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I am extremely excited to announce that I’m joining @SqreenIO 
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🎉" title="Party popper" aria-label="Emoji: Party popper"> I had so much fun during the interview process and can’t wait to join the team next year! This was my second job search as an engineer and it was such an unforgettable one, I will post a long thread here:
At the final interview stage for another company that I didn& #39;t join, the CEO asked me a question: "what can we do to make our company your #1 choice?". I said improving the gender diversity of the team – the engineering team of this company was very male dominated.
He said: "we just hire the best of the best and they happen to be male". They would hire somebody with potential but if a male candidate has more potential than a female candidate, they will choose a man because they will never hire somebody based on their gender.
They also said that it just reflects the candidate diversity. Most engineers are men, and if a woman doesn’t want to join the team because of this, it’s her problem. They don’t seem to understand what is the problem in having an extremely male dominated engineering team.
Essentially, what they are saying is that it’s women’s fault that there are not enough female engineers and they are not willing to jump into a male occupied industry or team.
When I was fifteen, I gave up choosing a science path, because I was told it’s for boys and all my classmates would be male. Is it my fault? A fifteen-year-old girl didn’t have enough courage to be one of very few girls in the class, so it’s her fault?
The CEO also told me if I am a feminist and if equality bothers me, then I can join the team and change it. But I don’t believe that diversity in the team is something I can change alone. More importantly, is it a woman’s job to educate men on gender and diversity (in 2019)?
It’s impossible to truly hire "the best of the best" without a specific process to remove all biases. We all have bias against gender, race, skin color, and sexual orientation. And they are unconscious, which is why we need to change the hiring process consciously.
I can tell you this: it’s extremely scary to ask questions about diversity to a man or white person as an Asian woman. You might believe that we are equal but I know that we are not.
You are probably a nice person. You believe that you treat everyone equally. If everyone works as hard as you do, they will get the same results as you do. Well, it’s not the case today. If you really think like this, you don’t listen enough to the voices of minorities.
If you are aware of this, please, use your voice for those who don’t have one. When a person of color, a woman, or minority raise their voices, people just don’t care. However, when a white man raises their voice and says exactly the same thing, they often listen.
Sqreen still has a long way to go, but they acknowledged it and told me what they are doing to become a more equal workplace. At least, I felt I could safely be a feminist and that my voice won’t be ignored, so I am happy to join.
I am extremely lucky and privileged to be where I am today. So many people believed in me and gave me a chance to work hard. It’s not easy for me but I will keep pushing myself to be vocal and do the right thing to move our industry forward. https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="✌️" title="Victory hand" aria-label="Emoji: Victory hand">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="❤️" title="Red heart" aria-label="Emoji: Red heart">