Our mission is to unlock human potential by training a diverse, inclusive student body to succeed in high-fulfillment technical careers.
- Reflect on intersectionality and how your identity impacts your experiences and interactions with others
- Develop greater empathy and awareness of the experiences of others in the field of software development
Step 1: Watch this video from Google.
Step 2: If you are unfamiliar with the term "Implicit Bias," take time to read this article to build your background knowledge.
Create a gist on Github and reflect (4-6 sentences) on the following questions:
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What were your reflections from the video?
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Everyone has biases of whih they aren't even aware. We're all making snap judgments constantly about each other and everything we experience. All humans do need to make decisions; we pattern map, and if somone else doesn't look like us, it may be harder to make the jump and make those connections.
It's tough for us to see what's true when we're looking for what we expect. People think they can see objectively, but that's wrong, and it has lasting effects on who hiring departments hire or put in leadserhip positions.
In programming specifically, you can use this idea to think about who your user is too. And if you're conscoious of your biases, you can contribute and innovate at a higher level and our products/results will be better.
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In what ways have you examined your implicit biases before coming to Turing?
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I've been very familiar with my privileges and unconscious biases for many years. I come from a set and setting where I have the privilege to be able to sit back and examine these, not only discussing them intellectually, but being able to put them in action.
I've worked on diversity and inclusion at jobs in the past, including positions where I worked HR at small startups. And in 2020, I was working with my business owner on creating a Diversity and Inclusion Policy.
Also, outside of work, I spend a great deal of time on mutul aid and transformative justice in the activism community, making sure to give stack preference to marginalized voices in community meetings.
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What kind of software do you imagine building in the future? How will understanding biases (or avoiding understanding biases) impact your products?
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In the future, I'm still trying to figure out what kind of software I'd be building. I definitely want to help elevate our most marginlized community members, as that's how I currenty spend much of my free time, because it's important.
Understanding biases will be important to my products, because it always should be with all products. I will need to consult members of these groups, not just one, but many, and work to make sure that everyone is benefitting well and its accesible to them/us.
I will also do as much research as I can on my own and with other more priviliged folks too though. Why? Because it's also important to save labor from people who spend so much time devoting so much of it.
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If you are unfamiliar with the term "Intersectionality," take time to read this article to understand the theory and introduction of the concept. If you are familiar, move to the reflection questions.
On your same gist, reflect on the following quesitons:
“All of us live complex lives that require a great deal of juggling for survival,” Carty and Mohanty said in an email. “What that means is that we are actually living at the intersections of overlapping systems of privilege and oppression.”
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When you consider the way you move through the world, what elements of your identity are you most aware of on a daily basis?
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When I consider the way I move through the world, the elements of my identity that I most aware of on a daily basis are both privileged and not privileged, just like the aforementioned statement. For one, I'm white, and that's the biggest privilege of them on in the opinion of many, and I think that is very valid.
I'm also straight passing and cis passing, even though I'm not either of those, and that's a big privilege. I'm definitely aware of the biases against people who are queer though, and those do definitely affect me everyday.
My good childhood education does play a role in the way I'm treated in and interact with society, despite mental illness and a learning disabilty. And the fact that I grew up in a nice neighboorhood and went to a private school gives me a huge advantage in society, which isn't just or fair.
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What strengths does your identity give you? How will you utilize those at Turing?
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One strength that my identity gives me is individuality.
I'm also creative. I'm innovative. I have strong reasoning and critical thinking skills.
I want to succeed and be the vest version of myself. I want to help people. I want to make society a better place.
These all put me in a situation to be helpful and make a difference with my software development.
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How do you think you could value the identies of those around you to bring out their strengths at Turing? Has there been a time where you were able to advocate or include people around you?
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To value the identies of those around me to bring out their strengths at Turing, I want to make sure that everyone is heard, especially those who are neurodivergent or just generally quieter.
In the past, to advocate or include people around me, I have used "elevated stack" during group discussions with over 5 people. This is easily done with the Occupy Hand Signals. And what that means is that voices that are less often heard will be given priority. It works very well, from my experiences.
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How will your strengths impact you as a teammate? What will you bring to your cohort?
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My strengths that impact me as a teammate are my experience in the aforementioned community events. In the same vein, my experience in HR and upper management always helps with group interactions and dynamics.
As far as what I bring to the cohort, I will work to include people who seem excluded. I'm already starting that with a study group for Mod 1 prework.
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