#ILookLikeAnEngineer sparks new look at Silicon Valley workforce and board room diversity

SOMETIMES, the stars align and a couple of unrelated events occur that by themselves would create a spark, but put them together and you get a supernova.

• When OneLogin launched an advertising campaign for engineers, they didn't expect to create an Internet star. When she agreed to let her company use her picture to recruit engineers, platform engineer Isis Anchalee, didn't expect the reaction her post would cause.

• At about the same time, Black Congressional Caucus visited several firms in Silicon Valley to encourage them to do more to hire more African Americans and other minorities, including women so that the tech industry would better reflect the population.

• In the nation's capitol, President Barack Obama launched Startup America, a campaign to increase opportunity for a wider demographic and to increase diversity in Silicon Valley's workforce and board rooms.

"Just three percent of America’s venture capital-backed startups are led by women, and only around one percent are led by African-Americans," the White House announcement read. "At present, only about four percent of U.S.-based venture capital investors are women."

President Obama meets with some of the innovators who took part in the Demo Day.

The announcement was made at the first annual White House Demo Day as part of the President’s new initiative to celebrate, inspire, and accelerate technological entrepreneurship. 

Some 40 venture capital firms have joined the president's initiative, promising to boost opportunities for underserved minorities. Institutional investors like CalPERS, the state pension fund, committed up to $11 billion in investments for emerging and transitioning managers. High-tech companies said they would adopt a variation on the National Football League’s “Rooney Rule” for coaches, a requirement that they consult a diverse applicant pool for senior executive posts.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article29994513.html#storylink=cpy

Meanwhile, a survey of the top 20 U.S. technology firms found that of the 189 members of corporate boards, only three directors are African/American. “African/Americans have been, quite frankly, locked out of the tech workforce,” said Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oaklalnd, part of the congressional delegation that met last week with tech giants in a 3-day tour of Silicon Valley. 

Indeed, the numbers released from the tech companies seem to support her statement. 

Africa/Americans, Latinos and women are severely underrepresented in every aspect of the industry.

Asians, although 17 percent of the tech workforce, have found it extremely difficult to break through the bamboo ceiling. Despite  their numbers in the workforce, few have been able to climb into the ranks of management and board rooms. 

"The 'bamboo ceiling,' as author Jane Hyun terms it, is hardly limited to technology, but its existence in a sector where Asians are thriving illustrates the intractability of the problem. Hyun blames the workers for the promotion gap, arguing that they need to take a page from Sheryl Sandberg and 'lean in,'" wrote Kevin Drum in Mother Jones.  "But other observers, such as Lisa Lee, a senior diversity manager for Pandora, point to the need for companies to curb their preconceptions about who will make a good leader."

RELATED: Study: Asians hit the bamboo ceiling in high-tech workforce

White males make up the majority of the workforce and almost all of the board members. The few minorities and women who have managed to make it to the highly visible or influential  positions have been the exception, rather than the rule.

Part of problem has been the dominant image of the typical high-tech employee as a white, hoodie-wearing, social awkward white male.

OneLogin's campaign asked Anchalee, one of their employees, to pose for a poster intended to recruit more engineers. The reaction was not what the San Francisco-company expected.

The ad — one of several her company posted in BART stations — received an unexpected backlash of frankly, sexist, critiques, where some people questioned the authenticity of the advertising based because they thought the company used a model instead of a real engineer. (Editor's note: She prefers to use her middle name over the name used in the poster.)

Some of the more printable reactions that was written online include: "This is some weird haphazard branding. I think they want to appeal to women, but are probably just appealing to dudes," reads one typical example Anchalee pulled off Facebook. "But I'm curious people with brains find this quote remotely plausible and if women in particular buy this image of what a female software engineer looks like." 

“The negative opinions about this ad that strangers feel so compelled to share illustrate solid examples of the sexism that plagues tech,” Anchalee wrote in her short blog that she felt compelled to create to answer the doubters and critics.

Isis Anchalee responds to her critics.

In response, 22-year old Anchalee took a photo of herself (above) with the Twitter hashtag #ILookLikeAnEngineer. The reaction to her response has been amazing. Engineers - women and minorities - began taking pictures of themselves with the Twitter hashtag. 

"News flash: this isn't by any means an attempt to label 'what female engineers look like,' " she wrote. "This is literally just ME, an example of ONE engineer at OneLogin."

"I doubt that most of you know me. I am a passionate self-taught engineer, extreme introvert, science-nerd, anime-lover, college dropout, hip hop dancer, yoga teacher/hoop-dance teacher, really authentic friend and HUMAN(omg?!). In fact, if you knew me you would probably know that being famous is one of my biggest nightmares; seriously right up there with falling into a porta potty. I keep to myself most of the time and generally prefer when others mind their own business too," wrote Anchalee.

Her hashtag has absolutely skyrocketed beyond her expectations. A fundraising campaign has been started (with Anchalee's approval) on Indiegogo to raise enough money to put up a billboard in San Francisco celebrating and encouraging diversity in the high-tech industry. 

“People have taken the message I started and are continuing the conversation themselves,” Anchalee says. “I am absolutely taken with gratitude.”

#ILookLikeAnEngineer is going beyond the Internet. There are now poster, t-shirts and socks with the hashtag.

There's definitely a movement to increase the diversity of the high-tech industry's workforce. Industry giants like Apple, Google, Pinterest, Yahoo and others are - frankly embarrassed by their statistics in hiring - have pledged millions of dollar in initiatives to improve their workforce diversity. Besides an implementation of the Rooney Rule, the companies will expand their recruitment efforts at colleges and universities outside of the Bay Area, employees will be sent to job fairs that attract minority applicants, and internship programs will be widened to include more African Americans, Latinos and women.

In a few years, if these efforts work, the companies' business will improve and competitive in the world stage, we will be able to draw our best and brightest from a wider pool of applicants, colleges and universities and America will be better off for it. 

If you, your daughter, niece, sister or any of the women in your life want to be inspired, or just want to bust open those old stereotypes, check out #ILookLikeAnEngineer, or Anchalee's Twitter account.

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