silicon valley's bamboo ceiling

Here's an interesting article in the San Jose Mercury News that pokes some holes in the generally accepted notion of "success" among Asian Americans living and working in Silicon Valley: Despite their success, Asians not rising to heights of Silicon Valley's corporate world.

A survey of local executives reveals that while Asians make up more than a third of the work force at some of Silicon Valley's biggest tech companies, they only represent about 6 percent of board members and about 10 percent of corporate officers of the Bay Area's 25 largest companies.

According to a new study, among the 25 largest Bay Area companies by revenue, 12 had no Asian board members, and five had no Asian corporate officers. Despite the growing prominence of Asians at Silicon Valley tech companies, they've made no gains in the share of seats on the boards of large tech companies since 1999. What's up with that?

It's the dreaded Bamboo Ceiling, of course. You'd think that of all places, the Bay Area, where Asians are at least 23 percent of the work force at Silicon Valley companies like Cisco Systems, Intel, Sun Microsystems and eBay, we'd see more Asians at the upper levels of management. But it's the same old story!