How come there are so few black people working at Silicon Valley?

[NZA]

the answer typically given is that these companies recruit heavily from ivy league, MIT, or elite private california schools like stanford while most blacks go to southern colleges. im sure that is a big part of the problem, but not all of it.

 

[NERO]

We need Black venture capitalists to fund intelligent groups who are looking to do start-ups in silicon valley or some other location where we could build a black silicon valley. There are two routes to business building. You could build generational wealth by putting in those hours for your working lifetime and move up slowly into better neighborhoods with access to better schools so your children can have success in professional fields or you can have an intelligent business plan, product and connections to get investors for your start-up. Most of these kids who are getting the investments for their start ups are brilliant and wield degrees from prodigious universities but the trick is the asian parents and grandparents probably started with a kabob cart, liquor store or a taxicab 30-50 years ago which began the cycle of success for their kids. We have to put in that work and pool our resources. We cannot expect to get injections of capital from whites and asians. Not everyone is cut out to be in STEM but there are black people who are fully capable to work in these fields at design and management levels who are being left out in the cold because of tribalism or racism. We need to over time develop a larger black INVESTOR class to fund the cutting edge. Eventually the whites will be coming to us for money to start their own small businesses.

 

[Camile.Bidan]

anecdote here..

I met a board member at one the companies I audit that was Asian. There were actually three Asian board memebers on the board.

Chilled out folks, outgoing. Introversion is what keeps Asians out of the c-level.



Silicon Valley is mostly Asian because NorCal is the Asian american epicenter, Asians are either majority or significant minority in every city going all the way up to Sacramento. It has been this way since I was born.

I went to the mid west for the first time last year.. I was shocked to see different it is. Even the east coast is very different. Most only 2 races in America it seems--white majority and black minority,



There are lots of Africans doing well out here--don't they count as black?

 

[Cabbage Patch]

This weekend I went to see this Asian friend of mine who I went to college with at a Silicon Valley start up he's been working at.They've been operating for about 2 yrs and they just hired him. One thing I noticed at his office was the lack of any black or Hispanic people. It was at least 70% white and the rest Asian/Indian.

I met him again in the evening in a bar where most of the workers in the tech industry meet up and yet again the demographics were the same. Im pretty confident I was the only black dude there.

So what's happening? It's pretty obvious the future economy is increasingly becoming technology related and we can't afford to be left out. Are they racist in their hiring or are we not interested in that sector?

Asians are bigoted professionally, hire their own and get away with it because they are technically a minority.

You know how Josh Whedon thought it was funny to claim he makes diverse staffing decisions because he hires his Asian sister in law? And she ain't say shyt?

Factor that by India.

 

[Tavaris]

I'm about to turn Birmingham into the black silicone valley

 

[TrebleMan]

I foresee times changing for the better in the future. For this reason:

It's going to be those companies who start to hire the genius Black STEM employees that are going to start making all the breakthroughs. Not because they're Black, but because they'll realize they need the best. I have a gut feeling people will smarten up and the talent pool for Blacks in these fields will deepen. The other companies not taking a chance on them and busy hiring mediocre STEM employees based on race will fall far behind. People will soon realize, because the results will speak for themselves, that there is no difference between a Black genius and a genius of any other race. It's sad that it's 2015 and people don't realize that.

It'll balance itself out, but there needs to be more Black folks getting involved in STEM for that to happen.

 

[VertigoKnight]

There are lots of Africans doing well out here--don't they count as black?

Was just abut to come in and make that point. I know a lot of UK and african born black people who are at these companies. It's telling that a lot of the 'ethnic' people at these companies are usually from outside the US.

But where are the black startups? It has always baffled me. As surely some of these black millionaires and billionaires who probably have shares in google and apple have been approached by people of colour with good ideas?

 

[↓R↑LYB]

Was just abut to come in and make that point. I know a lot of UK and african born black people who are at these companies. It's telling that a lot of the 'ethnic' people at these companies are usually from outside the US.

But where are the black startups? It has always baffled me. As surely some of these black millionaires and billionaires who probably have shares in google and apple have been approached by people of colour with good ideas?

If I'm not mistaken Carmelo Anthony started a VC company.

 

[ViShawn]

Not many blacks in STEM jobs. Period. My parented worked in telecom, I work in IT. Not many blacks in my department as an Engineer. Maybe 3-4 other blacks. Even less in the company.

I've gotten companies such as Facebook and Google constantly contacting me for my skills I'm just not interested in moving to California. When I was in LA in 2013 a Hispanic man noted that to me that there weren't many blacks in IT. He was calling the kettle black because he says that there weren't many Hispanics in IT either and he was trying to change that. I work with a few Hispanics that are in IT also.

 

[yung Herbie Hancock]

Quite a bit of it is lack of interest and logistical reasons. With Silicon Valley, its a frat-boys sorta club. To get in, you probably need to know someone.

Everything about Silicon Valley screams "Oh hire him! We went to school together!" or something to that effect. Its a self-sustaining culture for
the most part.

Hiring managers are mostly Indian and will mostly hire other indians. That's why. Some of them been getting hit with lawsuits lately for caste system hiring where higher caste indians prefered to hire their own. states are even passing anti caste system laws because of it. yall better not let Indians and latinos flood the south, because they'll do the same once they get in power.

Trapped in Silicon Valley’s Hidden Caste System

Born in a cowshed in India, Siddhant now works for Meta in California. But he hides his background as a Dalit and fears he can never reveal his true self.

www.wired.com

https://www.npr.org/2023/02/22/1158687243/seattle-becomes-the-first-u-s-city-to-ban-caste-discrimination