Discrimination vs. Social Footprints

On June 21, I saw a tweet that raised a red flag for me. On my personal G+ account, I wrote: "I saw this tweet today from a hiring manager: 'Just interviewed for a sysadmin. I'm struggling since she has no social footprint. Is that wrong, or should social be key?' What are your thoughts on a 'social footprint' requirement for sysadmins?"

What followed was an animated discussion (in the comments to my post) about disqualifying a prospective sys admin job candidate based on their social media presence, or lack thereof. The red flag part for me is "she has no social footprint."

I don't know what percentage of competent or exceptional sys admins have a social footprint, but I do know that women in tech deal with "social media" issues from a perspective a hiring manager might not consider. Some women choose to have a pseudonym online or post in moderated communities, for example, to avoid being harassed in a male-dominated industry.

I post online under my own name — which happens to be gender-neutral — but I've also experienced some disturbing online responses over the years. On one blog post I wrote for a technical publication a couple of years ago, I received a flurry of horrific comments, including, "The author of this article is a whiny b&^%* and needs a good beating to be put in her place," and "B&^%*, get off the #$%@&*! computer and get in the kitchen. Your a whiny #$*& and i should $*&! your face." [I took the liberty of censoring those comments, but you can still get an idea of how horrid they were.] Our website changed our comments policy that day so that all comments are reviewed by an editor before being visible. Still, the experience was upsetting at the time and something I won't forget.

As I read the civil, friendly, thoughtful responses on my G+ page last week, I thought about why the "social footprint" requirement for sys admins hurts otherwise-qualified candidates, including women. Then Tom Limoncelli put together a blog post that articulated my thoughts better than I could: Discrimination means missing out on hiring the best sysadmins. Thank you, Tom!

What are your thoughts about the role a "social footprint" plays in hiring criteria for a sys admin job or other technical position? Does your company require employees in technical support or developer roles to be active on social media forums?