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8 Ways Blerds Can Have More of a Presence in Silicon Valley

 

diversity in tech

Companies Acknowledge Biases in the Hiring Process and Do Something About It

Solving the problem could really be as simple as acknowledging that there is a problem and taking the proper steps to move forward. Studies indicate that some employers tend to bypass potential employees who are women or people of color because they assume they will not be competent in the technology field. While making the field more diverse is a goal that some companies are striving for now, years of hiring executives excluding women and people of color have left the tech space struggling to become more inclusive.
diversity in tech

Hiring Staffs Stop Resorting to What’s Familiar

For some hiring executives, there is no blatant attempt to exclude certain races or genders. Instead, there is a subconscious bias that encourages them to connect with and hire people who look familiar or have similar backgrounds. Since the tech industry is already filled with white men, that comfort with familiarity often results in other white men being hired over their Black and female counterparts.

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As Tech Industry Battles a Serious Diversity Problem, DigitalUndivided Brings Much Needed Urban Population to Tech Space

In the midst of a serious diversity problem plaguing the tech industry, DigitalUndivided founder Kathryn Finney is bringing perhaps the rarest demographic for the tech space into the field: Black women.

In an industry that not only fails to deliver on racial diversity but gender diversity as well, Black women are extremely rare in the technology space. But DigitalUndivided is fighting to put an end to that.

“We want to see more urban entrepreneurs, especially Black women, in tech,” Finney told Atlanta Blackstar. “Through our FOCUS Fellows program, we provide Black and Latino women founders and co-founders with the networks and knowledge to build successful companies.”

That’s exactly what DigitalUndivided is all about—making sure urban entrepreneurs have the skills and access to resources they need to achieve great things in the tech space.

Members of the FOCUS Fellows program have gone on to obtain “leadership positions at companies as diverse as Uber, Facebook and Chicago Infrastructure Trust,” she said.

For quite some time, DigitalUndivided has been helping the tech space become more diverse while embarking on a mission to increase the amount of urban tech entrepreneurs. It’s a mission about which Finney herself has good reason to be passionate.

As an African-American woman, she has experienced first-hand what it’s like to be the rare breed in such an important field of work.

“All the companies I’ve started have been because of personal need,” Finney said before explaining her extensive history in the tech and digital media space. “…In 2006, I was looking to capitalize on my platform and join one of New York’s first tech incubators. There I learned first-hand the challenges that people of color, especially women, face if they want to break into the tech space.”

While Finney’s career has led her to a ton of firsts—first style blogger to get a book deal, one of the first style bloggers to be accredited for Fashion Week, first time appearing on a national morning show—diving into the tech space introduced her to a different kind of first.

“It was the first time in my life that I was in a community where I was expected to be ‘less than’ solely because of my race and gender,” she said. “I had white male colleagues tell me that I couldn’t relate to other Black women because I had an accountant.”

That experience is exactly what turned into the nationally recognized brand that Finney is the head of today.

“That experience stuck with me,” she said. “…So I formed DigitalUndivided in 2012 and we held our first project FOCUS100, in October 2012.”

DigitalUndivided is the type of business that has the potential to revolutionize the tech industry and change the face of an industry that has been dominated by white males for years.

Of course, the work is far from being done. Finney said people of color will have to be more assertive when it comes to breaking down the barriers to an industry that has shunned them for years.

“As people of color we often want people to ‘invite’ us into spaces and spend a lifetime waiting for that invitation,” she said as she shared her advice for other Black people looking to become tech entrepreneurs. “Success comes to those who show up, with or WITHOUT, an invite.”

She also encouraged aspiring tech entrepreneurs to embrace failure, cultivate relationships and forget all about the naysayers who don’t believe in their talent.

 

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Usher Teams Up With GA Tech and Hour of Code Campaign to Banish Negative Conceptions of Tech Industry

Over the weekend, 60 students from Usher’s New Look Foundation came together at Georgia Tech to learn about the exciting potential behind computer science and receive training to help them compete in the tech industry.

The informative tech sessions were a part of the national Hour of Code Campaign presented by Code.org that aims to inspire more than 15 million young people across the globe to get involved in computer science.

As a part of the campaign, Georgia Tech and Usher’s New Look Foundation teamed up with the School of Computing and the Higher Altitude Foundation to show young students that there is more to the computer science world than many young people realize.

Many young people don’t associate computer science with music or the entertainment industry but the Day of Code helped students understand that there is more to technology than creating websites or collecting data online.

The day’s activities focused specifically on how computer science is incorporated in music and video productions and helped them develop skills on two platforms called Scratch and EarSketch.

All of the students took part in a friendly coding competition, learned how to remix beats and even created their own music animations.

It’s a much-needed focus for programs that aim to get students interested in the technology.

In addition to helping students obtain training and develop the skills they need to compete in Silicon Valley, they also need to understand the wide range of possibilities in the field.

Usher’s involvement in the Day of Code and his position as a National Spokesperson this year for the Hour of Code Campaign is already a step in the right direction.

It helps combat the stereotype that the tech industry is only a place for geeky white males and that there will be nothing more for students to do than create algorithms or build apps.

In the Black community many young people are sold dreams of becoming successful music stars although the likelihood of those dreams coming true are slim to none.

Introducing technology as a way to still be involved in the entertainment industry, however, can be a truly successful way to spark an interest in the field.

In addition to giving students the skills they need to compete in Silicon Valley, the Hour of Code Campaign aims to push the importance of computer science classes in schools across the nation.

Roughly 90 percent of schools don’t offer computer science as a class and the ones that do often don’t count the course towards the credits students need to graduate from high school.

Without incentives to give computer science classes a try, students are often cheated out of learning about a field that is quickly growing and eagerly seeking young people to fill a deficit in employees, especially ones of color.

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Are Some White People’s Fear of Discussing Race Holding Back Diversity Progress in Silicon Valley?

Facebook’s global head of diversity, Maxine Williams, is taking a different approach to addressing the discussion of race in Silicon Valley, and, according to her, there’s no room for people to be sensitive about the subject.

It’s been a year since Williams was given the task of improving diversity within Facebook and creating a space that welcomed employees from a variety of different backgrounds.

Needless to say, the task certainly wasn’t going to be an easy one.

While the company still isn’t anywhere near as diverse as it has the potential to be, Williams may have unlocked the secret to really getting things moving forward – stop being so sensitive.

Williams sat down with Forbes and explained that many of the white people in the office were uncomfortable about discussing race.

At one point, she recalled that one white employee asked her if it was OK for them to even use the word “Black.”

“I would literally have conversations with people where they would say to me, ‘Can I say the word Black?’” Williams recalled. “And I was like, ‘Wow, these were the conversations we’re having?’”

Williams said years of sensitivity training and lawyers ready to pounce at the sign of any relatively offensive remark has white people terrified of even bringing up diversity and race in the workplace.

The idea of talking to a Black person in the office becomes a game of social Mine Sweeper where any wrong move can end in absolute disaster.

Williams says that to a certain extent that idea needs to be pushed out of the workplace.

“This needs to be a space where people can ask stupid questions and then be forgiven,” Williams said. “In the typical workplace that has employment lawyers, nobody wants you asking stupid questions because they could be offensive. You won’t want to ask that Black person, ‘Do you wash your hair?’ You just don’t. It raises risk … so we become hesitant to engage.”

Williams has flipped that philosophy on its head at Facebook.

“We’ve flipped that around,” she continued. “I’ve said to people: It’s OK to ask those things, but then I want you to forgive people when they ask stupid questions. What I came to see is the hesitation came because I’m operating in a country that has a heightened sensitivity around race, where, quite frankly, white people are afraid to engage. They’re afraid of stepping in the wrong place.”

According to Williams, the push for diversity in the tech sphere will fall short if people continue to be too sensitive about the subject.

“I think sensitivity was holding us back from being bold on diversity,” Williams said about Facebook. “We were bold on products, right? We would achieve things that you never thought were achievable. But on these issues of identity, there was hesitation and sensitivity.”

Williams explained that many times white people were “well intentioned” because they didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings or make a remark that could be perceived as racist.

In the end, all that really did was hinder progress.

Williams continues to push employees to be open and honest and ask those “stupid questions.”

That, she says, is the only way to truly get everyone engaged in a much-needed conversation about race.

 

 

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STEM: How to Get Started, Provide for Your Family and Save the Black Community

There are a lot of buzzwords flying around these days: blerds, STEM, startup, economic empowerment, the “new economy.” They’re even still throwing around “diversity” like that wasn’t played out in the ’90s. It seems everybody has an opinion about who, what, when, why and how Black Americans should spend our time and money. There’s lots of talk, but little explanation and, all too often, no action. So consider this a little primer:

Definitions:

Blerd — Black nerd. (Note: White nerds are simply known as “nerds.”)

STEM — Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Want a job? Learn one or more of these.

Startup — A small business, generally in technology. Hollywood, CNN and Congress love them, but they’re really a very small percentage of small businesses in the country. However, every small business uses technology these days, so in that sense, they’re all startups.

Economic Empowerment — The thing we need to do to fix our community.

New Economy — Want a job in 2014? It needs to be in tech or services. America doesn’t build things anymore.

Diversity — If you’re reading this, you probably qualify. Don’t worry about it.

Why You Need to Care

I don’t have to tell you that ever since Apple co-founder Steve Jobs presented the world with the first little baby iPhone, everything changed, for everyone. Ninety-two percent of Black adults have mobile phones, putting us on par with white adults. More interestingly, 98 percent of Black Americans between the ages of 18-29 have either broadband or a smartphone — 98 percent!

On top of that, STEM jobs are projected to grow 13 percent from 2012 to 2022 That’s more than any other sector. And the median incomes are not too shabby, much higher than the median incomes in the Black community, that’s for sure. What will the most popular job be? Software developers (that’s coders, another buzzword). That’s incredibly lucky for us, you’ll see why.

Fifty-six percent of Black children live with a single mother and 34 percent of Black children are living in poverty. That’s over half of our children living without a father, and over one-third of our children living in poverty. Take a second and think about that.

Lastly, access to education is a challenge for members of our community, and access to good education is a rare thing indeed. In fact, only 20 percent of Black adults have college degrees, compared to 33 percent of white adults, and 52 percent of Asian adults. And if you do graduate? If the tuition doesn’t kill you, the student loans will. Student loan debt in the United States just topped $1 trillion — and it’s only getting worse.

To sum up:

We’re all mobile or online, using some sort of tech almost all of the time.

STEM jobs are big and getting bigger.

The Black community is (always) in crisis.

It is more difficult and more expensive for Blacks to get and pay for education in America than almost any other ethnic group.

Thanks for the Depressing News Flash, Kat. I’m Off to Spend my College Fund on BOGO Margaritas!

Slow your roll. Before you decide that everything is hopeless, think about this: You can learn STEM, specifically the T for “tech” part, at home, on your own, for free and still get a job.

I know, this sounds like an infomercial, right? But I’m not wearing a blazer with glow-in-the-dark question marks and I don’t own a ShamWow. I’m serious.

The beauty of technology is that it really is the great equalizer, and there is no community that can benefit from learning technology, and learning to code more than us. The entire world is built and run on computers, and learning to code is learning how to draw the map, design the infrastructure and build the world yourself.

You can learn to be a proficient coder in six to 12 weeks for free, or from one of the many courses and boot camps, and afterward you can get a job. There are far more software development jobs than developers; college degrees do not matter as much as ability, and there are a lot of resources to help you find a gig once you’ve learned.

OK, I’m Fired Up and Ready to Go! Where Do I Start?

Below are a few links for free and cheap places where you can learn STEM fundamentals and computer basics, coding in a variety of languages and the resources to help you find a job.

Back to Basics:

Coursera, Udacity EdX — Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are taught by professors from top universities around the world. They are free classes taken by thousands and sometimes hundreds of thousands of students all over the globe. You can even earn certificates! Try: Intro to Data Science, Programming for Everyone from my alma mater, Developing Scalable Apps, or, for the engineers, Circuits and Electronics.

General Assembly — This community-centered org teaches tech and entrepreneurship both in person in their many hubs, as well as online. Check them out for classes on legal skills for entrepreneurs, graphic design and even longer coding courses.

Learn to Code:

There are so many websites where you can learn to code for free or very little. Here are just a few: Dash Codecademy, One Month, Code.org.

Go back to school with programs around the country where you can take classes for six to 12 weeks or more and not only gain skills but a community that will help place you in jobs when you’re done. Try Starter League, Dev Bootcamp, and here’s a pretty exhaustive list.

When we were enslaved, we weren’t allowed to read. That damaged us so much that even when we were free we were behind. We didn’t know the language the nation was built on so we couldn’t contribute. The nation is built on code now, and again we are not being taught the necessary skills to contribute to the world’s economy. Let’s not make that mistake again.

Kat Calvin is a social entrepreneur, writer and advocate for the empowerment of women, entrepreneurs and the black community. She is the founder of Michelle in Training, a mentoring and educational organization. You can follow her at @KatCalvinDC.

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Blerds and Technology’s 2 Percent Diversity Problem

Three giants in the technology sector recently released their diversity reports. Google, Yahoo, and Facebook proved what we have long suspected: Diversity in technology is almost non-existent.

As a Black person, I was very interested in the representation of Blacks at these companies. While the number was the lowest of the four non-white ethnicties (Asian, Hispanic, Black, and multiracial), I was surprised to find that the number was the same at all four companies: 2 percent.

No other ethnic group had such uniformly low level of representation. My surprise increased when I saw the wide variation in the most represented groups, whites and Asians. There was an 11 point difference between the highest representation of whites (61 percent at Google) and the lowest (50 percent at Yahoo).

There was a nine point difference between the highest representation of Asians (39 percent at Yahoo) and the lowest (30 percent at Google). How can there be such a wide point-spread among whites and Asians, but the exact same percentage for Blacks? Can it be an accident that Blacks are at 2 percent across all four companies? Is it by chance that Blacks are the least represented minority group?

Contrast the extremely low representation of Blacks in technology with areas where Blacks are over-represented. I can think of two: sports and the prison system. We clearly see an excess of Black athletes and Black prisoners. I think this is because Blacks are valued for our athletic skills, but we also have to cope with a criminal justice system that unequally targets and imprisons us.

Is it possible that we can increase the representation of Blacks in technology by combining the forces of skill appreciation (used in sports) and systematic recruitment (used in the criminal justice system)? I think that not only is this possible, but it’s the only way to solve the 2 percent diversity problem in technology.

Improving the appreciation of the technology skills of Blacks and setting up a system for aggressively recruiting them into tech careers will require a change in how Blacks are viewed by employers. This can be done by implementing three kinds of visibility improvements: media, entrepreneurship, mentorship. Blerds are instrumental to making these improvements.

Visibility in Media

The media is a powerful force for changing perceptions. That’s why media companies are multibillion dollar operations. If we can get more Blerds involved in both traditional and new media, then we can help connect Blacks to the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. That’s why having astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson as host of  the television series Cosmos was such an important accomplishment. We need more Blerds hosting science and technology shows as well as working behind the camera to write and produce these types of series.

Visibility in Entrepreneurship

The technology world is filled with the romance of the startup. We thrive on replicating the success of  Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and  Mark Zuckerberg. Although most startups fail, we worship those who fight for and achieve multiple rounds of venture capital funding. Of course, the vast majority of those seeking funding and providing funding are white males.

If we can get more people of color — like Tristan Walker, the founder of Bevel — positioned as startup founders and providers of capital, then we can establish Blacks with a seat at the table. I’m convinced that there are Blerds across the country who can make the leap into entrepreneurship. We just need to encourage them to do so.

Visibility in Mentorship

Most successful people can point to someone who invested in their success. These mentors took time to share their expertise and experiences to provide that boost that everyone needs to make progress. Most Blerds are introverts, but that introversion needs to be removed as an impediment to investing in other people (especially other Blerds).

I try to dedicate a few hours a week to mentoring of people of color in technology. I often do this through informal calls, emails, and lunches. Blerds can’t wait for others to ask us for mentorship. We need to proactively identify people we can help and start providing them the help that they need.

Improving the 2 percent representation of Blacks in technology will take an investment of time and resources. However, Blerds can work in the realms of media, entrepreneurship, and mentorship to improve the appreciation of the technology skills of Blacks and set up a system for getting ourselves recruited into tech companies. By doing this, we will steadily see results. After all, it has worked well in sports and our criminal justice system, and we can reposition that effectiveness for positive change.

Anjuan Simmons has worked in the technology industry for over two decades. He is also the author of “Minority Tech: Journaling Through Blackness and Technology” (http://www.MinorityTech.com). You can find out more about him at http://www.AnjuanSimmons.com.