[ama729]

> where you would expect your best engineers to come from.

I frequently see this assertion but I never see it sourced. Most programming use nothing more than simple math or just re-implementation of known algorithms (and we know how it turned out for Telegram to invent their own), why would you need hardcore math skills then?

If you said "above average", that would have been understandable, but then there isn't much data to support that point of view since as point out, the effect is especially important in the higher percentiles.

[ericd]

Math and programming both require a facility in thinking abstractly, so I wouldn't be surprised if there was a correlation between math ability and programming ability.

[newnewnew]

Startups try to keep a "high bar", only hiring people with sterling academic credentials or proven work in the field.

So I would expect the gender ratio to be less equal at startups that draw from the far right-hand side of the graph, and more equal at big firms that are willing to hire from the middle.

[eropple]

> Startups try to keep a "high bar", only hiring people with sterling academic credentials or proven work in the field.

Your "high bar" is everyone else's "they're like us."