James Mickens: There are a lot of reasons why there aren’t more blacks in CS. I think that CS and STEM jobs are viewed positively in the black community. However, I think that the lack of African American role models is discouraging to black kids who might be thinking about a career in technology. I think that teachers and professors (often well-intentioned ones!) can implicitly or explicitly discourage ethnic minorities from STEM careers. There’s also an issue of social capital. A lot of stuff gets done in this world via social connections---you know a person who knows a person who helps you to get a job, or a conversation with an important person. If you’re the first person in your family to go to college, or you’re the first person to enter a STEM field, or if you went to a school whose alumni aren’t well-connected to important social networks, it can be more difficult for you to achieve some of your career goals. To be clear, it’s not impossible! I don’t want to discourage people from underrepresented groups to get into STEM fields. What I’m saying is that you will need to be more intentional about achieving your goals. When you attend classes, or go to conferences, or go to job interviews, you’ll need to be focused and prepared. You’ve got to do well academically, but you also have to be good at networking among your peers; I’d venture that this is just as important as the academic part. You need to be comfortable talking to people, not just about technical subjects, but about everyday things. You’d be surprised how many “technical” decisions about who to hire and which projects to pursue are ultimately driven by the ability of people to explain themselves and interact well with others. The only way to get better is to practice! Finally, I’ll say that you can’t be afraid to have mentors who are different than you. This is true for everyone. If you’re a white guy, don’t be afraid to have a female mentor. If you’re a black female, don’t be afraid to have a white man as a mentor. There may be some cultural misunderstandings, but that’s okay. You’ve got to learn how to deal with those things anyway, so don’t be afraid of it. I can say with total confidence that the extent to which I’ve been successful in my career is the extent to which key mentors have taken a chance on me and put me in positions where I could succeed. This was true in grad school, this was true at Microsoft, and this was true at MIT.
Posted on: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 20:59:21 +0000
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