > get a few folks go out of our way to present those materials to > student groups that try to provide space for folks who aren't in our > dominant demographic. > > 2) Similar to #1, there are meetups (at least in my area) that try to > make things accessible and comfortable for e.g. women. We could make a > habit of presenting to these meetups in addition to our normal "big > data" themed groups. > > 3) I've noticed that none of the meetups or conferences where I see > HBase stuff have child care options. This doesn't only impact women, > but it disproportionately impacts them due to societal expectations. > We the community could start pushing folks to have something and we > the PMC could perhaps push this a little harder, like we do the need > for a Code of Conduct. >
