The end of the year is a good time to reflect. Photo by Marc-Olivier Jodoin on Unsplash
Because many of my readers will be on vacation this week and the next, I want to keep these two editions light. I’ll be back in January with the usual content.
This week, I want to reflect on 2020. I wrote my first edition of Hiring For Tech back in February when COVID-19-related restrictions hadn’t yet taken over the US. My goal was to look at each interview I conducted and find the gaps I knew were present in the hiring process. But within a month of launching the newsletter, I started working from home and the tech industry either stopped or slowed down hiring significantly.
Still, I’ve learned a great deal, so let’s take a look back at the last 10+ months of writing:
-
Many of the tech industry’s inability to accommodate a diverse group of people have been highlighted this year. Whether it’s the sudden stresses of the pandemic and the shift to remote work, or the push to dismantle system imbalances, equitable hiring is more important than ever.
-
People see the need for a better system, and they’re speaking up. By setting out to write about tech hiring, I’ve found others who have published articles on the same subject, or even done academic research. The conclusion is the same: the current interview process excludes talented people, and that needs to change.
-
The same topics come up again and again in the discussions about tech hiring. Writing out my thoughts on a regular basis has given me a library of articles to reference whenever these conversations arise. My favorite moment was when a reader had some questions and thoughts about improving the hiring process, and I was able to link to past articles on each and every topic they brought up.
In next week’s edition, I’ll outline where I see tech hiring going in 2021, and how I plan to be a part of that future. Until then, happy holidays!