Article  |  Studio

Diversity at Planet Argon - 2016 Statistics

Reading time: ~ 3 minutes

Diversity at Planet Argon - 2016 Statistics

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.

Have a project that needs help?