According to NPR, women make up only 20 percent of the programming workforce, while USA Todays states that the staff of leading tech companies are only 2 percent black and 3 percent Hispanic. Veterans have also had difficulties accessing IT-related jobs despite the fact that IT is seen as a leading career path for veterans. In order to build diversity in the IT workforce and access this untapped potential, Code Fellows, a code school in Seattle, has launched a $250,000 diversity scholarship program for women, underrepresented minorities and veterans.
“This diversity scholarship program builds on one of our core beliefs: everyone should have the opportunity to develop,” said Kristin Smith, CEO of Code Fellows. “For employers, increasing diversity, including the perspectives of women, minorities and veterans, leads to more effective teams building better products. And big picture, expanding the talent pool to meet the tremendous demand for qualified software developers will drive broad economic growth.”
Administered by the Washington Technology Industry Association (WTIA) and top tech employers, the program plans to provide funding for 40 scholarships in its first year, covering 50-70 percent of Code Fellows’ tuition costs for Bootcamp and Development Accelerator courses.
Because the Code Fellows Diversity Scholarship Fund coheres with the TechHire Initiative released by the The White House, Code Fellows has gained support from many organizations including Tag Creative. “We’re fortunate to have partners like Tag Creative putting their support behind these scholarships,” said Smith.
“We’re very proud to be providing scholarship support for Code Fellows students,” said Jefferson Fletcher, CEO of Tag Creative. “We know firsthand how important diverse voices are to building great teams, and also how hard it is to find the right talent. We strongly value how Code Fellows goes well beyond technical training to empower developers to be productive team members from day one.”
To learn more, or to apply for a Code Fellows scholarship before the June 15th submission deadline, visit www.CodeFellows.org.
