- A former Google tech lead bragged about how he used to trash female interviewees' resumes.
- In now-deleted tweets, Patrick Shyu also shared why he believes "women shouldn't code."
- "I told them, 'Go have some kids. Don't worry, I'm smarter than you, I know,'" Shyu wrote.
A former Google coder bragged on Twitter this week about how he used to trash the resumes of female interviewees in front of them.
In his now-deleted tweets, Patrick Shyu recounted how he used to treat women who interviewed with him.
"So when I used to conduct interviews for Google, I rejected all women on the spot and trashed their resumes in front of them," Shyu wrote in a May 22 post that was seen by Insider.
'I told them, 'Go have some kids. Don't worry, I'm smarter than you, I know,'" Shyu wrote.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Shyu worked at Google as a tech lead on the YouTube app and was at the company from September 2014 to April 2018. He then switched jobs and worked at Facebook — now called Meta — from May 2018 to July 2019 as a staff software engineer on Facebook Video.
Shyu now has a YouTube channel on which he posts controversial takes about his time working for Facebook and Google.
Shyu followed up his tweets on May 22 with multiple posts attempting to explain his stance. For instance, he suggested that women shouldn't code and should instead work as influencers or creators — careers that would lean into "their natural strength."
"Coding is a brutal 24/7 job, mutually exclusive with motherhood," Shyu said, saying that mothers would come back "obsolete and outdated" after maternity leave.
"No one asked for women programmers. We asked for women influencers and instead got 'independent women' in pants suits. Independence does not exist if you want a family. A woman should prioritize being a good mother and wife, not a coding machine. 'Mother/Wife' is a great job," he tweeted.
In a separate tweet, Shyu then clarified that he thought "women can be great programmers" but would also be encouraged to stay home to work.
"Unless your tech job supports part-time work for 3+ years, you don't support mothers," Shyu added. "Most men sacrifice for family. Women sacrifice family for career."
Two days later, Shyu tweeted: "Misogyny doesn't actually exist. It's an excuse for incompetent women who spent too much time researching 'misogyny' instead of improving themselves."
Shyu has been skewered by Twitter users for his comments, with some calling out his claim about the brutality of the coding profession. "Bro you sit in a gaming chair and bash out lines of text eating Cheetos you are not invading Berlin in 1945," wrote one user.
Others took aim at his views on women in his industry. "Men shouldn't be in tech, as the irrational emotions produced by testosterone make them biologically predisposed to falling for dumb ideas like cryptocurrency," wrote a Twitter user Eevee.
Shyu has lashed out at his critics, telling them to "get into Google first." On Thursday, he tweeted that he had deleted all of his previous tweets and stated that "opinions are not engraved in stone, just as how we never stop learning and growing as people."
Female coders have historically faced obstacles working in tech companies dominated by men. Some women in tech have also spoken out about how harassment and workplace discrimination pushed them out of the industry, despite the draw of lucrative salaries.
Representatives from Google and Meta, the parent company of Facebook, did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment. Shyu also did not immediately respond to Insider when contacted.
