We hear one question all the time: how can I find talent?
Building your startup team can be difficult. You want to make sure your organization’s culture is reflected in the individuals that you hire. You want new staff to be as dedicated to your mission as possible and that they are a positive representation of your business. You also need people who have the right stills to get the job done.
Well, we have good news for you. There are organizations in Pittsburgh dedicated to training the community to be your next new hire, learn more about them in our highlights from our May Cafe IW.
About the Panelists and Organizations
It’s about creating access
AH: We connect kids who are underrepresented in the city with opportunities to code and just interact with tech that they might not have had opportunities to work with. We’ve gone on to find different partners in the community and we connected with different community centers like us. Places in community empowerment and Homewood and the Neighborhood Academy, just so many different places around is actually crazy.
Beta-Builders ended up getting help from a friend of ours who led us to the Colab 18 space. So people in the community, we all come together. It’s allowed us to really grow this thing accurately. It’s been probably 200 kids now to get to know them since college, which is amazing!. We just want to give kids those chances that they might not get in their communities. We just want to set them up for success. We just want to be a support system.
TF: We want to be the premier IT provider to underserved communities; we want to make sure that they have access. I do take that to heart. We’ve grown from one employee, myself, to nine. And I’m very proud that they are all from the community. They are all local. They are all African American. I’m very unapologetic about that, I’m proud of that. I went to school for chemical engineering, and there was never a space for me. I graduated as the only African American. And I made it my god given mission to never allow that to happen again.
I built my first computer when I was 10. And my uncle played in the NFL. And the difference between me and everyone else is I had access. He invested in me, he poured into me, he encouraged me to be able to help other people. So I took my talent for technology and I use it to help others around me.
I use it to serve my community during COVID There was a major digital divide between African American students and other students. So we did that during COVID. And we made sure to use people from the community who didn’t have jobs who were looking for jobs to help others so that you know they would have income, you know, during COVID. So, I’m very proud of that.
NY: I started here in Pittsburgh probably about four years ago now. And, I had no background in technology. I studied psychology. I came here just after a Fulbright in Malaysia, teaching English. I knew I wanted to do something that was very hands-on, I wanted to have an impact in the community, and really be able to see that and through having access, having access to someone who was looking out for me here in the city. I just happened upon an opportunity at a tech startup here in Pittsburgh. We were using AI technology to monitor the roads here in the city and elsewhere. It was such an impactful experience. Because I was getting the opportunity to see how this technology was working, I was able to work closely with the developers and the people on the team. I just developed this love and passion for what I was doing. And I decided that I was going to learn how to code. So I took it upon myself to just gather the resources that were around me, using online resources and things like that to start learning. And during that journey was to kind of find my way, I started to create content on social media, just sharing my experiences, my journey.
It’s about serving the underserved
AH: I feel like if we’re not hiring from our own communities, other communities will come in and fill the void. And if we’re not going to do anything about it, they’ll do something. And we’ll be left behind essentially.
Without my opportunity to start Beta-Builders, I wouldn’t be able to give the kids the skills that they’re obviously going to need in the future. The things that we’re teaching, just basic, like so we teach basic programming, coding, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, or getting into Python and stuff like that.
TF: It’s important to me to hire from a community because of the community. So for children, they need to see somebody that looks like them, that they could see in a mall that they can see at the store and say hi to you. That’s why it’s important to hire, we want our children to feel supported. We want people to know that there’s a place that they can go. But, what that means is companies have to be open to grace. When you’re hiring,I invest in people. I invest in my employees, because they’re going to invest in my clients, and they’re going to be the ones to make the impact. I specifically look to hire from home because if you look at Pittsburgh, it is very saturated with other cities that come in to do tech. Just like Anthony said, if we don’t do it, there are communities that will come because this is a tech hub. So, I like to make sure that we have a voice in all of the technology that goes on. And if you don’t hire from our communities, we cannot inspect the boards, we have silos in ourselves, because we’re not in the brains.
NY: It was the access that I had, it was the resources that I was given. That allowed me to kind of change the trajectory of my career. And I wanted to make sure that other people like me, women and people of color, people from underrepresented communities in technology had that opportunity. And so, I wanted to share those resources. As I learn, I teach on my YouTube channel and my social media. And it’s very full circle, because I’m here representing women in tech PGH, which was an organization here in the community, that really helped me to kind of find my way when I was first starting.
It’s about meeting people where they are
TF: For me, hiring from the neighborhood is being able to walk into any office building and see the demographic that represents the demographic that you see outside on the street. And, I know my experience here has not been like that. I want to be able to see that. I think it goes beyond checking boxes. It’s being able to know that the technology that we are creating, the services that we are providing, are representative of everyone and benefit who they are supposed to and not just a single individual or group of people. So I want to be able to see that our teams are as diverse as the community that we have so that the technology we create is better for it.
NY: I would say, for me, I know it’s about meeting everyone where they are. So if it is you’re just fumbling on your phone and trying to figure that out to start. It’s a good point, no matter who is out there trying to kind of get more acclimated with technology, there’s a place for you that could help you get acclimated. For me, it was social media. I will say start in the places you already are. I think as long as you’re open, there’s room for you to learn and grow.
What is the next goal?
AH: One of our goals is basically to open up like a revolving door. For the kids, we want them to come up with this technology. Eventually, we would like to be able to offer those from our programs positions to come back to teach. I’m expanding my network to be able to help them get to where they want to go.
TF: So IT’s 4 ME’s goal is to be into at least four to five charter schools and underserved neighborhoods. And for Taylor Made, the goal was to be in seven schools with our technology department helping the children and providing them managed services.
NY: I’m here representing Women in Tech Pittsburgh, WIT PGH. So we’re going to tech PGH. We’ve just formed our board, I am honored to be a member of our board. And, our goal is trying to get back to building community and empowering women in the community through advocacy community and education. Getting things together and getting organized.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
