Silicon Valley is working to expand the reach of introductory-level work to a more diverse pool of talent. But are diversity internship initiatives the silver bullet for the tech industry's persistent homogeneity?
One of the problems Silicon Valley points to in explaining of the lack of diversity in the tech industry is the so-called "pipeline": There simply aren't enough Latinos, Blacks, or women graduating with relevant degrees to hire. New research shows this convenient excuse doesn't track with reality.
Over the weekend, President Obama announced he was pledging $4 billion in funding to boost computer science education in the nation's schools as part of the Computer Science for All Initiative.
This weekend Apple released the company's latest diversity report, showing progress in its U.S. workforce -- but only by tiny margins. Meanwhile, the company's board of directors has rejected one Latino shareholder's proposal to accelerate change in the upper ranks of Apple, Inc.
If you're a parent interested in providing some of the best educational software for your kids' mobile devices, you've undoubtedly heard of Tinybop. Its founder and CEO, Raul Gutierrez, has always been interested in software and producing things, but his career followed quite a winding road before his recent success in making imaginative, educational apps for children.
After a bad year on Wall Street and a diversity spat with a former senior engineer that went public, Twitter has decided to replace its head of diversity and inclusion.
While there is a dearth of diversity in Silicon Valley, high-tech industries in the U.S. are expanding at such a rapid clip that employers are having trouble finding enough talent in the U.S. to meet their needs. One conference over the weekend aimed to encourage young Latinos and Latinas be a part of the solution to both problems, by setting their sights early on 21st century career paths.
As big Silicon Valley firms up their efforts to diversify their mostly white, male workforces, the Obama administration's TechHire initiative has begun taking applications for grants from a $100 million fund to help boost the development of IT skills in overlooked communities.
This September, Comcast updated X1 with software designed specifically for bicultural Latinos. Dubbed "X1 en Español," it introduced a Spanish-language version the X1 interface, featuring voice control in Spanish, and the X1's voice recognition can now understand a broad range of Latino accents.
In the past couple of years, it's become clear that diversity is a problem for Silicon Valley. But there are still bright spots in tech, and the Hispanic IT Executive Council's (HITEC) has chosen a select few Hispanic leaders in technology that are making a difference towards diversity and inclusion of Latinos in the high tech industry.
Silicon Valley has a diversity problem, and it's bigger than just the staffing demographics at major technology firms. In particular, there is a dearth of Latino-founded tech startups that grow beyond the initial stages, but Manos Accelerator, in partnership with Google, is seeking to change that.
Facebook's TechPrep hopes to boost diversity in technology by empowering underrepresented minority students and their parents to get involved in computer science.
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan talked about the importance of closing the diversity gap in technology careers by closing the technology gap in South Texas on Tuesday, as part of the annual Hispanic Engineering, Science, and Technology (HESTEC) week for area middle and high school students.
