Lowering the barrier to entry into the tech industry
TL;DR: From Silicon Valley to Africa and even the middle east, more people are intensively searching for an easier way to get into the industry. In this article, we have discussed how organizations can do things already within their reach to make the knowledge of building technology easier to access.
The tech industry is one of the fastest-growing industries in the 21st century. It is providing solutions to problems people didn’t even know they had. However, a major challenge facing the industry is a shortage of talent. There is so much to do in so little time and not enough people know how to do it. Some people do not even know that there is anything to do. I have listed ways in which organizations can help bridge the talent gap. Let us get into them.
Provide mentorship programs
What is the purpose of mentoring? Mentoring helps novices and intermediate skilled people get knowledge and guidance from well-experienced people in that field. In this instance, fewer colleges offer tech-related degrees asides from computer science, and even then, there is a disconnect from classroom knowledge and actual field experience. Furthermore, we have people from other careers wanting to pivot into the tech industry whose careers will take a more defined path if there are mentors to guide them. There are more mentees than there are mentors available. If there is no guidance, it is easier for people to get confused and give up. Nobody wants that.
Sponsor/organize hackathons
Hackathons are sprint challenges that motivate innovation and are helpful for solving problems. When an organization organizes a hackathon, talented individuals have the opportunity to show their skill and creativity. It fosters teamwork and appreciates processes. Organizations looking to draw talent can organize a design challenge around a problem they are trying to solve. They can also partner with learning communities to give their members a chance to prove their knowledge. When I was in the university, hackathons were an avenue to show my skills, and sometimes when I had little knowledge on the topic, I would get very curious and do a research sprint on it. The prize money is always a good motivator. Hackathons help the community.
They can teach tech skills
A great way of battling the scarcity of developers is to make developers. There are organizations that partner with learning centers to provide a place where people can learn about technology and how to build skills in them. People can learn a new skill and add this to their portfolios. If an organization wants to branch into a new technology e.g Web 2 to Web 3, they can train their workers in that skillset.
Organize career fairs
I learned about cybersecurity by writing about it. I didn’t know a career path lie that even existed. When I was a teenager, the career days we had in school had doctors, teachers, accountants, and even the police in attendance. There were no computer programmers or product managers. I didn’t even know that a career in tech was possible. The effect of these career talks and fairs on teenagers was enormous, if the doctor was cool, a number of students would be wanting to be a doctor before the end of the day. Imagine when they find out they can build their own games or apps or when adults in other fields find out how useful their skill is in the tech industry. There are people out there who still think that coding is rocket science and that they need a degree for it. Career fairs are informative and it sparks interest in people.
Organize technology fairs.
Well, this is slightly different. This time is people learning ways tech can improve their business or their daily lives. When there is more relevance for technology people begin to develop an interest in it. These types of fairs are an excellent way for people in different industries to network and exchange ideas.
Offer training and Internships.
There are one too many persons who have finished the Udacity course but can’t find a place to work. This is because everyone wants a senior developer. However, you can’t become a senior developer if you do not gain experience first as a developer-in-training. Also, I have this theory, that there isn’t really a scarcity of developers, there is a scarcity of senior developers or world-class developers and really not all features or products need a world-class developer. Sometimes you just need a team of really good developers who are dedicated and one senior developer or manager to point them in the right direction. What I’m saying is this, build a program within your organization that creates a pipeline from novice to expert. You will never lack a senior developer again. Investing in talent is also investing in the business.
Some organizations already doing the work
They are so many organizations doing the work but let’s spotlight these three cloud giants
Google offers so many programs for newbies and people looking to change careers. The programs are accessible to all and run on a timeline that is achievable. An example is the google career certificate and the google digital skills for Africa
Microsoft offers the Microsoft learn program to grow digital skills.
Amazon offers the Amazon web services restart program. They offer training and certifications for various tech skills.
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