Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by idrios 2711 days ago
In this case, solving the problem downstream does tackle the problem at the root.

A lot of people in engineering went down that path because they were inspired by someone when they were younger. If there were more women and minorities in engineering, then other (young) women and minorities would be able to see them as role models and follow suit.
2 comments
crowdpleaser 2711 days ago
>A lot of people in engineering went down that path because they were inspired by someone when they were younger. If there were more women and minorities in engineering, then other (young) women and minorities would be able to see them as role models and follow suit.

This is really interesting claim and perhaps somewhat biased. Some preliminary testing of VR teachers suggests that young women prefer to be taught by women, and boys have a preference for robots/drones.

My own personal experience is that mecha anime got me inspired to work in STEM, I can see why that might not have universal appeal, but the claim that people need role models who look like them isn't universal.

source: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/01/190108095108.h...

link
ng12 2711 days ago
> A lot of people in engineering went down that path because they were inspired by someone when they were younger.

Who? I started programming because computers are fun. If you really care about getting more women and minorities involved in tech volunteer at a local high school -- there are dozens of programs which seek to get young people exposed to programming. Anything else is just blowing smoke.

link
idrios 2711 days ago
Well if we're using personal anecdotes, I had never touched a line of code until college and had just assumed I wasn't smart enough for it. I did study engineering though, which was an easy choice because I had tons of family who were engineers. Freshman year I took Java as a core requirement and discovered I was pretty good at it, so I stuck with it.

It shouldn't be a stretch of the mind that programming would be more accessible to someone who was raised knowing programmers, than to someone who was raised without.

> If you really care about getting more women and minorities involved in tech volunteer at a local high school

This is great advice. That doesn't discredit the impact that having diversity in tech has.

link