Diversity in IT (Or the Lack Thereof)

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Ever notice that IT teams are kind of homogeneous? You're not the only one. According to ComputerWorld, "Over the past few years, the number of women and underrepresented minorities in IT has been dropping steadily." The article, "Recruiting for a More Diverse IT Staff," offers 7 tips on how to do so:

'¢ Adjust the language in your job description.
'¢ Recruit at women's and minority-serving institutions.
'¢ Reach out through professional groups and attend job fairs for minorities and women in IT.
'¢ Promote work/life balance and a flexible workplace.
'¢ Focus on service delivery and IT's role in the big picture.
'¢ Make time for training and skills advancement during the workday.
'¢ Set up mentoring programs, affinity groups, and communities for women and underrepresented minorities.

Lack of diversity is bad for your company. Technology is changing very fast. Product lifetimes are diminishing.

The only way to survive in this kind of environment is to
be relentlessly creative. So you have to hire partners,
customers, high school kids, foreigners, people from other
races and religions, and martians if you can find them
not just to succeed, but merely to survive. Because you
just can't be that creative by yourself. You just aren't
that smart and never will be. Americans who are in recent
history the source of most creativity in this world may
just find themselves at a disadvantage a decade from now
as more diverse places like Europe accustom themselves
to diving a little deeper into the ice cold water of
globalization.

Curt's company has software that helps the accidental project manager.

Curt Finch

Curt Finch has more than two decades of software development and distributed workforce management experience. In 1997, Curt created the world's first internet-based timesheet application and the foundation for the current Journyx product offering. Curt has a B.S. in Computer Science from Virginia Tech. His book, All Your Money, is available on Amazon. @curtfinch