I’d been working spotty freelance contracts for years and finally landed a stable full-time job in NYC. I was receiving a competitive salary doing something I would easily do for free, and I quit after a year — to do it my way. Teaching and uplifting others, building inclusive and innovative community spaces, and diversifying the technology industry from top to bottom have been personally important to me for over a quarter of my adult life. I’ve spent the last 6 years devotedly working as a software engineer, educator, and entrepreneur with
This article was originally posted here. Written by Jennifer Opal It is the end of British Science Week where we celebrate all things STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths). As we celebrate incredible pioneers in science, I thought, “Why not share how you became a Junior Software Engineer?” (When I say you, I mean me! Haha!) Let’s start with my background… So what was I doing before I discovered coding? Well, I was previously working with a Young Offenders Team of a Council back in London & volunteering with young
When she’s not teaching you how to get an internship at Google/Facebook/Goldman Sachs via her blog, Jessica Pointing is pursuing her passion for Quantum Computing at Standford. Check out her beginner friendly talk ‘The World of Quantum Computing’, [where she makes excellent use of a donught prop 😁].This post was originally posted by our partner Wogrammer. Jessica Pointing grew up in Reading, England with a passion for science. As a young girl, visiting a Microsoft office on a school trip was all she needed to fall in love with quantum science and
A key component of our thesis at HBCUvc is how university-affiliated networks influence venture capital ecosystems. According to Richard Kerby’s “Where Did You Go to School?” — forty percent of venture capitalists attended Stanford or Harvard. Stanford and Harvard are also ranked as the top two universities for producing the most funded startup CEOs. I wanted to know which HBCUs are already producing talent in the venture capital ecosystem. I compiled a list of 59 HBCU grads who are working in venture capital or have worked in the industry in the past five years.
As my senior year at Dartmouth College progresses, many people have asked me, “What piece of advice would you give an incoming college freshman?” Upon reflection I settled on this “…regardless of your major [and if the opportunity presents itself] take a Computer Science and a Statistics course.” Computer Science has impacted every industry you can think of, finance, technology, engineering, energy, oil & gas, etc. As society progresses, so does technology. Programming is a super-power. Someone can have the next “Facebook” or “Snapchat,” but without the necessary tools to
We The Masses The line, “The masses will be attended by machines and the rich will be attended to by people” is the one that still stays with me weeks out from reading Cathy O’Neill’s ‘Weapons of Math Destruction’. This will be the outcome of all the technology that we apply to managing (or controlling) our lives. This will be how Artificial Intelligence impacts our lives in all the areas where we apply this technology; the rich will be able to afford the services of wealth managers who cater to their every
In FIVE days, I’ll be graduating from UC Berkeley. I’ll have completed 16 consecutive years of grade school. Knowing what I know now, here is a breakdown of what I wished I had learned during that time. On average, students in California spend 6.24 hours in school and roughly 181 school days per year — that’s 1,086 hours of schooling per year. Multiply that by the 16 years of schooling, give or take a couple hours here and there. I’ve spent 17, 376 hours of my life in school. That’s
A few months ago, I received an email that often appears in my inbox. Its usually along the lines of “I’m a college student very interested in getting into tech, but I don’t study computer science, what do I do?”. I don’t consider myself the vanguard of all the necessary knowledge to answer such questions, but I do my best to answer based on my limited experience. Such is the frequency of these emails; I thought it would be smart just to make it into a blog post. That way I can
I would argue that ‘diversity in tech’ is the most discussed topic within the tech industry (if we are not counting when the tech bubble will pop of course). Articles discussing diversity pipelines, company’s diversity percentages, and the newest “director of diversity” infiltrate our timeline every day. As the jobs available in the tech industry continue to soar it is imperative, that those roles are filled people of a diverse background. The benefits of a diverse workforce are no secret. Multiple perspectives, more feedback that is indicative of the general
