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This is a talk for anyone who wants a more diverse engineering culture at work. If you've ever been frustrated by the sameness of your engineering peers, you'll hear practical advice you can use immediately. Creating a diverse team is more than a moral issue - it makes business sense. Diverse engineering teams recruit the best talent, are more innovative, better reflect the needs of their users and make for incredibly fun places to work.
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The video titled "5 Practical Ways to Advocate for Diversity," delivered by Tony Wieczorek at RailsConf 2016, addresses the critical importance of fostering diversity within engineering teams. Wieczorek emphasizes that diversity is not only a moral imperative but also a business necessity, contributing to innovation, reflecting user needs, and enhancing workplace culture. Key points discussed in the video include: - **Diversity Importance**: Wieczorek highlights that diversity should matter to everyone, not just marginalized groups. He shares personal experiences, including an encounter with Rick Santorum that illuminated the hostile attitudes towards diverse families that can exist in society. - **Defining 'Best'**: He contends that the definition of the "best" engineers should extend beyond talent to include diverse backgrounds and perspectives. Emphasizing that '10x teams' can outperform individual '10x engineers,' he cites research showing how diverse teams prepare better and reach consensus more effectively. - **Personal Experiences**: With a background at companies like Zipcar and Localytics, Wieczorek shares his challenges in hiring diverse talent, underlining that tech companies struggle with ethnic and gender diversity, a common theme in Silicon Valley. - **Practical Ways to Advocate**: Wieczorek lists five practical methods to advocate for diversity: - **Measure**: Conducting surveys to understand the demographic makeup of the company, sharing the results for transparency. - **Fundraise**: Supporting local diversity groups and initiatives through fundraising or involvement, such as hosting events with women in tech. - **Call Out**: Using strategies like the SBI tool to address inappropriate jokes and comments, fostering a respectful work environment. - **Recruit**: Actively participating in outreach and community events to recruit diverse candidates. - **Communicate Importance**: Promoting discussions about diversity within the company, starting conversations with leadership to ensure diverse hiring practices are prioritized. - **Cultural Shifts**: He encourages creating an inclusive culture, illustrating this with the renaming of conference rooms after notable figures in diversity, to subtly reinforce the importance of varied contributions in tech. Wieczorek concludes by stressing that proactive measures in promoting diversity not only benefit individuals from various backgrounds but enhance overall team performance and development. By being vocal about diversity, raising awareness, and creating supportive environments, engineering cultures can evolve to become more inclusive and productive. Overall, the talk encourages all engineers, especially those in leadership roles, to take actionable steps towards advocating for and achieving diversity in the workplace.
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