Getting into Tech: A Real Shot at Going Pro

by Sylvester Mobley

Only approximately 0.03% of high school seniors will ever be drafted into the NBA. That’s three players per every 10,000. The percentage is even lower in the WNBA and NFL.

So why are so many young people from underrepresented communities setting their sights on a nearly impossible goal?

The Power of an Alluring Influence

Youth from underrepresented communities often believe that if they’re going to make it big, it’s either going to be in sports or entertainment. It’s an understandable connection, given that many of the most visible members of the Black community have excelled in those arenas. That representation is paramount and can’t be understated.

Add to that the fact that achievements in sports are often celebrated by parents, peers, and even educators, which highlights this tremendously unlikely pathway to success for youth.

In a recent national survey by the Aspen Institute’s Project Play initiative and Utah State University’s Families in Sport Lab, parents of Black youth …”rated the pursuit of a college scholarship as 23% more important and a pro sports opportunity as 26% more important than White parents.”

It’s also estimated that Black youth are three times more likely than White youth to participate in tackle football, which carries long-term health risks. However, football carries the most college athletic scholarships (7% of high school players play at some level in college vs. 3% of basketball players). It’s an enticing carrot for many low-income families, even though the odds are long of ever playing college or pro sports.”

In fact, according to NCAA data, fewer than 2% of all NCAA athletes will go pro.

Better Odds

While making it to the league is a long shot, I argue that pursuing a successful career in tech and innovation has real, predictable slam-dunk potential — and can be just as exciting.

In March 2021, the number of openings for tech-related jobs reportedly grew to 307,000, showing no signs of slowing down. Careers in tech are here today and will be tomorrow, even if we can’t articulate what, exactly, those careers might look like. For example, if you had predicted 20 years ago that companies would hire data engineers today, no one would have believed you. Similarly, many of the jobs in tech and leadership we’ll see 10 to 15 to 20 years from now have yet to be created.

What’s more, not only is there great demand for these skills, but these positions offer high salaries, opportunities for growth, and competitive benefits packages, including health care insurance, retirement plans, and other perks. It’s up to us to prepare our youth to become the next generation of venture capitalists, CEOs, and CTOs.

Case in point: I challenge you to find a professional athlete who has achieved the level of financial wealth and influence as Mark Zuckerberg or Jeff Bezos.

While a career in technology may not initially be as alluring as that of a professional athlete, it can be if we give our youth the right tools, skills and encouragement to pursue this more practical avenue that harnesses creativity and has no limits or boundaries to their imagination.

It’s obvious that tech touches nearly every single aspect of our daily lives, from the shoes we put on to go for our morning workouts, to how we interact with one another at work, to the products we use and the foods we consume. And in every case, it is skilled technologists, innovators and leaders who imagine, envision, create and deliver the “next big thing” that none of us would be able to predict.

Still, many youth from underrepresented communities don’t consider tech a field to “go pro” in. Or, they never have the opportunity to consider this avenue.

I say it’s time to shift that narrative.

Our Opportunity

1Philadelphia, an initiative of Coded by Kids, exists to make Philadelphia the capital of equitable tech and innovation — and illustrate the possibilities that the space can offer young people. By connecting funders, employers, schools and community organizations, 1Philadelphia will create a tech ecosystem based in equity, resulting in an unstoppable network of opportunities to empower and support the success of underrepresented young people.

Together, we can reshape the narrative that going pro in sports is the single pathway to building generational wealth. Together, we can diversify the tech talent pipeline in our city, while simultaneously encouraging our underrepresented youth to chase after an attainable dream by exposing them to those pathways — and shifting our own priorities to shepherding that change.

Together, we can show our young people that getting into tech and innovation is a real shot at going pro.

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Sylvester Mobley is the founder and CEO of Coded by Kids, a tech and innovation education organization that works with students ages 8–24. Through Coded by Kids, Sylvester fights inequity ensuring that underrepresented young people have the support and resources needed to become the next generation of tech and innovation leaders.

Learn more about how you can get involved with 1Philadelphia by visiting the website and following us on social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn).