There is a strong push for HBCUs to create educational programs to attract students to more diverse career sets. This call unfortunately ignores the costs and resources that HBCUs will have to pay up front to create these programs. But there’s still hope.
Employers are also creating organizations to recruit more Black employees. Groups, like Blacks In Cybersecurity, hold conferences, training resources, and meetups to connect new talent with established Black figures in cybersecurity, expanding the very lucrative field.
The industry has every reason to retain us after hiring. Driving away our people costs the tech industry up to $1.6 billion a year. Expanding diversity and improving the work culture could drastically improve things.
As a community we can help introduce our youth to tech careers. It’s important for Black people in these fields to be present in their communities. Create local workshops with churches or community centers. We can’t rely on the system to make a way for us. Sometimes we need to do it on our own.
Many of the evolving tech career fields are harder for Black youth to break into because of the cost of education and training. We must continue to find new ways to bring these high tech careers to our communities.