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This convo comes up every so often. Much has been said about the idea of being "passionate" about tech. Including the ways that it can foster an environment of in-grouping and exclusion. It's not a coincidence that this comes up more often as we've tried to make tech more diverse https://twitter.com/ceeoreo_/status/1283153037771644943
We've made great strides in inviting a wider range of people into tech. Obviously there is still work to do. But we've moved the needle. And predictably, we now have to focus on how these folks are treated and how the culture needs to shift to include them.
It's important to accept that this cultural obsession with "passion" ends up making tech less inclusive. I think it's hard for people because they don't work to connect the dots. How can passion be a bad thing right? But if we listen to those affected, we can start to understand.
I've been talking to people about diversity, equity, and inclusion in tech for a long time now. People ask me why it's important, and I think my answer often comes across as too simple or uninspiring. For me, DEI has always been about *access to upward mobility*. Period.
Tech is one of relatively few industries that you can name where the demand for talent is high, it pays really well, and the industry is growing and likely to be sustainable for a long while. That is *huge*. It's no wonder everyone is trying to break into tech.
The tech economy has produced so many new millionaires and billionaires. It has seen the rise of multiple companies that have become the new biggest *of all time*. The fact that this industry is effectively closed to such huge swathes of the population has always been a travesty.
The idea that you have to be "passionate" about this job in order to want to come in and better yourself and your family is not only asinine and wrongheaded. It illustrates exactly the mechanisms by which wealth stays concentrated and only accessible to those with privilege.
The fact that so many people in this industry look down on money as a motivator has always been about trying to keep tech exclusive. First of all, it's only a perception. It's not true. You best believe these white dudes are getting their money and they're mad if they don't.
One of the outcomes the "passion" culture is to make sure tech remains accessible only to people who already have the time and the privilege to invest in building the necessary status and credibility. Building those credentials becomes necessary for growth and success.
You have to give public talks, you have to build side projects and get actual users on them, you have to go to meetups (or start your own meet ups!) There is a whole industry around building credibility. And people are being told *that* is what tech is about.
I'm here to tell you that this continues inside these companies as well. Engineers are constantly jockeying for position. Seeking credit for things (or stealing it). Because we've created this atmosphere where you always have to be performing "passion" in order to get recognized.
Now you have to take all of this commotion and look at it through the lens of someone who's primary motivator is to have a stable job that pays well. To be able to pay their rent, their mom's cell phone bill, and still go out to eat a couple times a week. The middle class dream.
A lot of people want to get into tech because it is one of the most accessible ways to make a decent living that you can get into without a ton of formal training. That's the whole thing, and it has little to do with "passion". The question is are those folks welcome here?
If you probe people on that question, you'll uncover a lot of bias that folks didn't realize they had. About who "belongs" here. You'll find completely made up assumptions about how "passion" produces better software (it doesn't). What you'll find is where the gatekeepers live.
I want to bring it back to why this culture is truly harmful. We are not meeting the demand for tech talent. Job reqs go unfilled. The industry has so much more room to grow. Literally *trillions* of dollars are up for grabs. And we're telling people they can't have it.
When we allow this kind of gatekeeping in tech, we are depriving real people of opportunities to change their lives. We are enabling the continued hoarding of obscene amounts of wealth, instead of enabling the expansion that would actually bolster our economy.
That's what I mean when I say DEI is about access. It's about taking this amazing career path and opening it up to a much wider population of people who can really benefit from it. There are so many smart, capable people who can do this job if we just let them.
