i.c.stars authored an Op-Ed in Crains:
A recent Crain’s Equity story on the lack of diversity in the tech field pointed out several issues that have kept minority participation low. A lack of strong STEM programs in high schools with predominantly minority enrollment, the tribal nature of hiring or the limited recruiting pool are just a few issues that were mentioned.
We agree with everything in the story, but we’d like to add a sense of urgency to the comments made, a call to arms over this issue. Because in our world today, in almost anything you do, there’s an IT professional backing you up in some way, keeping the process working. In fact, it is hard to think of anything today that is not dependent on the work of IT professionals. It’s a crisis that we can’t afford to ignore.
A degree in computer science is necessary for some of this work, but not all of it. Setting up recruiting tables at college campuses is fine, but that alone will not solve the problem. If we are going to be able to keep our society moving, we’d better find more ways to include the growing population that is currently absent from the tech talent pipeline.
