#ethicalcs — Public Fediverse posts

P.S. for Women's History Month: don't erase trans masculine people by trying to "celebrate" them as women -- we meant to share last night but forgot to! #ethicalCS https://twitter.com/saberikhan/status/1111064816473567237

For more information, see #TechWontBuildIt, @techworkersco, @endforcedarb, @GoogleWalkout, @DropDragonfly, @teamcoworker, and so many other resources. #EthicalCS

We also need to ensure we don't perpetuate discrimination or human rights abuses with our work. Ask questions about what you're building and why. Don't be complicit. Unions can be an important force *if* they focus on helping marginalized people. #EthicalCS

The most important thing is to make your spaces safe for trans and/or non-binary students colleagues, and coworkers. An increasing number of people are coming out as trans -- so we need to make sure they feel safe and welcomed. #EthicalCS https://twitter.com/saberikhan/status/1111069082198126593

Oh, and... don't dismiss people as "job hoppers" if they leave a job after 6 months. A lot of workplaces are toxic and people need to escape for their own health and safety. #EthicalCS

And, don't tolerate white supremacy or transphobia/TERF-iness among your colleagues. #EthicalCS

Recognize emotional labor. Pay people for their diversity work rather than treating it as an obligation for marginalized people, least of all an unpaid one. Hire & pay us. Poverty is the single largest issue facing trans & non-binary folx. Share knowledge of salaries #EthicalCS

Hire marginalized people. Take action when someone feels safe enough to call you in, rather than being in denial/lashing out. Stop doing performative bullshit. Talk to your peers to advocate for us, because you're in rooms where PoC & trans/NB folk aren't. #EthicalCS

Listen to us first and foremost, and we even need to be allies to each other *within* the movement. Listen to what your Black, Latinx, and Indigenous compatriots face as challenges. Seriously, listen with compassion. Don't disbelieve what they go through. #EthicalCS https://t.co/wdEvoIqYee

+1000. Dismissiveness of roles as "non-technical" and creation of "pink-collar jobs" erases the valuable contributions that people of all kinds make towards technology and society. #EthicalCS https://twitter.com/BlakeleyHPayne/status/1111063307040026624

p.s. take 5 minutes to watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6uuIHpFkuo We're better when we raise each other up rather than conforming and excluding those who won't conform. #EthicalCS https://twitter.com/IBJIYONGI/status/1111062091719475201

Purl | Pixar SparkShorts

and... don't build or support technology to oppress women. Think about the Absher app controversy. How can tech companies say they respect women, while supporting virulent sexism and paternalism? #EthicalCS

Stop tolerating racism. Stop tolerating sexism. Stop shielding abusers. Stop protecting harassers. Add women to boards. Fund womens' startups. Stop giving biased, gendered feedback to women. #EthicalCS https://twitter.com/saberikhan/status/1111060065346379781

Equal pay, and equal opportunities for advancement are critical; as is lifting each other up rather than pulling up the ladder; as is sponsorship from allies who can ensure we're considered for opportunities. Ending toxicity that drives us out of STEM is fundamental. #EthicalCS

.@ASpittel is spot-on that we need to pay attention to intersectionality and empowering black and indigenous women, trans women, non-binary folks, and so many other folks rather than letting white feminism & racism divide our movement. #EthicalCS https://t.co/u9om484VLL

We think that women and non-binary people belong at all levels of STEM - from the boardroom, to tenured faculty positions, to co-founding innovative startups, to leading teams. It's both a moral imperative & good business sense to involve women in creating technology. #EthicalCS https://t.c...

And some facts about us: we're plural (but use she/her pronouns), we're a trans woman of color, a spoonie, and hella queer :) We also sit on the board of @TransEquality and do impact investing and giving to advance trans rights. #EthicalCS

For more on why we resigned, see https://t.co/aEjpfWYXqy -- we were especially alarmed by the mistreatment of women and non-binary employees by executives, and the lack of action to safeguard minority populations in Google's products. #EthicalCS

Google Workers Lost a Leader, ...

Women's History Month is important for recognizing the contributions that women have made to our field and to the world as a whole. Folks like Grace Hopper, Ada Lovelace, the hidden figures of the Apollo program such as Katherine Johnson were essential to computing. #ethicalCS

And it also happens to be the part that won't get me fired for breaking my NDA, and that I can exercise my protected concerted activity rights to give rather than requiring my employer's approval :) p.s. know your rights as an employee! #ethicalCS

I think the second part of how to fix things is important (and perhaps more important than any one case study), and that's the half that I've chosen to take on the road in collaboration with @EmilyGorcenski's work as an antiracist activist in the world outside tech. #ethicalCS

A6: Case studies about (1) what went wrong and (2) how we fixed it can really help. I wrote a [internal] talk a few years back to preserve Google's collective memory about times we could have better served users. I hope it's inspired/empowered others to do advocacy. #ethicalCS

[if I wind up quitting Google in January over ethical concerns, I seriously have thought about applying to J-school in addition to looking for ethical tech jobs...] #ethicalCS

I also really love @b0rk's work of comics about computer science and systems basics, and @scottmccloud's work on the Chrome & k8s comics. Tech doesn't have to be boring. Not everyone has the same learning style. #ethicalCS

Another approach I think is helpful is to focus on *outcomes* rather than on internal technical details. One of the tools I use as an SRE to communicate risk to stakeholders is https://t.co/XSUOwYQmuC (by @xleem). I wish we could discuss privacy risks the same way. #ethicalCS

How to prioritize and communic...

A5: Actually value technical writing. Actually value journalism. Actually value developer advocacy. Not everything is about writing code. There's a reason I'm career changing to becoming a developer advocate. #ethicalCS

This is why so many former Site Reliability Engineers work on @Aiiane's team or are active in discussions of #ethicalCS. We are the ones trained to think of what can go wrong, and empowered to voice our concerns and stop launches. It's a small hop from reliability to ethics. https://t.co/J3iVHeCRdw

So fixing the sexism, racism, and other structural inequities in tech will go a long way towards reducing bias in the products we build as well, include more diverse perspectives in the room, and empower them to be heard. #ethicalCS starts with worker rights.

The main blocker to fixing tech's failure is that if people don't even care about their minority coworkers that they work with day to day, they're going to have a really hard time empathizing with users they've never met. #ethicalCS

A4: One of my deep concerns about the "failures of the tech industry" is that some issues that laypeople are terrified by... aren't that terrifying when you grow to understand them, and some seemingly mundane things are the most terrifying to me. #ethicalCS