Last year, several prominent tech companies released demographic breakdowns of its workforce. Google, Facebook, and Twitter were among them. Across the board, the data showed that White and Asian males were the majority of employees at these iconic companies. It showed that diversity is a real issue in the tech industry.

You might be thinking: What's the big deal? How do we know there's a problem? It boils down to this: statistically, the breakdown of the population is not mirrored in the payroll of tech companies. For example, females make up 50.8% of the population, according to the U.S. Census, yet make up less than 20% of the tech positions at either Google or Facebook. The percentages for Black and Hispanic are just as under-represented. When you consider that Software Developer/Engineer is a career that is consistently ranked as one of the best (Forbes reported it was the top job in 2014), these disproportions suggest forces at work against these demographic groups. But why is diversity even desirable in a company? In Google's words: "Having a diversity of perspectives leads to better decision-making, more relevant products, and makes work a whole lot more interesting." And in Twitter's: "more diverse teams make better decisions, and companies with women in leadership roles produce better financial results."

The gender and minority gap in the tech industry is a confluence of issues, I think. For minorities, it makes sense to me that whatever socio-economic and/or institutional factors causing the Achievement Gap, leads to fewer degreed graduates, in turn leading to fewer candidates for tech firms to hire-- the so-called "pipeline problem." For women, even though they make up just a teen percentage of tech positions at Google and Facebook, they are a healthy 50% of the non-tech roles, suggesting to me some socializing effect that steers females away from tech careers.

To address the Achievement Gap and the resulting "pipeline problem", I would like to see more "informal" programs like Dev Bootcamp. Unlike colleges or universities, programs such as Dev Bootcamp offer opportunities that don't filter based on past academic performance. Just because someone didn't excel academically at English and Biology doesn't mean they can't be a solid programmer. There's an economic component as well, obviously, so not only more accessible programs like Dev Bootcamp, but more affordable too.

Another solution is more demographic-specific programs. The last few years have shown promise in this approach as several non-profit programs have sprung up to address the gender gap: Girls Who Code, Girl Develop It, Black Girls CODE-- to name a few. The empowering culture of these programs can foster support and non-alienating environments for women, as well as work towards undoing the societal stereotypes of "masculine" and "feminine" careers.

And finally I would like to see an early introduction and exposure to computer engineering in school curriculums. Kids love selfies; they should know more about the technologies that make them. My hope is that this would spark curiosity and interest before the social-economic and/or institutional claws dig in to steer under-represented groups away from careers in the tech industry.

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