SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — A San Diego nonprofit is helping young people of color get into the tech industry, one line of code at a time. That's what former software engineer Mike Roberts wants to accomplish with "Creating Coding Careers."
"We are a majority-minority world, and the software industry does not reflect that," said Roberts. "When I started Creating Coding Careers I wanted to create a place where people could earn real wages earn a living while they're also learning. Which would remove some of those layers of accessibility and affordability, and open it up for people who are historically excluded from software engineering."
Roberts says most tech bootcamps are too expensive for many students of color to afford. But companies hire Creating Coding Careers apprentices to take on real-world projects, bringing in revenue so these students get paid to learn.
It's a rare sight, as the nonprofit says African-Americans make up fewer than two percent of software engineers. Roberts says that lack of diversity can have a big impact on younger people trying to get into tech.
"For a lot of folks, they don't ever have those role models of software engineers," said Roberts. "So our society is creating lot of people who are using digital, they have phones. But not enough creators."
So Roberts is a valuable role model for students like Michael Lane.
"You just learn a lot about yourself once you're in a program like here. It's not about a boss checking in. It's about how bad you want it," said Lane. "You're like 'okay, I'm younger. I can figure this out. I can do this and be determined to show up every day.'"
If you want to learn more about Creating Coding Careers, you can click here to visit their website.
