I’m Suing Civis Analytics

[Xipe Totec]

My PhD is in machine learning. Politics is my hobby. Civis Analytics is a politically-connected machine learning tech-startup. I was very excited to work there.

After an awkward conversation with a friend and colleague, I came to find out I was being paid 20% less than the PhD physicist that I had to train in machine learning. Civis is a machine learning startup. Civis is not SpaceX. When we discussed our salaries, he apologized to me and said I should be senior to him. Were his 9 years of doing academic research in a tangentially-related field 25% more valuable than my 8 years of research in the relevant field?

There was another physicist with some machine learning knowledge and some industry experience. I showed him more advanced material and coached him through complicated algorithms. He advocated for me to an almost embarrassing degree… circling by my desk when the executives were around, heaping praise in a loud voice. He also apologized to me when I told him my salary.

(snip)


You might think this has nothing to do race or ethnicity. After all, I’m only half-Mexican and I frequently pass for white. This is why I’m occasionally put in awkward positions:

Acquaintance: The damn spics are ruining this country!

Me: What!? I’m Mexican you f$#!# @$$#%^&!

Acquaintance: Oh, uh… Sorry, I wasn’t talking about you.

Me: Who were you talking about? My dad? My grandfather, the WWII vet?

This even happens with people who know I’m Mexican. I am just so Assimilation: Mission Accomplished that they forget.

http://troyhernandez.com/2016/01/27/im-suing-civis-analytics/

[Person 2713]

1. K&R couple good points....on the chart no matter the race how much less female counterparts are paid

And USA today qoute
Top universities turn out black and Hispanic computer science and computer engineering graduates at twice the rate that leading technology companies hire them, a USA TODAY analysis shows.

What he talks about for all that you can have all the right stuff but the wrong face, sex or wrong name and it is determined you will be needing "help" and "probably" not up to speed and should be paid less.

[Zorro]

2. Suing your employer usually isn't a good way to get a raise

Just sayin'.

[Judi Lynn]

3. He's well employed now, doesn't have trouble finding jobs. n/t

[Judi Lynn]

4. It's good this man took the time to illuminate this situation, if anyone's going to hear about it!

This was also worth pondering:

Political operative Michael Gomez Daly worked on two congressional campaigns in 2012 with similar budgets. On one campaign, Daly, who describes himself as “a very light-skinned Hispanic,” was brought in as a field director, primarily for his skills as a Latino operative who could reach out to the Hispanic community. On the second campaign, where they did not know he was Hispanic, “I just came in as ‘Michael Daly,’ instead of ‘that Latino operative,’” he said. “Right off the bat they offered me twice the amount for the same job.”

So sad, but people do have to keep pushing, if this filthy practice is EVER going to be corrected in our lifetimes. If employers can find a way to shortchange ANY one, and still get a quality employee, you know they intend to do it.

What a shame the employer only feels he's successful when he can avoid paying the employee what he really earns. It's been that way so long, but the problem comes even dirtier when the employee is also getting less than "white" employees with the same credentials, for the same work.