I belive that some reasons for less blacks being in CS was the amount of access they may have had to computers before college. I am a black male but was very fortuanate to have a middle class upbringing and began playing with computers when I was 6 years old. I always had access to computers and my high school offered typing and CS classes in high school. Now that computers are more easily acceptable via libraries and school computer labs perhaps this trend will change. I would bet that most CS majors in college had access to computers probably at home and were not living in poverty befor then entered college.
Being a black male in IT I haven't experienced this in hiring practices as every face to face interview I've had I've gotten a job offer from it. I consider myself pretty good but not a guru by an means. Just have to stay humble nobody likes working with a smartass. I will say that I've just moved back to Charlotte from Raleigh/Durham (4 years there) and Charlotte does have more of the segerated layout. My wife teaches in the school system here and to see the school almost becoming segergated again in some areas is sad. As far as IT hiring with the big corporations I think they doing a good job the smaller companies may be where more of the problem lies. I've expereinced it more in the way of promotions and compensation. I've got a friend from Taiwan and he's been promoted fairly quickly and has told me he doesn't know what he's doing and his peers know that he's not that great either. Although he's been prmoted through the ranks quickly but has now hit a glass ceiling. His manager did tell him he had an advantage as asians are seen as smarter than others but they're not good leaders.
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I belive that some reasons for less blacks being in CS was the amount of access they may have had to computers before college. I am a black male but was very fortuanate to have a middle class upbringing and began playing with computers when I was 6 years old. I always had access to computers and my high school offered typing and CS classes in high school. Now that computers are more easily acceptable via libraries and school computer labs perhaps this trend will change. I would bet that most CS majors in college had access to computers probably at home and were not living in poverty befor then entered college.
Being a black male in IT I haven't experienced this in hiring practices as every face to face interview I've had I've gotten a job offer from it. I consider myself pretty good but not a guru by an means. Just have to stay humble nobody likes working with a smartass. I will say that I've just moved back to Charlotte from Raleigh/Durham (4 years there) and Charlotte does have more of the segerated layout. My wife teaches in the school system here and to see the school almost becoming segergated again in some areas is sad. As far as IT hiring with the big corporations I think they doing a good job the smaller companies may be where more of the problem lies. I've expereinced it more in the way of promotions and compensation. I've got a friend from Taiwan and he's been promoted fairly quickly and has told me he doesn't know what he's doing and his peers know that he's not that great either. Although he's been prmoted through the ranks quickly but has now hit a glass ceiling. His manager did tell him he had an advantage as asians are seen as smarter than others but they're not good leaders.