HACKER Q&A
📣 trwayurm

As an URM where are the hand out jobs people mention all the time here


Not trying to bait, I've lurked here enough and I'm trying to have a good faith discussion.

As an URM who grew up in what would be considered the hood and went on to get a non-CS STEM degree (think eng/math/phys/chem,which is where my programming experience comes from) where are these jobs that people mention in anecdotal stories that URM are handed despite not being qualified?

For all the diversity companies seem to signal, and everyone seems to complain about people being given jobs unfairly, my job search has not reflected that. Might be despite my STEM degree I'm not good enough, but the lack of interviews I'm landing means I'm being filtered out from the start.

The way people make it out to be here, those jobs are handed out.

So are companies BSing? HN comments BSing? or who is getting these URM jobs?

Does anyone have any advice or willing to provide some mentorship?

Thanks, on a throw away because this is embarrassing.

  👤 uberman Accepted Answer ✓
The tech hiring landscape has been a little shaky as of late, but I would still expect you (or anyone else) to get interviews.

If you are not getting interviews at all then perhaps your resume is not quite right. Many tech employers use screening services that pre-filter resumes. It might be the case that you are just not showcasing the terms that your potential employers are looking for. If you are a new grad, I would see if your university has a resume service that might offer suggestions.

With respect to "unfair deference" I can't really directly speak to that but I can tell you what one larger employer uses a strategy. In an attempt to increase diversity at their place of work, they have shifted from "hire the best candidate" to "hire the least represented candidate from among all qualified candidates".

Since they set the bar as to what constitutes a qualified candidate they can still ensure they get good talent but after that they seek diversity.

This is not my employer, just a company I consulted with. I'll leave it to the individual to determine if they agree with this policy or not. I don't really have an opinion, other than that it seems a valid strategy to try to realize their goal of increased diversity.

👤 mr90210
Well, as a someone who barely spoke English, with a Computer Engineering degree, from a so called 3rd world continent (not Asia), with prior work experience in Software Development, who 3 years landed a job in Europe, my advice is:

- Don’t expect any company to just hand you a job - Grind the fuck out. This shit ain’t EASY.

Peace brother.

👤 PaulHoule
I think in the last six months there has been a state of flux and hiring has been on hold in some firms.

General advice is that if you are not getting interviews then you need to debug your resume.

👤 georgia_peach
Where are you applying? If you're in SoCal or Seattle, I hear people have a new job lined up the next day. NYC? Maybe a week or two. Rest of the country? Could be months.

Actual degree and actual race would be appreciated. None of that is identifying information, and dancing around facts which are central to your question seems pretty sketchy.

👤 faangiq
Apply to big companies. Super easy free money.
👤 b20000
STEM and CS/IT have been promoted as some magic solution to everyone’s career or employment issues, which is really annoying. STEM careers are very demanding and do not pay as well as you think compared to other fields like law or medicine. the reason you hear about STEM is that companies need lots of cheap labour. so they need lots of kids going into STEM so they can pay everyone less. when i look at levels.fyi and see the 1MM total comp packages i always wonder how many of those get hired in FAANG every year and what those people look like.