Mon 03 March 2025

One of the more impactful bits of "DEI work" we (ohai Sara Smollett) did at the G was helping to re-write our job descriptions for SRE (I later re-wrote the internal job ladder for SRE, but that's probably not as directly related).

Circa 2010 or so, our JDs needed a bit of a refresh, and they were pretty typical of the time - they selected for a kind of exceptionalism that is kind of gross to many folks. Words like "Rockstar" and "Adrenalin Junkie" and "Code Jockey" and the like. Definitely a pre-cursor to the only slightly more benign "10x engineer", so we haven't gotten away from that sort of thinking, sadly.

Friends, certain phrases in your job descriptions make certain kinds of people self-select out. They select for certain backgrounds, and people with certain attitudes, and this is to the exclusion of people who are just as good and better at their jobs that balk at filling a magical role you're using weird hyperbole to describe. You're ideally trying to encourage qualified people to apply, by describing the real requirements and real outcomes of the job. I've specifically and repeatedly learned this from female engineers I've worked with, but it also applies culturally (there used to be an informal training given internally on "How To Always Say You Are Awesome Even If It Is Sometimes Lies (for Europeans)").

The same goes for inflated experience requirements. You might put 10+ years of Kubernetes experience on a JD today and hope it weeds out time-wasters, but all it does is weed out every single person who's not prepared to lie about their experience. This especially applies to people for whom being accurate in their speech and writing is important, such as our neurodivergent friends (or people otherwise formed that way).

Instead, use language that describes why the role is exciting or interesting. Be realistic in how you describe it. Be forthright in letting folks know the kind of candidates you want to talk to, and remember that your words matter when it comes to what's probably the first piece of prose your future co-workers see that's considered representative of who you are.

You don't even strictly need to call it DEI work, if that unfortunately matters somehow. Go take a look today and see what you can do.

Category: Leadership Tagged: leadership dei