Before you sigh at the thought of another article haranguing you for not doing enough to help increase diversity and improve equality, I’ll put your mind at rest. I merely want to offer my own (largely positive) personal perspective on working in tech. I hope my experience and thoughts on how the situation could improve will contribute to some constructive debate on diversity in the UK’s tech scene. I’m also not advocating any form of positive discrimination: people should only be assessed on their work and personal skills.
First, in the interests of full disclosure, I’m originally from Colombia. I graduated with a degree in Systems Engineering from the Cooperative University of Colombia, then moved to London in 2004 to study English. I have worked at a data science consultancy since 2007. In that time, I’ve risen to lead the company’s campaign services team. Colombia is one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world with 85 different ethnic groups. I’m an example of this melting pot, with a white mother and black father – the technical term is Mulata.
Plenty of research has been undertaken into the percentage of employees at major tech companies in the UK and US from ethnic minorities. For example, Facebook, Google, Yahoo, and LinkedIn’s global workforce are 89% to 91% white and Asian. Without labouring the point, the numbers are low and don’t stack up well compared to other industries. Of course, there’s a difference between immigrants and ‘indigenous’ ethnic minorities, but however you cut the figures, they aren’t reflective of the population at large.
The situation at the smaller tech startup level is less clear. According to 2011 census figures and the Government’s own labour market stats, the proportion of ethnic minorities and immigrants in the information and communications industry is actually comparable to the UK population at large. However, dig a little deeper and it’s clear there’s underrepresentation in major ethnic groups including black, Chinese, mixed and other Asian groups. The figures don’t break down specifically to workers in the UK’s startup scene, however, the lack of ethnic minority entrepreneurs and investors is well documented. So too is the low number of ethnic minority women in the tech and science industry in general.
So what’s the problem? I can only answer this question from my own personal perspective. One problem might be preconceptions regarding language. Receiving a CV from someone with an unpronounceable name can subconsciously put off employers. If you don’t believe me, check out research from the National Bureau of Economic Research into CVs and race. Those with African-American names were 50% less likely to get an interview than those with ‘white’ names, despite having identical CVs. I’m not for one second saying that the UK tech scene is overtly discriminatory, my feeling is that with so many startups running small, lean teams, the first impulse on seeing someone who doesn’t appear to have English as a first language is to subconsciously do an equation in relation to possible time lost through miscommunication.
The same can go for prospective recruits with atypical, ‘foreign’ educational backgrounds. As most startups don’t have a well-developed HR function, it may be a tall order to expect the CEO, looking through scores of CVs, to know the relative merits of educational institutions they have never heard of.
A common counter argument to accusations of prejudice in the tech industry is that ethnic minorities are not drawn to subjects at school or university that give them relevant qualifications. Research does seem to indicate that under certain conditions some minority groups are not drawn to science subjects, however, this disparity hardly accounts for an industry-wide lack of representation of most ethnic minority groups.
Similarly, I’ve heard other people argue that people from ethnic minorities simply don’t apply to work in the tech sector. Given there’s no record on applications, it’s hard to empirically disprove this theory. However, if it is true, it points more to a perception that the tech industry isn’t culturally welcoming of ethnic minorities. As a side note, before anyone argues that women aren’t welcoming of other women in a professional environment, I’ve never found this laughable stereotype to be true and I’m glad that research by Columbia Business School in New York has recently debunked the female in-fighting myth.
For me, I’ve generally found working in the tech industry a brilliant experience. Luckily, even at the outset of my career, I’ve always found a way to make myself understood – I put this down to the fact that Latin-Americans are very expressive and body language is universal. For reference, I still have a strong accent – think Sofia Vergara in Modern Family. Indeed, the language barrier that I thought would be a massive handicap has transformed into an advantage as I can bring my Spanish language skills to help improve Profusion’s relationship with relevant clients.
Pushing for more diversity in the tech industry isn’t some abstract moral argument. The truth is that European tech startups need to get global quick to compete. A startup with staff made up of a diverse range of genders, ages, cultures, languages, skills and ethnicities will be better placed to scale. Diversity also provides different perspectives, creating new ways to tackle problems and fostering innovation. To me this is the biggest benefit of diversity and something that needs to be celebrated more.
Having staff from different backgrounds can also help with interaction and communication as people seek to learn about their colleagues’ backgrounds. When interviewing candidates, most ask me what is what I like most about working at Profusion, my answer will always be the same: the people and the culture we live in.
Making tech companies more diverse shouldn’t rely on affirmative action: I’m a strong believer that someone should get a job on their own merits. However, I think that more tech startups should consider other factors when interviewing immigrants or people from minority backgrounds. For example, language skills shouldn’t necessarily be a deal breaker if a candidate has shown great potential and skills in other areas. Language skills can be improved quickly, especially if the candidate has shown that they are keen to get better and have a history of self-learning.
By forming partnerships with universities, tech companies can encourage graduates, who may be put off by the reputation that startups are for young, white, males, to consider it as a viable career path. After all, there are plenty of great examples of tech companies rich in diversity and with excellent company cultures.
Diversity and discrimination in the tech industry is naturally a very provocative subject. It’s easy to descend into a finger-pointing, shouting match and I’m sure many people will disagree with some of the points I’ve made. Nevertheless, by openly debating the situation we can identify problems that prevent more ethnic minorities joining the tech industry. After all, it is quintessentially British to believe in fair play and that’s all the tech industry really needs, a level playing field for everyone.
Jessica Holmes, head of campaign services at data science consultancy Profusion, discusses diversity in the UK’s tech scene