Last year, I signed Portland’s TechTown Diversity Pledge and committed Planet Argon to participate.
Planet Argon’s 2016 Diversity Statistics
This year, our team participated in the research study with the other companies that, also, signed the pledge. Today, TechTown Portland is releasing the data to the public, which means that we can now share our own data alongside the collective dataset.
Age
Internally, this was hardly a surprise to our team.
| Demographics by Age | TechTown Total | Planet Argon |
|---|---|---|
| 18-24 | 7% | 0% |
| 25-34 | 47% | 57% |
| 35-44 | 31% | 36% |
| 45-54 | 12% | 7% |
| 55-64 | 1% | 0% |
| 65+ | 0% | 0% |
| I prefer not to respond | 1% | 0% |
Education
One thing to keep in mind is that we’ve hired a few people who went through a code school (i.e., Epicodus) but it appears that those same people had, previously, graduated from a higher level of education (and opted to later switch careers). Personally, I’m curious to find out how code schools have impacted local hiring because it’s been tremendous for our own recruitment purposes. (If you’re considering a code school, I wanted to let you know that this data might be misleading… we do hire graduates from these programs!)
| Highest level degree/certification | TechTown Total | Planet Argon |
|---|---|---|
| Less than high school | 0% | 7% |
| High school diploma | 8% | 7% |
| “Code school”, or other certificate program | 2% | 0% |
| Associate or 2-year undergraduate degree | 5% | 7% |
| Bachelor’s or 4-year undergraduate degree | 66% | 64% |
| Graduate degree (Masters, PhD, etc.) | 17% | 14% |
| I prefer not to respond | 2% | 0% |
Gender
| Gender Identification | TechTown Total | Planet Argon |
|---|---|---|
| Male | 60% | 50% |
| Female | 38% | 43% |
| Non-binary or gender non-conforming | 2% | 0% |
| Trans | 1% | 0% |
| Cis | 9% | 14% |
| Other (Open) | 0% | 0% |
| I prefer not to respond | 2% | 0% |
Race / Ethnicity
| Race / Ethnicity | TechTown Total | Planet Argon |
|---|---|---|
| American Indian or Alaska Native | 2% | 0% |
| American Indian | -- | -- |
| Alaska Native | -- | -- |
| Canadian Inuit, Metis or First Nation | -- | -- |
| Indigenous Mexican, Central American or South American | -- | -- |
| Hispanic or Latino | 5% | 7% |
| Hispanic or Latino Mexican | -- | -- |
| Hispanic or Latino Central American | -- | -- |
| Hispanic or Latino South American | -- | -- |
| Other Hispanic or Latino | -- | -- |
| African/African American | 3% | 0% |
| African American | -- | -- |
| African | -- | -- |
| Caribbean | -- | -- |
| Other Black | -- | -- |
| Pacific Islander | 1% | 0% |
| Native Hawaiian | -- | -- |
| Guamanian or Chamorro | -- | -- |
| Samoan | -- | -- |
| Other Pacific Islander | -- | -- |
| Asian | 8% | 0% |
| Chinese | -- | -- |
| Vietnamese | -- | -- |
| Korean | -- | -- |
| Laotian | -- | -- |
| Filipino/a | -- | -- |
| Japanese | -- | -- |
| South Asian | -- | -- |
| Asian Indian | -- | -- |
| White | 86% | 93% |
| Slavic | 2% | 0% |
| Middle Eastern | 1% | 7% |
| North African | 0% | 0% |
| I prefer not to respond | 4% | 0% |
Identification
The research group organized the following self-identification data points for us.
| Identification | TechTown Total | Planet Argon |
|---|---|---|
| LGBTQ+ or gender and sexual minority | 12% | 14% |
| Armed Service Veteran | 2% | 0% |
| Physically disabled | 1% | 0% |
| Disabled (other) | 2% | 0% |
| Other underrepresented group | 3% | 0% |
| I do not identify as any of these groups | 79% | 86% |
| I prefer not to respond | 4% | 0% |
Next steps
In the near future, we’ll be sharing some articles about the initiatives that we’re taking to a) further educate ourselves and b) improve our recruitment pipeline.
Not that it is a surprise to any of us but our community has some work to do.