Authored by on Wednesday, Jan 13, 2016
new york tech valleycustom software development
In November 2015 I posted a piece in the EO (Entrepreneurs Organization) Octane blog, about my journey to realizing how we need more diversity in the software development industry. Since then, I've pushed that realization into action, where Greane Tree Technology has been able to pull together some resources and partners to actually start building an inclusive talent pipeline in the Capital Region.
EO gave it a nice title - How This Entrepreneur Is Making Waves in the Tech Industry | Increasing the diversity of those who hold tech jobs can be an important step forward for the industry - then the piece was syndicated to Inc.com - you can see it here.
Or read it in it original form, in its native habitat, the Greane Tree Technology blog :)
What’s Happening in Tech 2016?
The term “digital divide” was first coined in 2001 by political scientists, to describe how uneven access to the internet would create a population of politically left behind “information have-nots.” Fifteen years later, the focus for technologists – whether they originate from the White House, Silicon Valley, or grassroots initiatives like Albany Can Code - isn’t on increasing the diversity of people who have access to the internet, it’s on increasing diversity among those who have jobs in the tech sector.
If your business has ever struggled when searching for someone to design a website, build a customer database, or create an app, don’t imagine that tech firms themselves aren’t facing similar challenges. The reality is that the pipeline for software talent in the USA isn’t scaled to meet demand. Here in New York’s Tech Valley, we have a world-class nanotechnology R&D center, one of America’s highest capacity silicon chip fabrication plants, and a few major universities including Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Yet local software companies have had such a struggle finding qualified software developers that they are resorting to offshoring.
It isn’t merely a local or regional issue: according to USCIS, the federal agency responsible for handling work visas, in 2015 US-based businesses sought to fill over 262,000 software engineering jobs with imported talent. That figure accounts for more than 60% of total skilled labor visa applications. Google alone sought 2,400 work visas for non-US passport holders.
Meanwhile, since 2013 the number of coding bootcamps offered by for-profit organizations, and costing as much as $15,000 for a 12-18 week course, have spring up and are thriving. It’s a good trend in that bootcamp graduates fill the pipeline for employers; but the price tag almost guarantees that the lower income people will be left out. African-Americans and Hispanics combined make up only 9%, and women only 20%, the workforce in software-based companies.
Rather than continue to ask why we aren’t we doing a better job training software engineers, I decided to join the movement to end the problem. I founded Albany Can Code in December 2015, as an initiative to develop an inclusive software talent pipeline for New York’s Capital region, joining some pathfinders founded in the past 24 months:
AlbanyCanCode is convening area employers, educators, and community organizations to launch a coding camp for area employers in Spring 2016. Recruitment, assessment, preliminary coursework and wraparound programs hosted by organizations that serve low income populations will act as a feeder for rigorous code camp programs on user interface design, web development, and programming.
I’m proud to be part of a trend that does the right thing by our employers, our national economy, and last but not least, the raw talent right under our noses, if we just reach across this last section of the digital divide.