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Discussion on: Four Reasons Why YOU Should Take the State of JavaScript Survey, Especially If You're a Beginner

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darkwiiplayer profile image
𒎏Wii 🏳️‍⚧️

As the last State of CSS survey shows, respondents with less than a year of experience are a far more diverse crowd than their more experienced peers

I wonder if that's because lately a more diverse group of people is starting out in this field, or whether this group just doesn't stick around for as long.

If the latter was true, that would be quite alarming.

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ingosteinke profile image
Ingo Steinke

I wonder if that's because lately a more diverse group of people is starting out in this field, or whether this group just doesn't stick around for as long

Good point! reminds me of Rozita Shojaei's TEDx talk about how she managed to get respect in the male dominated German IT corporate culture, but later decided she had enough of the struggle and became a professional dancer instead.

ted.com/talks/rozita_shojaei_how_i...

A friend of mine used to be an IT professional until he decided to found a tango dancing school. Maybe most of the creative open-minded people will leave information technology sooner or later unless we manage to change what seems to be the mainstream culture.

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fjones profile image
FJones

It's the latter, but not for the reasons you would think. It's not that the sphere isn't welcoming - we try our damndest to get more diversity and encourage every last group to give it a shot.

It is jading, and the attempts to cater to them specifically make it seem like a) there's a reason we have to cater to them and b) we deal with the jading nature better.

That couldn't be further from the truth (heck, the entire space of programming was effectively built on the backs of minorities of various kinds), but people get burnt out a lot more with the implied pressure. That's the common thread through every talk I've had with people who quit: by presupposing their hardships we actually deepen the divide much more than just by organically letting them enter.