What makes up the ideal programmer, in your mind? Is it a computer whiz who has been coding since they were seven years old and making million dollar apps? Is it an experienced developer with 10 or 20 years in the biz, who knows every language (but only the good ones, of course) and can build a website in the time it would take you to get another cup of coffee? Is it a code artiste who can write code so beautiful that it makes everyone simultaneously weep in awe
Imagine yourself sitting in a room. People are around you, in a circle. Each person is talking at the same volume. Your eyes close, trying to focus in on what’s in front of you, or at least one voice. One person is assigned to give you a task. Half the people stop talking. You try to zoom into what that person in front of you is saying. The task at hand seems simple, but then someone else approaches near you and starts talking. They may not be talking to you,
What does it take to be a really good web developer? If you’re working at your first programming job, you probably found out quickly that it’s not easy. It’s one thing to watch coding tutorials, read programming books, and make portfolio sites. It’s quite another to have to build websites from the spec, to meet deadlines, and most importantly, to make sure that your bosses and clients are happy! On top of all that, technology changes fast. You may feel like you have to stay on top of trends or risk
When it comes to fostering diversity and inclusion in your company, either go hard or go home. Seriously. You can’t do light touch diversity and inclusion. It’s not a box to tick, a “nice to have”, or something you can dip in and out of. It requires long-term commitment and a significant investment of your resources. After all, what thing worth having comes easy in this world? I won’t bore you with the overwhelming data on diversity’s positive impact on profitability, McKinsey among a number of other reputable firms have
When Darrell D. Williams (aka “Dr. Tariq”) teaches coding to other prisoners in California’s Lancaster State Prison, he doesn’t deploy traditional equipment like a laptop, or PowerPoint slides.He uses a blackboard —used to teach HTML, CSS, website design languages—and mobile app development. Let Us Code Classroom uses coding textbooks as an entry point into computer literacy, website design, and discussions about Silicon Valley, computer programming careers and becoming a tech entrepreneur after prisoners are released. Each coding lesson is centered upon learning to code to turn one’s life around from
Consider the story of investors such as Kirsten Green, founder of Forerunner Ventures and one of two women who featured on The Top 20 VCs Worldwide list by The New York Times. She represents diversity as she had never worked at a Venture Capital firm before starting her own in 2012, and she is also a woman in a male-dominated field. She achieved two billion dollar exits with Jet.com (acquired by Walmart) and Dollar Shave Club (acquired by Unilever), demonstrating the value she brings as an inclusive investor. Alternatively, there are
The day after Christmas 2016 I shared the 10 lessons learned from the 40 books I’d read last year. ~200K views later I knew without a doubt, even in January of 2017, that I would be writing a follow-up post :). This is that follow-up. One of the best comments on last year’s post was that I share this before Thanksgiving to ensure folk can add the books to their holiday shopping lists . I got the chance to read this many books again this year due to a lot
Over the last 12 months, I have been creating content for dozens of platforms. Perhaps one of the highest profiles ones has been Blavity. ‘The digital voice of black millennials’ boasts a readership of over 30m readers a month across all platforms (incl social). It is an excellent example of fast growth and strategic execution. From inception in 2014, Blavity always positioned itself as a ‘Tech’ company and not only a media player as they had an ambitious vision. They fast grew from a newsletter to attain 1m MAU’s within
Just because someone has a higher position, doesn’t mean they have a better perspective Over the weekend I was fortunate enough to help black founders focus on avoiding the death zone and getting to traction. I didn’t want to spend my free time advising white men and graduates from top schools where they were already grossly overrepresented within tech — I didn’t need my left brain to tell me that it wouldn’t be me adding value (talk less of my heart). When I read CB Insights report that less than
Accountant. African American Woman. A small dot within the tech workforce. This is my bio. Being a person of color in the tech industry tends to feel like you’re a fish out of water. Though tech companies are working to improve diversity in the workplace, Black and LatinX employees still make up only a small margin of the workforce. And for those of color that are in the industry, there is usually a minor representation in the more senior and executive roles. The lack of representation at those levels tends
