Fostering a Safer Community 2023
Three years ago, Techtonica committed to fostering a safer, more anti-racist community. The mostly BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color) people we serve are being very negatively impacted by the current state of the industry and economy, so this commitment and our mission to help women and non-binary adults seeking economic empowerment overcome barriers into tech careers are vital.
Improvements
Over the last year, Techtonica staff members have continued our weekly safety meetings. Some of the actions we’ve taken as a result of those meetings and feedback given by community members include:
Program
- A technical terms glossary
- Having a person of color lead most soft skills sessions
- Avoiding eating and drinking in meetings during Ramadan and being flexible with meetings and attendance then
- Assessing which parts of cohort meetings can be optional, how many meetings there are, how meetings can be more efficient and helpful, etc. so there are at least four hours to code every day
- Splitting some of the soft skills discussions into self-identified identity group breakout rooms
- Finding additional mentors
- Giving the cohort chances to practice our feedback formula
- Setting up time for the cohort to hear from graduates
- Scheduling a mid-cohort break
- Offering a role and a spot in the next cohort for two unplaced participants
- Doing knowledge checks asynchronously
- Having the STEM and CEO do individual get-to-know-yous with the new cohort, followed by group Q&As with staff and board members
- Presenting a time management workshop to the participants for the first time with graduate support
- Updating the curriculum and ensuring consistency in our instructions
- Examining our violation escalation process
- Documenting announcements for reference
- Simplifying performance reviews so everyone doesn’t have to review so many people
Staff
- Adjusting team meetings to better fit East Coast Time
- Updating our internal sponsor checklist
- Practicing active listening to accept in-the-moment feedback
- Doing the Conflict Resolution with Power and Privilege in Mind class
- Meeting asynchronously during busiest weeks
- Seeking advice from organizations like The Trevor Project about what to do about violence or threats of violence towards self or Techtonica staff members and adding some language to the Code of Conduct
- Going over official Code of Conduct enforcement process
- Documenting each of our roles in case one of us needs to be out for a long time or leaves
- Expanding our administrative assistant’s responsibilities
- Listening sessions with the current cohort
- Surveyed sponsors to receive their feedback
- Updating our internal sponsor checklist
- Rotating days off to manage more intense weeks
- Continuing performance reviews
- Investing the time in reaching out to BIPOC about an open role at Techtonica and building a diverse candidate pool before interviewing
Cohort Applications & Onboarding
- Using the MIT Living Wage Calculator for income eligibility
- Giving away laptops to Black, Latinx, and Indigenous potential applicants
- Latinx info session in partnership with Latinos Who Tech & Techqueria
- Adding study groups to the application process to help candidates feel more comfortable
- Adding cohort size, info about special circumstances, staff-to-participant ratio, hours of volunteering per participant, and more to the website
- Passing the application process to Joy so Cristina can do more technical pairing and curriculum improvements
- Opening applications earlier
- Incorporating OJT interest, Techtonica stickers, time management, WRAPs, the Me & White Supremacy workbook, and some other items in the pre-program checklist
- Incorporating in the pre-work
- Clarifying some of the application questions and adding response validation to help
- Adding even more info about placements not being guaranteed and the state of the economy to the info sessions, application workshops, interviews, and invitations to join the next cohort
- Keeping the size of the next cohort small
- Added a question about diversity, equity, and inclusion to the application
Community
- Responding to anti-semitism in the community
- Launching a testimonial page
- Gathering more mental health resources?
- Implementing anonymous grading with shared, anonymous results for learning from each other
- Asking a conference we partnered with to make some adjustments to the Code of Conduct
- Adding a warning about being careful at events to career advice talk
- Gathering feedback from mentors
- Offboarding a problematic mentor
- Inviting graduates and mentors to join staff, board members, and cohort members to org-wide meetings
- Creating a more clear, shared timeline and checklist for sponsors
- Doing a pre-interview orientation for sponsor companies
- Implementing a matching algorithm for placements
- Automating follow-up with potential sponsors
- Securing funding to support laid-off graduates
- Launching a Seeker Program for grads who have been laid off
- Figured out how to share and process the death of a graduate
Impact
We were pleased to see that the average of all ratings from the last two cohorts is 3.85 out of 4! There is always room for improvement, so we will continue to seek and implement ways to make the experience better for our community.
Here’s what five participants from the last year have written:
“I really appreciate Techtonica and I love this program so much!”
“I know everyone is working really hard and I am proud of all of us! Staff and cohort! So thanks :D”
“I was in my last year of undergraduate studies and was dreading my degree. I enjoyed learning and loved what I was studying, but I knew I could not sustain a life doing so. When I stumbled across Techtonica solely by chance, it was an absolute gamechanger. Techtonica had checked all the boxes: — free, with the option of a stipend when need is demonstrated — 6-month extensive remote bootcamp with a 6-month internship after — exclusive to women and non-binary individuals — actively worked towards making cohorts more diverse and inclusive — assigned a mentor — was my chance to make my first step into tech!
As I am approaching the end of my time in the bootcamp portion of the program, I am realizing how prepared and well-equipped I am for the new journey ahead of me BECAUSE of Techtonica. The staff have been nothing but supportive, welcoming, and accommodating. The cherry on top was definitely being able to find such a wonderful community in my fellow cohort members.”
“I think having as much practice as possible with the feedback formula is one of the most valuable skills taught to me during my time at techtonica. I feel that strong communication is key in a work place where we are remote. I will also say that Sarah did an outstanding job reminding us and teaching us to self-advocate in the work place and to take breaks as needed to avoid burnout. Techtonica has been a life-changing experience because it includes an emphasis on workplace soft skills and stress management. My overall experience was positive, and the skills learned on how to learn have carried over into every facet of my new career.”
“Techtonica has changed my life. I applied for the program looking for guidance and support in my journey of learning to code and getting a job in tech. There are so many resources available online, and I felt overwhelmed because I wasn’t sure what to learn next. I discovered Techtonica via word of mouth and decided to apply. The application process is really thorough and a great pre-cursor for what the program is like. The curriculum is non-traditional. There are no lectures or grades, which I and all of my cohort mates appreciated. The staff at Techtonica encourage participants to learn in the way that works best for them. Yes, I learned how to become a full stack web developer with Techtonica, but the greatest skill I was taught was how to learn hard subjects quickly. And for that reason, I encourage others to apply.”
Current status
With sponsors pulling out at the end of last cohort, needing to search for and onboard a new Partnerships Manager, and all the layoffs and hiring freezes in the industry, we were unable to find placements for everyone in our current cohort, and most of the graduates in our Seeker Program are still searching for jobs. We don’t know when the job market will start looking up for developers with 0–5 years of experience again, but we’re hopeful that it will be soon and are staying focused on our mission of helping women and non-binary adults seeking economic empowerment overcome barriers into tech careers.
If you are currently employed and believe in Techtonica’s mission, please sign up for recurring donations here. And please feel free to sign up for our graduation celebration on June 23rd.
