My day job is in computer engineering. I've worked for a few Silicon Valley-style companies, but the one area I differ from most of my colleagues is that I never attended university and have no comp-sci degree. This piece was informative regarding some of the perplexing interactions and situations I've experienced at these bigger companies in recent times.
There is always an obligatory push to hire more female engineers and mandatory HR workshops on "treating people equally and fairly", which inevitably ends with the sentiment that men are oppressive and should put female colleagues on a pedestal. When speaking to other male colleagues, I've occasionally expressed my resentment at the implication that I have ever been anything but fair and equal when interacting with female colleagues. The response was almost always something like, "Well, you know, we do have an implicit bias that we need to be aware of as well". This invariably left me dumbfounded; even after being implicitly and wrongly accused of sexist behaviour, these men still inadvertently harbored a sense of guilt.
I had no idea how bad the postmodernist, intersectionalist push had become in the academic institution. Forcing people to obtain "diversity credits" for disciplines that are completely irrelevant to such rubbish classes is astounding.
Wow Holly. Once again I’m so glad i found your substack. An amazing analysis, and also a reminder to me, too, not to give in to the victim mindset pervading our culture.
My day job is in computer engineering. I've worked for a few Silicon Valley-style companies, but the one area I differ from most of my colleagues is that I never attended university and have no comp-sci degree. This piece was informative regarding some of the perplexing interactions and situations I've experienced at these bigger companies in recent times.
There is always an obligatory push to hire more female engineers and mandatory HR workshops on "treating people equally and fairly", which inevitably ends with the sentiment that men are oppressive and should put female colleagues on a pedestal. When speaking to other male colleagues, I've occasionally expressed my resentment at the implication that I have ever been anything but fair and equal when interacting with female colleagues. The response was almost always something like, "Well, you know, we do have an implicit bias that we need to be aware of as well". This invariably left me dumbfounded; even after being implicitly and wrongly accused of sexist behaviour, these men still inadvertently harbored a sense of guilt.
I had no idea how bad the postmodernist, intersectionalist push had become in the academic institution. Forcing people to obtain "diversity credits" for disciplines that are completely irrelevant to such rubbish classes is astounding.
Wow Holly. Once again I’m so glad i found your substack. An amazing analysis, and also a reminder to me, too, not to give in to the victim mindset pervading our culture.