A Challenge for IT Professionals

[Jermaine Colington]

So everybody knows that we live in a tech driven world. We are already digitized in almost everything we do, and the trend is continuing to move in that direction. With that said, whoever positions themselves now for the day when we are almost completely tech reliant, will be the victors going forward. The downside is that our black brothers and sisters aren't being set on the path to take advantage of this trend on any large scale.

So I came up with an idea. Now mind you, I'm no coder, but I have a degree in Info Systems, so I'm familiar with it. I spoke to the Director of Ministries at the church that I attend and I told him I wanted to start a coding program there. I would be using Codecademy.com to do it. Introduce middle school and high school kids to coding via free tools where I simply serve as somewhat of a moderator while the kids work together. If they take a liking to it, we'll pay for the full version with projects and quizzes. If they're still interested, we'll try to pay for classes at a local community college. He said he was down with it and to come up with a pilot class so we can test the waters and refine the class.

So my challenge to you IT professionals with 6 certs making 6 figures. Can you do the same thing or similar in your town?

 

[soulfuljah]

I've actually been planning on doing free CCNA training and also on the technology that I work in (email security). The only really holding me back right now is time..

 

[Jermaine Colington]

I've actually been planning on doing free CCNA training and also on the technology that I work in (email security). The only really holding me back right now is time..

Cool. You should keep the site updated with your progress. It'll serve as a means to hold you accountable and you may be able to get some good insight as well.

 

[Jermaine Colington]

No takers?

 

[Pressure]

I've recently did this one at a community center in conjunction with kids from church:

Minecraft | Code.org

 

[SHO-NUFF]

a generation from now, i want our culture to embrace STEM as we currently do sending our kids to the military

 

[David_TheMan]

a generation from now, i want our culture to embrace STEM as we currently do sending our kids to the military

I embrace progress and that is where ever a person fits in, but stem education and jobs is positioned on a large government bubble. We need to be very very careful in hitching wagons to one field or group of fields, especially government subsidized ones because at any moment those bubbles can burst.

 

[Jermaine Colington]

I'm not quite understanding how STEM education/jobs can be on a bubble. We're talking about learning skills, not investing in companies where people are reliant on profit margins. As long as we are a nation driven by technology, which seems to be likely for the forseeable future, these skills will be valuable. There would have to be some major "industrial" revolution to change that.

And that's just the technology portion. Healthcare sciences and engineering will always be valuable in any society.

But if you have some valuable info that says otherwise, please feel free to share.

 

[Majestic]

Bump

 

[Swirv]

I'm not quite understanding how STEM education/jobs can be on a bubble. We're talking about learning skills, not investing in companies where people are reliant on profit margins. As long as we are a nation driven by technology, which seems to be likely for the forseeable future, these skills will be valuable. There would have to be some major "industrial" revolution to change that.

And that's just the technology portion. Healthcare sciences and engineering will always be valuable in any society.

But if you have some valuable info that says otherwise, please feel free to share.

How is the program working out?

 

[se1f_made]

I'm not quite understanding how STEM education/jobs can be on a bubble. We're talking about learning skills, not investing in companies where people are reliant on profit margins. As long as we are a nation driven by technology, which seems to be likely for the forseeable future, these skills will be valuable. There would have to be some major "industrial" revolution to change that.

And that's just the technology portion. Healthcare sciences and engineering will always be valuable in any society.

But if you have some valuable info that says otherwise, please feel free to share.

Eventually this growth will cause it to not be enough jobs available for STEM majors that want to work in IT. Before that, the wages will be driven down

 

[scarlxrd]

You mean starting something like this? Black Girls Code, BlackGirlsCode, Women of Color in Technology

Didn't realize how old this thread was

 

[Jermaine Colington]

How is the program working out?

Actually hasn't started yet. I was initially planning to have sessions on HTML. But that was something I hadn't even worked on since I learned the basics in college. I tried reteaching myself through codecademy, but realized they teach you a lot a syntax but not really how to apply the knowledge for beginners. At that point I decided I would focus on SQL, something that I'm already very knowledgeable about.

THEN... I ended up getting hired for a second job as the Youth Outreach Coordinator for my city. So I haven't had time to develop the curriculum to present to the person who said I could do it. Plus this second job is taking up more time than I originally anticipated.

 

[Jermaine Colington]

Eventually this growth will cause it to not be enough jobs available for STEM majors that want to work in IT. Before that, the wages will be driven down

I would normally agree, if it wasn't for the development of new subsets of IT, what seems like every day.

Big Data
Data Analytics
Healthcare Informatics
Cloud Computing

All of these are growing industries who don't have nearly enough qualified candidates. If you haven't noticed, over the past 5 or so years, universities have been creating brand new degree programs to service this need.

The combination of math, technology and social science seems to be the trend of the future.

 

[xXMASHERXx]

I've been thinking about doing something similar at a local library for the teens/young adults. I think the hardest part is creating a curriculum that keeps them interested. I'm interested to see how this goes. Please keep us updated.