Who is best qualified for tech jobs? #tellusatoday

Blacks and Hispanics get computer science degrees at twice the rate Silicon Valley companies hire them, a Paste BN analysis shows. Comments from Facebook are edited for clarity and grammar:

Just because you have a tech degree does not mean you are qualified. Every applicant has to be screened and interviewed, and then the most qualified applicant will be hired. You do not hire someone because he or she is black, Hispanic, white or Asian. You hire the best qualified person, male or female.

— David Caccam

Plenty of people of all colors graduate with tech degrees, and few get hired by Google. But by all means, let's institute an affirmative action policy so that less-qualified applicants are not shut out of Silicon Valley.

— Kay Lynn

For the most part, blacks and Hispanics do not have people in powerful positions vouching for them. I have worked for major corporations, and most of the time, I was able to edge out other equally qualified candidates because I had folks well-placed in the industry or the corporation vouching for me.

My network contacts did not tell the hiring manager that adding me to their team would be a boon for the corporation's diversity numbers. Instead, they pointed out my skill sets, and how they would ultimately benefit the team.

— Lainie Renee Alexander

Many people fail to grasp the big picture. Tech firms claim they lack U.S.-born and -educated job candidates to promote recruitment of foreign workers who will work for less and depress wages in the industry.

— Derek Middleton

We are always looking for new technicians. If you can pass the same tests as everyone else, you are hired. We are an equal opportunity employer.

— Brian Bridges

Members of the good ol' boy network don't want to hire the best candidate. They want to hire the person they want to have a beer with, which usually turns out to be a person of the same race/ethnicity.

They don't want anyone messing with their white supremacy/privilege paradigm.

— Patrizio Cavaliere

We asked our Twitter followers about the low percentages of blacks and Hispanics with computer science degrees hired in Silicon Valley. Comments are edited for clarity and grammar:

Perhaps we should take a hard look at the education they are getting before attacking potential employers.

— @tab91787

The administration must bring together top Silicon Valley employers with university presidents to address the disparity.

— @JeffOstach

Minorities need to stop thinking they can't do things and just go do it. I don't let my blackness stop me.

— @ASiLAJ

Maybe the low hiring is because blacks and Hispanics prefer government work to the private sector? There are too many factors involved to speculate.

— @Gritsandtoast

For more discussions, follow @USATOpinion or #tellusatoday on Twitter.