Salesforce has a diverse workforce. I went there directly from Intel and have had occasion to participate in many more mixed gender work situations since moving over. I could go on about how Salesforce has a great culture but I'll spare you the tangent. (Smile) However those of us working in the various storage and compute platform groups here still have to make the case we're a good team to work on in an open internal hiring market. There are some direct to position external recruitments but they're in the minority. Two observations: - Even with an overall diverse workforce in our org storage is overwhelming staffed with males. I can count females on one hand and none are working on the HBase team. So what is it about Storage (or the people working on it) that do not make or counter an appeal? - If we want to increase team diversity - and we do, internally and out in the greater community - then we should be actively recruiting. How should that pitch go?
> On May 16, 2016, at 12:49 AM, Daniel Vimont <dan...@commonvox.org> wrote: > > Stack & Sean -- Thanks for your positive responses to all this (and the > intriguing Mother Jones link). > > Will any of the HBaseCon2016 events be live-streamed? (I can't make it -- > an Osaka/SF round-trip was not in the budget this spring!) > >> On Sun, May 15, 2016 at 2:05 PM, Stack <st...@duboce.net> wrote: >> >> On Sat, May 14, 2016 at 7:18 PM, Daniel Vimont <dan...@commonvox.org> >> wrote: >> >>> 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.) >> >> We can do that. >> >> >>> (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 z is going from their >>> perspective, and whether that offers any lessons that might be applied in >>> the Hadoop/HBase ecosystems. >> >> Let me ask the Intel'ers who are coming to the conference. >> >> >>> (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.) >> Yes. I like this suggestion. >> >> >> >>> 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". >> The above is a fair assessment I'd say. >> >> >>> 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? >> >> There was a call-to-arms a while back that echoed around the valley (Here >> is one origin story [1] that references this interesting looking project >> [2]). Where I work there is a special project afoot to work on problem #1, >> at least, from your list above. Ultimately it should translate into better >> numbers out here in projects like ours but I'm not sure improving presence >> in open source is a captured metric. Let me ask. >> >> St.Ack >> >> 1. >> >> http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/05/silicon-valley-gender-sexism-women-engineers-tracy-chou >> 2. https://github.com/triketora/women-in-software-eng >> >> >>>> On Sat, May 14, 2016 at 12:39 AM, Sean Busbey <bus...@apache.org> wrote: >>>> >>>>> On Thu, May 12, 2016 at 10:10 PM, Stack <st...@duboce.net> wrote: >>>>> On Thu, May 12, 2016 at 8:37 PM, Daniel Vimont <dan...@commonvox.org >>> >>>> 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. >>
