Encouraging Diversity creating a legacy, Neil Hunt


Interesting interview with Neil Hunt, the former Netflix CPO who has launched a major diversity initiative supporting the next generation of tech leadership at Durham University.

What is your background briefly? Does it seem like a logical background to what you do now?

I studied computer science and electronic engineering, and went on to a PhD in computer science, studying image processing and  computer vision.  This was a great foundation for my career, first in a research lab, then as an engineer and engineering leader, them as an executive, responsible for technology at Netflix.

1 min pitch for what you are doing now?

I am a founder and chief strategy officer at Curai, which has the ambitious mission of bringing the worlds best healthcare to every human being!  We are building a virtual primary healthcare service, delivered through a smartphone app, using AI and machine learning to do healthcare reasoning and natural language processing to support our human doctors in a hybrid system.  I am especially excited to use some of the skills and experience I have learned elsewhere for a mission of such social impact!

Encouraging Diversity and creating a legacy, Neil Hunt, Curai and ex Netflix CPO

Why did you get involved with this current initiative & in particular your desire to be a sponsor, were you inspired by Bill Gates / Warren Buffet etc?

My wife Julie and I have spent a lot of time thinking about what matters to us, and what kind of legacy we would like to leave.  Our priorities are environmental and educational.  I have been involved in the Durham University CS Advisory Board for a few years, and we were excited to have the opportunity to contribute to both the development of CS diversity programs, and also programs for supporting internships for students at Collingwood College, where I spent several great years.

Talk to us about diversity and hiring?  You quote 15% & from our own experience in the Irish software industry, 1 in 7 was a similar ratio for us too, so in this context, how do you manage the challenge, that you want greater diversity BUT often there are simply fewer candidates that fit all the right criteria?

READ ALSO  How to Create an Effective Customer Journey Map?

Recruiting for high tech jobs, particularly at the senior level, is tremendously competitive.  I think it is tragic that careers in STEM disciplines are foreclosed at the university level; only 15% of CS graduates are women, and an even more disproportionate fraction of other minorities – that makes it hard to have a balanced and effective workforce.

The primary goal with recruiting is usually to find the best and most qualified candidate to do the job.  But with implicit bias of the recruiting and interviewing team on the one hand, and on the other hand candidates limited because they have been churned out earlier in their education or careers, it is all to easy to settle for the profile that is familiar, but not optimal.

Why did you choose this project in particular to sponsor? If it all goes well, what would ‘success’ look like in 3 – 5 years time?

3-5 years is too short to measure.  In 3-5 years, there will be several cohorts of diverse students who will have been encouraged and provided the opportunity to study at Durham, and there will be additional students who will have found an opportunity to intern in situations that will enhance their education and help to give it context and meaning.

In 10-20 years, these students will be mid career, and some will be in roles managing and hiring themselves, and will have the opportunity to make their own contribution to diversity in the workforce.

Anything else you’d like to add / we should have asked?

A second part of this program is about encouraging linkages between academic study and industry.  In my career, I was helped by having a gap year and a series of summer roles, all at technology companies, with valuable experience and contacts. I have also been on the hiring side of internships, and seen what helps make internships successful vs. just a summer job.

In my experience, the key to a really valuable internship or summer role is that it is coordinated to add value to the student’s studies while delivering something meaningful to the employer.  Internships are short, and it is important that the student get in and settled and engaged quickly, that there are clear goals, and that it is wrapped up and finished before the student must depart again!  I would like to call out Prof. Tim Spracklen, then at Durham, who helped me with my industry engagements while studying.

READ ALSO  Blockchain Will Disrupt Marketing, Customer Experience and Trust

Accordingly, part of the program I have sponsored is to engage internship coordinators from Durham CS and also, separately, from Collingwood College (which I called home at Durham) to engage with possible internship employers, and to plan, coordinate, and engage with intern students before, during, and after their engagement to make sure it is as valuable as possible for both sides.  Especially for students from less typical backgrounds, I hope that the opportunity for students to engage during summers helps steer those who would pursue careers in industry towards success.

See more interviews here.

More information about Irish Tech News and the Business Showcase

FYI the ROI for you is => Irish Tech News now gets over 1.5 million monthly views, and up to 900k monthly unique visitors, from over 160 countries. We have over 860,000 relevant followers on Twitter on our various accounts & were recently described as Ireland’s leading online tech news site and Ireland’s answer to TechCrunch, so we can offer you a good audience!

Since introducing desktop notifications a short time ago, which notify readers directly in their browser of new articles being published, over 16000 people have now signed up to receive them ensuring they are instantly kept up to date on all our latest content. Desktop notifications offer a unique method of serving content directly to verified readers and bypass the issue of content getting lost in people’s crowded news feeds.

Drop us a line if you want to be featured, guest post, suggest a possible interview, or just let us know what you would like to see more of in our future articles. We’re always open to new and interesting suggestions for informative and different articles. Contact us, by email, twitter or whatever social media works for you and hopefully we can share your story too and reach our global audience.

Irish Tech News


If you would like to have your company featured in the Irish Tech News Business Showcase, get in contact with us at [email protected] or on Twitter: @SimonCocking





Source link

?
WP Twitter Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com