The halo of the tech brothers is fading, and in 2025, the glow of the computer industry’s brilliance will eclipse continue to fadetoo. While other STEM fields are making strides in increasing workforce participation, year after year, computer science, a supposedly novel field, fails to recruit, retain or respect women and non-binary workers. For example, precise questioning, abstraction, aggression, sexism, and a disdain for altruism – in service of the social good – are some of the core values that drive culture in computational workplaces. These values and the ways they are enforced through bias, discrimination and harassment in high-tech companies constitute the “Brother Code.”
The Code bro perpetuates high tolerance With sexual harassment. It also contributes to the failure to repair clear field segregation. Just 21 percent programmer positions are occupied by women. Of that 21 percent, only 2 percent are African American and only 1 percent are Latino. While overall they are grossly underrepresented in the field, women are disproportionately affected during employment reductions in the industry. For example, almost 70 percent of those laid off as part of the 2022 technology industry layoffs were women. This aligns with my experience in Massive Tech. As soon as the company went public, shareholders demanded annual layoffs. For the first two years, only women were fired in my department.
Moreover, due to their enormous wealth and masterful branding, Bro Code bosses consider themselves wizards or priests. They rely on authoritarianism, tending to suppress complaints and resistance. Some developers imitate this behavior. In 2023, for example, tech bros besieged the site Grace Hopper Celebrationthe world’s largest conference for women and non-binary technology workers. The participants I spoke with described men at career fairs who simply crowded in front of them in line, and some said they were harassed and verbally attacked.
In 2025, the march towards a future dictated by algorithmic rulers will weaken. Coalitions between feminist movements and labor activism will augment public control over tech culture. These efforts will begin to violate the Brother Code. Bro Code executives talk about its revolutionary social impact, but participants in my study felt disadvantaged when they tried to apply their technical skills to serve others. For example, Lynn reported that an eye-tracking device she developed to aid people with disabilities was reused for marketing analytics; Shauna’s labmates nicknamed her the “accessibility bitch” when she worked on projects helping disenfranchised people in computing.
As Massive Tech continues to deliver empty promises instead of solutions to society’s problems – while avoiding taxes, overriding regulations, and fueling enormous disparities in wage inequality – society will continue to be disillusioned with the industry. In 2025, thwarted altruistic efforts like Shauna and Lynn’s will accelerate growing skepticism about computing’s services to humanity.
Disenfranchised tech workers will continue to aid us hold Bro Code executives accountable not only for their failure to live up to their widely publicized altruism, but also for their efforts Down hide social damage their products. How recent organizational activities As tech workers show, sturdy worker coalitions are what scare the ruling elites the most. For example, in 2018, over 20,000 Google employees around the world organized a strike against sexual harassment and systemic racism at the company. In 2025, activism against militarization, racism, sexism, and economic exploitation in the tech industry will skyrocket compared to the space jets of Bro Code bosses.