Participant Story: Ariel
“The dream is to treat and heal all symptoms caused and created by a lack of access and ability.”
1) Tell us a little about your life.
I’m a little seedling from Compton, CA nourishing my roots by Bay Area waters. Constantly unfolding, unraveling, and healing what it means to be a lil’ brown hood trans kid: growing out of a scarcity mentality from poverty-impact, and leaning into abundance and growth. I live to remind myself that you won’t always be or feel ready, and you might be scared, but that’s not a reason not to go for it.
2) What made you decide to apply for Techtonica?
That scarcity mentality I mentioned — I’m coming out of that shell. I’ve always daydreamed about working with computers and pursuing some tech job and introducing tech to the lil’ homies back home, but I always left it at a daydream. I thought, “That place isn’t for me,” or “I couldn’t survive that environment.” I’m hoping to give back to the community of Compton that raised me and let folks like me know that the tech world needs our input.
3) What are you most excited to learn while at Techtonica?
I’m honestly juiced to learn all the content. I’m mostly starting from ground zero, so most, if not all, things will be new wisdom for me. I’m intrigued more by back-end instead of front-end, but I’m excited to immerse myself in the full-stack world. I promised some friends I’d build them an app when I learned how, so here goes!
4) What do you want to contribute to or change about the tech industry?
I would like to add new perspectives that aim to break barriers and expand the concept of what tech is and who creates the industry. I think tech is now a necessary part of our culture and life, and I think it’s imperative that we have a scope of all voices and communities that are impacted and/or benefit from tech. The percentage of Latinxs in tech is disproportionately low, and the number of Latina women is lower — the percentage of nonbinary Latinx individuals is even lower than that! There is an abundance of ideas, resourcefulness, and creativity living in the margins, and I think the tech industry would greatly benefit from uplifting these under-resourced and marginalized communities.
5) What’s your dream project?
My big dream project is more an ongoing journey of developing my own software engineering skills and creating my own curriculum catered to inner-city kids as my audience. I also want to implement curriculum in inner-city schools or set up foundational free accessible programs across various inner cities.
My smaller dream is to create and develop software that expands, bridges, and aids the lives of individuals with disabilities. As a kid, I volunteered building wheelchairs for low-income individuals, and over time I’ve seen the development in automated chairs. I wonder how far we can take tech to bridge and support different cognitive functions. I suppose the dream is to treat and heal all symptoms caused and created by a lack of access and ability.
