One of our goals is to make the Tech Inclusion Conference available and inclusive to everyone, and with that being said we’re providing scholarship opportunities. To date, we have received over 66 scholarship applications to attend. Today we’re kicking off our weekly scholarship winners for the conference. Each submission was asked to answer the question “What solutions would you like to see for diversity and inclusion in tech.”.
Our first two winners are Anna Preslar and Eric Flores. Congrats!
Anna Preslar, a designer learning Javascript wrote:
“I would like to see more scholarships for computer programming and data science programs being offered to women hoping to enter the field of tech. I also believe that opportunities for mentorship from established developers and others and internships at tech companies are also extremely important for women and other under-represented groups.”
Eric Flores, a current student at Dev Bootcamp wrote:
“I’ve always thought that incentivizing Employee Referrals in a majority-white male environment was in bad taste and not well thought out. Studies have shown that people tend to only hang out with others who are within their race and socioeconomic level. Studies have also shown that diverse boards of directors correlate to greater financial returns for the respective company. Therefore, I’d like to see tech companies eliminate Employee Referrals so tech companies do not recruit more of “their own” (white frat bros with college degrees). If a tech company doesn’t want to get rid of Employee Referrals, then they should reinvent it so you are incentivized for finding a successful job candidate who isn’t from your race or from your hometown. A more creative referral program would probably work wonders for the bottom line and for employee morale – it’s mentally tough to always be the only racial or socioeconomic minority in the room.”
Congrats Anna and Eric, and we’re looking forward to meeting you at the Tech Inclusion Conference. We’re still accepting Tech Inclusion Conference scholoarship submissions here: http://changecatalyst.wpengine.com/scholarship-application/.
TECH INCLUSION Conference, September 11-12th
Exploring innovative solutions to tech diversity and inclusion
Conference Organizers: Melinda Epler and Wayne Sutton
