Dive Brief:
- The Boston Globe reports that minorities make up a small portion of the technology worker population in Boston, MA. A report published by Mass Technology Leadership Council shows that only 3% of these high-paying jobs are held by African-Americans and 5% by Hispanics.
- A new training initiative, a 20-week boot camp, hopes to increase these numbers. Called MSIMBO, or Swahili for “code,” the program already has enough funding for 80 people thanks to grants from Google, BNY Mellon and Bank of America. The program will include training on both front-end and back-end programming and the concepts students need to succeed in today's tech workplaces.
- MSIMBO classes start in September with 18 approved participants. The Globe says that program directors hope they'll be able to place graduates into jobs following their training.
Dive Insight:
As the technology market continues to experience talent shortages, more companies are taking the initiative to train individuals themselves. LinkedIn has done this with their Reach apprenticeship program. AT&T is offering cyber camps to students, and government agencies are partnering with non-profits to produce tech training opportunities for women and minorities at an ever-increasing rate.
Such training opens up tech jobs for capable candidates, thus reducing some of the talent scramble some companies are experiencing at the moment. It also reduces the country's reliance on overseas tech talent — a somewhat thorny issue under the current administration.
It also can help improve diversity, which is now a business imperative, as research shows that companies that get on board with inclusion initiatives may well find themselves doing better in the long run.
