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Microsoft Uses US Women's Soccer Team To Explain Why It Doesn't Hire More Women

Posted by Soulskill on from the trying-a-different-pitch dept.

theodp writes: "It is not surprising that the U.S. women have been dominant in the sport [of soccer] in recent years. The explanation for that success lies in the talent pipeline," writes General Manager of Citizenship & Public Affairs Lori Forte Harnick on The Official Microsoft Blog. "Said another way, many girls in the U.S. have the opportunity to learn how to play soccer and, as a result, they benefit from the teamwork, skill development and fun involved. That's the kind of opportunity I would like to see develop for the technology sector, which presents a different, yet perhaps even more significant, set of opportunities for girls and young women. Unfortunately, the strength in the talent pipeline that we see in female soccer today is not the reality for technology. The U.S. is facing a shortage of Computer Science (CS) graduates. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, every year there are close to 140,000 jobs requiring a CS degree, but only 40,000 U.S. college graduates major in CS, which means that 100,000 positions go unfilled by domestic talent." Going with the soccer analogy, one thing FIFA realized that Microsoft didn't is that if you want girls to play your sport, you don't take away their ball!

6 of 212 comments (clear)

  1. Interesting.. by El+Lobo · · Score: 4, Informative

    There are more women working at MS that women contributing to the Linux community.

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    1. Re:Interesting.. by gweihir · · Score: 4, Informative

      As anybody that wants to can contribute to the Linux community, that should tell us something. (No, prissy, huge-ego women that barge in, want to tell everybody how to do things, predictably get ridiculed and pushed out again and then start to whine about that do not count as "wanting to contribute". Neither do female "kernel developers" where you are hard pressed to find a single meaningful commit. Those that actually want to contribute are welcome. Those that want to do politics are not.)

      This whole thing is about equal opportunity and women have had that for a long time now. It is not about equality, which involves forcing people to do things they obviously not want to do.

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    2. Re: Interesting.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      That's why these companies look to Asia for their workers. American workers are tech illiterate, by and large. This includes even CS students. Sure, they can be simple code monkeys, but for any position beyond that, US workers are mostly worthless. Add in the fact that H1Bs are also cheaper and easier to exploit, and it's obvious why US companies are hiring them.

  2. At least they are trying to solve the problem by davidwr · · Score: 5, Informative

    The important part of the article that was left out of the summary is that Microsoft is trying to address the problem by funding programs that encourage girls to get into the talent pipeline at a young age and stick with it.

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    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
  3. Re:Luckily you don't need just a CS degree by tompaulco · · Score: 4, Informative

    Some engineering degrees (Computer, Electrical), math degrees, etc. can be used in lieu of a CS degree provided you can prove you can code.

    In fact, a CS degree is not proof that you can code, it is proof that you understand the theory of Computer Science. An associates degree in computer programming from a trade school proves you can code.
    More than likely, a CS major can code. Almost certainly a Computer Engineer can code. Lots of people can code. There is no shortage of people who can meet the demands of these 140,000 jobs. In fact, Microsoft just laid off 6,000 people that can fit the bill.
    Looking more closely, the article says that 100,000 jobs require a CS degree. So they are being specific here. They need 100,000 people who went through college to understand the theory of Computer Science. Not programs, very specifically they need Computer Scientists. I'm not sure why. In fact, I think that they don't understand the requirement they are asking for. I am guessing they want code monkeys, not Computer Scientists. In which case, we have those available in spades.

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  4. Interesting editing, Slashdot... by jmac_the_man · · Score: 3, Informative
    It's interesting that Slashdot quotes the Microsoft guy as saying "The training pipeline for women in IT and CS isn't very good" when the thesis of his article is undoubtedly "Here's how Microsoft is improving the training pipeline for IT and CS. One result of this is that there will be more qualified women in the training pipeline."

    This is an incredibly dishonest way to frame this guy's remarks. Slashdot and Dice should be ashamed.