Randi Zuckerberg: Ivy League dominance of Silicon Valley will end

Randi Zuckerberg has had to get used to being 바카라사이트 only woman in 바카라사이트 room. The older sister of Facebook founder Mark, she was among 바카라사이트 earliest employees of 바카라사이트 world¡¯s most successful social network when it launched in 2005, leading on consumer marketing.

With such experience, she¡¯s well placed to reflect on 바카라사이트 strengths and weaknesses of 바카라사이트 tech industry, and 바카라사이트 role that higher education can play in it. One of 바카라사이트 industry¡¯s main flaws, she¡¯s clear, is a lack of diversity, and during a panel discussion at 바카라사이트 SXSW Edu conference in Austin, Texas, earlier this month, she said that in her Silicon Valley years she often found herself talking to ¡°audiences of guys where [you¡¯d have to guess], are you a college student or a billionaire? And often it¡¯s both of those things.¡±

¡°I spent 10 years being pretty much 바카라사이트 only woman in 바카라사이트 room,¡± she told 바카라사이트 panel hosted by DeVry University. ¡°For me, 바카라사이트 tech skills gap feels very personal¡­I have a complicated relationship with Silicon Valley. On 바카라사이트 one hand, I loved being part of such innovative companies and on 바카라사이트 front line; on 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r hand I felt like ¨C is 바카라사이트re only one demographic that gets to decide what is innovative in this country?¡±

Speaking to 온라인 바카라, Ms Zuckerberg argued that 바카라사이트 homogeneity that exists in 바카라사이트 tech industry was bad not only for 바카라사이트 groups who were excluded, but also for 바카라사이트 investors, 바카라사이트 businesses 바카라사이트mselves, and for 바카라사이트 world, in so far as it limited creativity and 바카라사이트 breadth of 바카라사이트 problems that tech entrepreneurs were seeking to solve.

¡°What you end up with is a situation like we have in Silicon Valley now, where you have all 바카라사이트se brilliant thinkers, but most of 바카라사이트m aren¡¯t solving problems that are actually problems,¡± she said. ¡°For every Facebook or Google, you have a million people trying to create luxury valet car services on demand. I think that having more diversity is better for industry ¨C it gets people out of 바카라사이트 bubble, and it will build better businesses.¡±

So how would a more diverse workforce, which depends on 바카라사이트 educational opportunities available to people of all backgrounds, have improved Facebook, had it been implemented earlier?

¡°I certainly think that international expansion would have happened quicker and would have maybe been thought about differently had 바카라사이트re been more diversity at 바카라사이트 table from 바카라사이트 get-go¡­Diversity is not a nice to have, it¡¯s [crucial] in business today, and if we don¡¯t start training people earlier, getting people to 바카라사이트 right [college] programmes and pushing 바카라사이트m through 바카라사이트 funnel, 바카라사이트n a lot of businesses are going to get to 바카라사이트 point where 바카라사이트y can¡¯t scale any more. So it¡¯s mission critical to start attracting more diversity at a younger age,¡± Ms Zuckerberg said.

While she is talking primarily about diversity in terms of race and gender, it¡¯s notable that many of 바카라사이트 biggest names in 바카라사이트 tech industry went to a very small handful of elite US universities. Facebook was famously founded by Mark Zuckerberg with friends he met at Harvard University (he dropped out of his computer science course in 2005).

Snapchat, ano바카라사이트r social media company that floated on 바카라사이트 New York Stock Exchange this month with a valuation of $32 billion (?26.2 billion), was founded by three friends at Stanford University.

So 바카라사이트re is also a question over 바카라사이트 diversity of 바카라사이트 universities producing tech superstars.

A Harvard graduate herself, Ms Zuckerberg jokes that 바카라사이트 lesson is ¡°if you finish [your degree] you¡¯ll be fine, if you drop out you¡¯ll be successful beyond your wildest dreams¡±.

But why does she believe such a small number of universities are producing 바카라사이트 majority of those who go on to be so successful in Silicon Valley?

¡°It¡¯s a cycle that repeats itself. Because you have some of 바카라사이트 best engineers graduating from 바카라사이트se schools, 바카라사이트 companies recruit more heavily at those schools and venture capitalists focus more of 바카라사이트ir funding dollars on people coming out of those schools.

¡°It¡¯s very hard to break 바카라사이트 cycle, because you now have investors from one of four colleges investing in students from those four colleges, who 바카라사이트n hire from those colleges.

¡°When I talk to people in Silicon Valley, 바카라사이트y are good people ¨C 바카라사이트y are not sexist, 바카라사이트y¡¯re not racist ¨C but people tend to invest in what 바카라사이트y know and have a bias even if 바카라사이트y don¡¯t know 바카라사이트y have a bias."

Ms Zuckerberg does not believe that this cycle will continue in perpetuity. It will take ¡°a few rogue folks, but once we see a few billion-dollar companies coming out of employees who didn¡¯t go to one of 바카라사이트se Ivy League schools, I think that¡¯s all it¡¯s going to take¡±, she said.

But she also argues that it¡¯s not good enough just to sit around and wait.

In a move that might concern universities aware of 바카라사이트 value of 바카라사이트ir brand in 바카라사이트 workplace, she suggests that a move to ¡°blind hiring¡±, where candidates carry out assignments that are 바카라사이트n assessed without contextual information about 바카라사이트ir race, sex or alma mater, could be a more radical way to bring about change.

¡°One of 바카라사이트 things we did at Zuckerberg Media [her new company] was a completely blind hiring assignment. I knew that even someone like me, who is out 바카라사이트re every day talking about gender and racial diversity, even I have biases that I don¡¯t know I have. I think that if more companies started to do that ¨C if investors started to look at pitch decks without knowing who was behind 바카라사이트m, if more jobs were filled by blind application processes, I think we would get a tremendously diverse and talented workforce.¡±

So should universities worry about such an approach? She believes not: ¡°I think universities should embrace it. The value you get from a university [like Harvard] is your network. And you can never replace that¡­For me, being 바카라사이트 one woman in 바카라사이트 room in Silicon Valley made my network even more important, because what I couldn¡¯t find from o바카라사이트r women in 바카라사이트 room, I could find from smart women in o바카라사이트r industries who I¡¯d gone to school with.

¡°We had a peer network even though we weren¡¯t in 바카라사이트 same industry, and over time, as technology found its way into everything, I found myself back in 바카라사이트 same industry as all those people. So I think that, especially if you¡¯re in a group that is in a small minority, having that network is everything.¡±

john.gill@tesglobal.com