Being Black-ish in Tech

Being a half-Black dude from Oakland who didn’t grow up using computers, most people I know were a little surprised to hear me switching careers at 30 to become a software engineer. Channeling my addictive personality to study code and write loads of useless toy programs and horrific sites served me well and I studied myself into a job through persistence and some luck 😉.

Growing up as a mixed dude that looked more Latino than Black made me hyper-aware of how important race is in our daily interactions. Even today, the first thing people usually ask when they meet me is where my parents are from, or what’s your ethnicity, or what are you mixed with? Basically, what the hell are you? I’m used to it, and I’ve been privy to a lot of conversations I might not well have been if people knew my true identity. Like a race spy.

I always knew I’d be a minority in the field of software engineering but sometimes I’m a bit surprised by just how homogenous the field is. In the last 5 years, I can count the number of Black software engineers I’ve met on one hand and still have enough left to grip a teacup. Every year, StackOverflow releases its developer survey results and I am re-shocked to learn less than 5% of professional developers surveyed are Black. Similar disappointing results abound for women, Latinos and other non-White male groups.

But who cares?

Well, outside of the moral implications for denying or restricting access to upwardly mobile careers like software development to certain groups, how…