Black Google Engineer "Google hires the whitest black candidates"

[seabreeze80]

Maybe its just me but she should have explained what she meant by "whitest" black candidates. There are so many different ways that someone can spin what she said.

 

[Nigerianwonder]

ninja you know you reaching

You are right. But she barely qualifies as black. One would guess Hispanic or something but she does not know the experience of being a dark skinned black woman or man in America to be speaking on it with authority... it's insulting. She isn't even as black looking as Kamala Harris. What we have here is a standard case of a tragic mulatto overcompensating to get in touch with her black side.

 

[iceberg_is_on_fire]

My take on all of this is some people will feel that they have to shoe-shine, c00n it up or whatever to get ahead. I have never lost a sense of self on my pursuit to up the corporate ladder. I would definitely say that I've overcompensated for things like education so that people would look at me and go, ok, we can't front on him, he's got the shyt to back it up. I have two bachelor's degrees with an MBA. I've stated before that I work in finance, I'm a controller (accounting). CEO, CFO, then me if we are looking at this from degrees of separation to the top. In my travels, what I have come to see is that if you can do the job, they will bring you in. At the end of the day, sure, they can get a person that looks like them to talk to someone at a cash register or customer service but when you need to get that million dollar deal or put together financials for a company, not just anybody walks through that door. Perhaps its the exclusivity of the skill-set that I have that makes it this way. I can only speak for myself however. My accounting degree tells you that I, at least, have a basic understand of finances. My marketing degree tells you that I, at least, have a basic understanding of how things sell. My MBA tells you that I should also have a good understanding of how to manage a product. Combine that with my years of adjunct instructing at a university, so I should be able to communicate well. Once you get up in the corporate ranks, that's what it is, communication and articulation. From what I've seen, I've seen little care to who can do it, as long as it gets done.

 

[LunaticVillage415]

Lower and middle class black people have the same interests as lower and middle class white people. Upper class black people (you’re trying to say they don’t exist - they do) have the same interests as their white counterparts. I doubt that google is out there hiring Billy Bob Morningtower that hates school, but likes to wear camo and drive pickup trucks either.

You'd be surprised. Ever since Trump got elected, white Amerikkka has lionized inbred rural flyover redneck America. Seriously, even upper middle class and upper class cacs listen to nothing but country music and try to convince everyone they're really country these days. Redneck and country has been mainstream in white America most of this decade. Haven't you noticed all of the white guys driving like a$$holes in brand new spotless American pick up trucks the last few years? Or seeing upper middle class whites who were preppy a few years ago start chewing tobacco, wearing hunting camo and dirty work boots? Saying you're country definitely earns brownie points with white collar cacs in 2019. Saying you're from the sticks to a white person in 2019 is like saying you're from the trenches to a black person. It instantly earns respect if it can be proven to the slightest degree.

White collar America is all about being white as possible. They literally want post coitus with a white woman Eddie Griffin from Undercover Brother or no brothers at all in the workkkplace. White collar white folks literally believe the secret to success in life is acting as white as humanly possible. White people believe black culture is deviant and destructive and counterproductive. Even if that black culture is just having a certain accent or dressing a certain way or listening to a certain style of music or having a certain hairstyle. There's a reason why most white collar black folks work in the public sector because the private sector is allowed to be discriminatory as they want to be without repercussion.

 

[Rekkapryde]

nah. girl in the article is an idiot

i grew up in a white/indian neighborhood, but luckily went to highschool with a lot of black ppl.
all my real friends are black people
our main interests?

rap music, basketball/sports, women, shoes, cars,...shyt that i imagine most black dudes are interested in.
what are most white dudes interested in? music (especially rap these days), sports, women, cars, movies? etc. What am I missing?

we all grew up relatively middle class around lots of whites and indians during those formative years. Some of my homies grew up in Ghana even, or the hood...Despite all this we are all very similar in terms of our interests

for whatever reason though, i have had white people say dumb shyt like I'm one of the whitest black guys they know. for whatever reason, i have had black girls say they thought i was into white or asian girls...despite me never having dated a white girl or even fukked an asian girl. Why?

1) i dont act the way around them the same way i do around my homies. i'm not comfortable around white ppl like that and err on the side of caution ...especially at work

2) white people dont expect a black guy to be very articulate, intelligent, professional or polite for whatever reason.

it has nothing to do with interests. Some people just expect black people to act a certain way, and when they dont theyre consider them to be whitewashed...perpetuating the stupid stereotypes.

Church. Being a unicorn in your field can suck sometimes. I'm at a point with my immediate coworkers where I'm pretty much myself. I'm real with them regarding shyt too. Still won't get to the level that I speak with my fam and friends with but enough to show the PG13 version of me. Can't trust em completely. Being in the warehousing industry, I speak with a lot of our normal black folk and many are surprised when I don't come off as whitewashed. Just glad I don't have to codeswitch heavy like others I know.

 

[HarlemHottie]

I play cooking games where you have to serve some one food in a limited amount of time or they leave the restaurant and you lose points. I've noticed the they black female characters always get angry more quickly than other characters

Delicious with Emily and nem, right? And the black woman had to be fat too.

 

[No1]

nah. girl in the article is an idiot

i grew up in a white/indian neighborhood, but luckily went to highschool with a lot of black ppl.
all my real friends are black people
our main interests?

rap music, basketball/sports, women, shoes, cars,...shyt that i imagine most black dudes are interested in.
what are most white dudes interested in? music (especially rap these days), sports, women, cars, movies? etc. What am I missing?

we all grew up relatively middle class around lots of whites and indians during those formative years. Some of my homies grew up in Ghana even, or the hood...Despite all this we are all very similar in terms of our interests

for whatever reason though, i have had white people say dumb shyt like I'm one of the whitest black guys they know. for whatever reason, i have had black girls say they thought i was into white or asian girls...despite me never having dated a white girl or even fukked an asian girl. Why?

1) i dont act the way around them the same way i do around my homies. i'm not comfortable around white ppl like that and err on the side of caution ...especially at work

2) white people dont expect a black guy to be very articulate, intelligent, professional or polite for whatever reason.

it has nothing to do with interests. Some people just expect black people to act a certain way, and when they dont theyre consider them to be whitewashed...perpetuating the stupid stereotypes.

You’re doing a lot of projecting and what you said has nothing to do with what she is talking about. You wrote about how white people perceive you and minor issues with black girls and called ol girl an idiot for saying something that is common sense. Who you are has nothing to do with what type of black people get hired. I’m a black kid who grew up lower to upper middle class and have heard comments like that from black girls in the past too and that’s usually based on dudes with our style and academic background that they’ve come across being whitewashed. Within about 2 minutes of talking to me that all goes away. We aren’t kids anymore. Everyone gets joked on for something but you get to choose if you live what people project you to be. The type of dude she is talking about is the black dude in the office that isn’t remotely connected to black sense of humor, experience navigating white spaces while maintaining a sense of yourself, and an overall connection to issues that plague black people. In short, she means that they’re hiring “liberal” OJs.

 

[dora_da_destroyer]

It’s not being obtuse.

I can’t speak for tech, but for law, finance, and consulting where you are dealing with high net worth individuals and your business is dependent on your relationships with them, you need people who identify with them and have the ability to cultivate strong bonds. That means, you hire people from the same background. That means, unfortunately, that excludes a good number of blacks who grew up poor or poor adjacent and who don’t have the type of presence that high status people would take seriously.

The breh right here said there is an impediment to him getting closer to his coworker because he doesn’t share the same interests. What do you think is going to happen when you’re dealing with a client?



It’s the same thing, as a straight man are you hanging around gay nikkas like that?

80% conversations and friendships men have revolve around sports and p*ssy. Are you about to force relationships with gay nikkas and yall ain’t got nothing in common? What are y’all gonna talk about? How are you going to develop close friendships with them? You finna go to a Beyoncé concert?

You weren’t a right fit for the school you attended. You weren’t a right fit for your industry. You should have took the time to figure out what was what before you made the decisions.

If most black people are more suited for the service and hospitality industry because we “hood”, own it, and stop forcing interactions in industries where you have to mingle with rich people and where the social capital is different. You ain’t got nothing in common. And stop castigating blacks who move with ease within those circles.

usually i can find some common ground with you on some of your views on class, but this shyt is so off base. you're literally caping for locking large swaths of black out of entire high income industries. furthermore, there's a big difference from someone with black culture ties, grew up poor/poor adjacent or whatever the fukk you're calling it who has been socialized into "white" spaces via college/work as opposed to taking someone off the block and plopping them in one of these spaces.

we know how to code switch, we know how to talk about common connectors without presenting as whitewashed, we ensure our experiences/background is also understood. acting like the only black people who should get these jobs are the type of folks who grew up with money in non black neighborhoods is a joke.

and lol @ high status, unless you're dealing with old money (wealth advisors) or multigenerational C-suite individuals, most the people you interface with in consulting or finance and simply typical high income earning folks - even the white people - they didnt all grow up rich, but they're culturally connected by whiteness, so it's not simply some class mismatch, it's they grew up doing "white shyt", watching white shows, listening to white music and many black people grew up doing "black shyt", watching black shows and listening to black music.

i have zero problem stopping a conversation about skiing and trips to tahoe when my white coworkers go on about it or suggest it for off-sites...i let them know i didn't grow up going to the snow and taking trips to the cold isn't my idea of fun, the more people bring their diverse perspectives to work and stop trying to hide it, the further we can move these false pretense needle of a "diverse hire"

 

[Nigerianwonder]

you're literally caping for locking large swaths of black out of entire high income industries.

What large swaths are you referring to? There are not a lot of black folks in engineering, technical programs, or with advanced degrees and PhD's to begin with. That's the pool of candidates google has to hire from.

And it takes a certain discipline, pedigree, and mindset to even get those degrees so you won't find a lot of "real nikkas" that have those credentials. The sad truth is Advanced Math, advanced degrees, proper English and pronunciation, computers and programming has always been "considered white people shyt" and counter to what is unfortunately celebrated in black american culture ( entertainers, celebrities, singers, athletes, drug dealers etc).

Google and tech companies don't hire enough black people period. So attempting to segment an already extremely limited pool of black candidates based on who is deemed "culturally black" enough is short sited, silly and counter productive. There are not even enough black candidates that fit the chick that wrote the articles narrow definition of being culturally black for google to be able to exclude them deliberately.

 

[Nigerianwonder]

What large swaths are you referring to? There are not a lot of black folks in engineering, technical programs, or with advanced degrees and PhD's to begin with. That's the pool of candidates google has to hire from.

And it takes a certain discipline, pedigree, and mindset to even get those degrees so you won't find a lot of "real nikkas" that have those credentials. The sad truth is Advanced Math, advanced degrees, proper English and pronunciation, computers and programming has always been "considered white people shyt" and counter to what is unfortunately celebrated in black american culture ( entertainers, celebrities, singers, athletes, drug dealers etc).

Google and tech companies don't hire enough black people period. So attempting to segment an already extremely limited pool of black candidates based on who is deemed "culturally black" enough is short sited, silly and counter productive. There are not even enough black candidates that fit the chick that wrote the articles narrow definition of being culturally black for google to be able to exclude them deliberately.

So we cant speak facts on the coli now? I've been through those advance programs and often was the only black person in class. Numbers dont lie.

 

[dora_da_destroyer]

So we cant speak facts on the coli now? I've been through those advance programs and often was the only black person in class. Numbers dont lie.

i've been in both the "elite" schools and work in the space - tech in silicon valley so you're not dropping any knowledge about a dearth of us that i don't know about. what i do know is that there are plenty of non whitewashed black folks who are qualified to work in these spaces...now when it comes to tech specifically, the issue his highly educated black people tend to chose other industries (medicine, law, consulting, banking, or mgmt programs in F500 companies) in part because they are located in blacker cities (NYC, DC, Chicago, LA, ATL, Charlotte, Houston), thus it further contributes to the problem. culturally black people want to be in black metros, and the bay is on the decline in that regard and the other tech hubs, outside of NYC, are also pretty white - seattle, austin, denver, lehi, utah.

 

[Frangala]

Black undergraduate major by percentage breakdown according to a Georgetown University study (Only 7% of Black undergraduates major in STEM)


African Americans Majors

Top 9 majors among Black undergraduate students : (1) Health & Medical Administration Svces - 21% (2) Human services and community organizations - 20% (3) Public Administration - 17% (4) Criminal Justice and Fire Protection - 15% (5) Sociology -14% (6) Computer & Info Systems - 14% (7) HR and Personnel Management - 14% (8) Social Sciences - 13% (9) Pre-Law & Legal Studies - 13%

Only 7 % of all STEM majors are Black. This is the pool that these tech companies have to pick from now there is an argument that we should look further in an already small field for "authentic Black" people as if the field is that broad. How about just encouraging people to major in them first instead of picking degrees that are not going to earn a a lot of money. Black graduates are over represented in the lowest earning majors.