04
May
Tech Talk
01
May
Five Ways Obama’s TechHire Initiative Will Drive Diversity in the Industry
President Obama has been vocal about the role that technology will play in creating greater opportunities for all Americans. Private companies like LaunchCode have already been helping people achieve the American Dream by offering upward mobility through technology. The president’s latest initiative on this front, TechHire, dedicates $100 million to train people without technical skills for in-demand, well-paying technical jobs, and match them with employers that have “urgent” needs in fields like cyber security, software development and coding. After TechHire’s unveiling, most of the discussion centered around the impact it would have on middle-class individuals, particularly those without four-year degrees. However, barely any discussion has examined the equally dramatic effect that TechHire will have on the tech industry. Perhaps its biggest contribution will come in the form of some much-needed diversity in the industry. Here are five ways that TechHire will drive greater diversity in tech:
30
Apr
TECH DIVERSITY A BIG TOPIC AT OAKLAND’S VATOR SPLASH
On April 22-23, Oakland [hosted] Vator Splash at the Kaiser Center and The Port Workspaces by Lake Merritt. During the two-day event, venture capitalists and active angels [educated] startups and investors in a series of panel discussions, “fireside chats” and keynote addresses, as well as launch the final round of a startup competition. Oakland was picked to hold Vator Splash in part because of its growing reputation as a city which wants to address national concerns about tech diversity and equity. “Oakland has emerged as a model for how technology firms can begin to mirror the nation’s racial, ethnic and gender diversity,” said Bambi Francisco, founder and CEO of Vator.
29
Apr
A severe diversity gap comes to light at computer security firms
The dearth of women and minorities in computer security came into sharper focus at the RSA security conference in San Francisco with a workforce study that showed the industry lagging even the paltry numbers at Silicon Valley’s larger technology companies. The 2015 ISC² workforce study shows 10 percent of the information security workforce is women, compared to about 30 percent at tech companies like Google Inc., Twitter Inc. and Apple Inc. The combined percentages of African Americans and Hispanics in the field of cybersecurity totals less than 10 percent as well, according to data from an RSA presentation. “We need to invite women in,” Michelle Cobb, VP Marketing of Skybox Security, said during a panel Monday. “This change is not going to happen by itself. Ten percent is appalling; that’s a number we should all be shocked at.”
23
Apr