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by virtuous_signal 1704 days ago
Academia may seem quaint but often accurately signals what is to come in the rest of the professional managerial class. Last year during an interview (software engineering) I was asked what I would do to support Diversity Equity and Inclusion. It was towards the end with other behavioral questions. I think I recited the Correct things but to be safe I should probably start studying Ibram X Kendi along with Cracking the Coding Interview.
2 comments

By "Correct things", do you mean asking: "how is diversity and inclusion my job?"
I guess you could argue about diversity if you want to, but equity and inclusion have been part of every manager's job since the beginning of time.
Not under the current definition of equity, which is roughly: equal outcomes for all.
That's not the definition of equity, at least not outside of fringe fever dreams. (There's a radical left that dreams of it, and a radical right that fantasizes it is the status quo - both are loons and rightfully ignored)
Hm, I see this equity vs equality graphic on social media all the time, not just from partisan loons. [1]

1: https://www.paperpinecone.com/blog/teaching-difference-betwe...

The text on that page explains it a little better, it's not about equality of outcome but I understand how you could get that from the graphic.

> We can think of it in terms of food. When ordering pizza for a large group, you’ll probably assume some people will eat one slice, some people will eat two, and some will eat three or even four. You’ll account for those differences when ordering - maybe you have several hulking athletes or small children in your group. You won’t police who eats how many slices, you’ll just assume that everyone got what they needed, be it once slice or more. The pizza isn’t shared equally, it is shared equitably.

Another way to think of it is equality is about the rules of the game, and equity is about the starting position.

It doesn't seem to contradict what groby_b wrote. Or am I missing something? Could you explain it?
If they are asking behavioural questions then questions like that are probably reasonable.

"Towards the end" does not sound like it was a screening question.

In my life being able to work with people different from me (in my case not people from "oppressed groups" but downright difficult people) has done me very well.