[founderofcolour]

Posting anonymous for obvious reasons. I'm not black, but I am a minority. The racism in tech is so obvious, my eyes bleed sometimes. At my workplace, they will consistently take an average white worker (no special degrees, no special schools) and promote them over and over until they are multiple levels higher than others.

Its all BLM woo haa on slack but what really matters is promotions, raises, projects, opportunities, and nothing shows up there. Pretty soon, you have a 24 or 25yo director of VP presiding over a PoC (some of whom are black) who has two or more decades of experience and who is obviously doing all the real work.

The entire c-suite has a single person of color. The board has none.

Then, you hear people grumbling in management meetings that some of the "diversity hires" are not motivated. Think -- why would they be motivated given what goes on?

Addendum: Not saying this doesnt happen outside of tech, but I know it happens in tech because I see it company after company, and especially at my current venture-backed employer. So consider that when you hear empty talk about tech being a meritocracy. Now granted, tech does have good numbers of Asians, but I think that is sheer funnel input volume driving that.

[rbecker]

We can do better than anecdote. 74% of the largest tech firms executives are white [1]. This perfectly reflects 1990 demographics, when the US was 76% white [2]. A 30 year lag between arriving to a country, and becoming an executive, seems more than reasonable.

[1] https://phys.org/news/2018-06-diversity-silicon-valley-tech-... - using weighted average of the histogram.

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_racial_and_ethnic_d...

[adwn]

> At my workplace, they will consistently take an average white worker (no special degrees, no special schools) and promote them over and over until they are multiple levels higher than others.

Are you saying that they also discriminate against above-average white workers in favor of average white workers?

> The entire c-suite has a single person of color.

How many people are in the C-suite, and what's the ratio of PoC to total number of employees in your company? I'm not trying to disprove you, it's just that a single number (1 PoC in the C-suite) doesn't provide any insight into your situation.

[founderofcolour]

How many people are in the C-suite? 8 with 1 PoC

We have a bit over 100 employees and about 30% are PoC.

[Ancapistani]

Out of curiosity - the 25-year-old white VP seems very specific, so I assume it’s based on a personal experience.

When were you able to enter the field, compared to them? Do they have more experience at an earlier age?

To be clear, I am in no way arguing or trying to minimize your experiences. I’m looking for holes in my own view of the problem, which I stated in a top-level comment. Based on that I would expect that the VP probably had a lot of starting advantages over you. That doesn’t make it right, but it may highlight effective strategies for changing the dynamic for your children.

[founderofcolour]

Yes, we have 4 such cases in a relatively small company, all in early to mid 20s. None with any degrees of note nor any prior successes or any prior superchargers (such as McKinsey). This is a specific experience. However, as I see our employees go to other companies, it is fascinating to follow a nice upward stairwell people of non-color follow.

Meanwhile, PoC with extensive experience are told, "oh next year, you will be eligible for Associate Director or some other BS"

I entered the company at just above entry level despite quite a bit of experience. I cant say more or it might become obvious who I am.

[Ancapistani]

Unsolicited advice, so take it with a huge grain of salt:

You should leave. You should go somewhere your skills and experience are valued, and you should advise your non-white colleagues to do the same.

How is your social network? I’m also posting using a nominally anonymous username, but if you’d like I’ll set up an email so we can get in contact. My own network isn’t as strong as I’d like it to be, but my employer is hiring and if you’re remotely a good fit for what we do I can at least get you past the initial hiring filters and ensure you’re considered. Let me know.

[foogazi]

> I entered the company at just above entry level despite quite a bit of experience.

Why?

Is it a special company where it might be advantageous to do this or was it lack of alternatives?

[srtjstjsj]

Who are some 25yr old directors and VPs?

Not counting "CTO" of a 10 person startup where the title is obviously bogus.

[founderofcolour]

If you have linked-in premium, do a search of "Director" and "VP" and try to back out age by year of undergraduate graduation and you'll find plenty in tech. Good point about small companies. In my case, we're a tad about 100 employees. This would be a great great great investigative journalist piece that is data-driven for someone who wants to earn the ire of tech decision makers. That will not be me.

In my company of 100, we have 4! Once is 27 now, but was promoted at 25.