Editor's note: The following article is an editorial and the views expressed are the author's own.read more opinion At Griot.
Nothing I participated in or experienced growing up made me think I could build a career in the tech industry.
I have supportive parents who let me do different activities. I did well in school and was especially good at math, not only as a cheerleader, dancer, and athlete, but also joined the math club and competed in math competitions. But everything I've learned about technology I've learned by exploring on my own. Like many girls my age, my first foray into coding and technology was designing the perfect Myspace page for my girlfriend.
When I looked at my future self, I saw a successful dancer. I was really smart, but I didn't care about being smart. I wanted to be seen as cool and fun. And it wasn't until my father realized that I was seriously considering majoring in dance in college that he stepped in and started helping me explore a career path that leveraged my academic strengths and helped me find a career path. It gave me a sense of security and stability. No one in my family had ever been a computer engineer, but my father wanted me to be a computer engineer because I was good at math and science, and more importantly, because it seemed like a more realistic career than being a professional dancer. He encouraged me to get interested in that field because he thought it was a path for me.
Looking back now, I see that there was something within me that moved me in the direction of technology, engineering, or problem solving, but at the same time, I wanted to inspire girls of color to be interested in tech fields. I also realized that there is a lot of work to be done.
If we're going to get serious about increasing representation in the tech industry, we need to do it not just because it's the right thing to do, but because technology works better when programmed with diverse perspectives and experiences in mind. , that's what you should do. Taking a more proactive approach to inclusion and making technology a space where girls of color can express themselves and their experiences.
When we think about technology, it's important to be able to develop consumer technology that we can all consume. Having a diverse group of engineers working on our products ensures that the programs we release are ethically created and accessible to everyone. Remember when filters first appeared on Snapchat and Instagram? Back then, you couldn't recognize dark faces. This is a prime example of how important diversity is in engineering. These developers didn't even consider the need for test cases that included dark-skinned people in the early stages of development. Although it was eventually fixed, it was an embarrassing omission that could have been fixed naturally had a dark-skinned engineer been involved in the first place.
A good developer team understands the importance of having as many informed inputs and data points as possible during research and development and going through extensive testing stages. But it's still true that people bring their own experiences, perspectives, worldviews, and even biases to the code they write.
Large companies have strived to diversify their workforces, but in a few years they will see a mass exodus of the same talent. This means that simply recruiting more people of color and more women into the field is not enough. Supporting these people requires a cultural shift within technology. When I was working as an engineer, no matter what kind of project I was working on, what city I was in, or who I was working on, I would always be a black woman. I was the only one. I didn't have a female manager, so my job was only about making money, and I didn't know what kind of microaggressions I and other women, especially Black women and other women of color, would face. I was overwhelmed by the feeling that it didn't matter what I was doing. The lowest line was the lowest line.
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I once quit my job and an all-male team took me to a strip club after dinner as a farewell party. This incident exemplified everything I had ever been through and every reason I left the scene – this awkward and very uncomfortable strip club with all my male colleagues who all looked the same. I thought I should be grateful for the surprise. They were all members of their boys' network and either didn't realize or didn't care how completely inappropriate and offensive this outing was to the supposed guest of honor.
My main goal when founding HYPE was to introduce more girls of color to the world of technology and build the supportive community I wanted around them. . As a very outgoing and sociable engineer, the social component was just as important to me as the career development component. We also embed international experiences for the girls in our program, allowing them to be exposed to a world beyond their own communities, while also teaching other girls around the world. It was also important to me to encourage people to make an impact by doing so. There is a lot of growth to be gained by stepping outside of yourself and learning about other cultures. I wanted other black and brown girls to have that experience.
I'm very proud of the work we're doing right now, but I still think there needs to be a seismic shift across the technology industry. It's encouraging that technology and workforce shortcomings are becoming more visible, and that at least these conversations are happening today. People are trying to understand more about what they can do within their employee culture to make it a more inclusive space that is proactive in fostering a sense of belonging and community.
We think of ourselves as being represented in a much bigger picture, in film. When “Hidden Figures” was released, it was a huge moment for Black girls and Black women in tech. I had never seen such growth. And I want to see more of that in girls growing up today.
But the industry must also continue to put our money where our mouth is. When investing in black women becomes less sexy or less popular, people stop investing in them, and we've seen that recently. There was a moment after the George Floyd incident when it seemed like the entire country felt very hopeful about its future direction, and now things are back to normal. And that's a cause for concern. Not only are people silent about what is right, they are actively attacking Black women and any attempt to right what we have endured for so long.
I never felt like I could talk about what I was going through. So we need to foster more courageous conversations about race and representation in technology, and make proven investments in what we say we want to do. One thing I never saw was women in leadership roles. If there were people like me where I worked, they were skilled workers, never managers. Identifying and implementing opportunities for women, particularly women of color, to potentially enter entry-level or mid-management positions to intentionally place them on a path to senior leadership in the future. It takes a deliberate effort to do so. . We need to fund professional development opportunities and support organizations on the ground as they work to build their talent pipelines.
But beyond that, we need to be mindful that while many see technology as replacing the human element of the workforce, it is actually supported by the human element. You need to understand that. We have to get back to caring about people on a human level and understanding that the fruits of our work are stronger and stronger when women and girls of color are included. .
Christina Newton is the founder and CEO of HYPE, a nonprofit organization that equips historically underrepresented girls with technology skills and empowers them to become future leaders in technology careers. A computer engineer turned social impact entrepreneur, she has over 15 years of experience in the private and non-profit sectors of technology. For more information, please visit www.gethype.org.
