Conference Presentation, Panel
YesWeCode: Training NextGen Technologists
Milken InstituteVan Jones, Laura Weidman Powers, Trabian Shorters, Mitch Kapoor, Joey Ito, Chris Tucker, Prince, Amy Henderson, David Robertson, Pamela Hodges, Jamie
- The Core Paradox: A skills mismatch exists where the tech sector has three open jobs for every one qualified American, while the rest of the economy has three applicants for every one job.
- Demographic Disparity: Low-opportunity communities, including African-American, Latino, Appalachian, and low-income populations, are disproportionately excluded from the tech pipeline despite containing significant untapped talent.
- Labor Market Projections: By 2020, a projected one million tech jobs in the U.S. will remain unfilled if current hiring trends and qualified graduate ratios continue unchanged.
- Talent Pipeline Statistics: While 42% of the U.S. population is projected to be Black or Latino by 2040, currently only 9% of the tech workforce and 18% of computer science graduates identify as Black or Latino.
- Economic Impact: The average starting salary for a computer science graduate exceeds the combined median household income of Black and Latino families, offering a direct pathway to poverty alleviation for these communities.
- Code 2040 Outcomes: The program reports a 90% full-time job offer rate for its fellows within Silicon Valley firms, with 160 companies currently interested in its 3,000-student pipeline.
- Asset-Based Demographic Data: Contrary to common narratives, 39% of Black males aged 18–24 are currently enrolled in or hold college degrees, and nearly twice as many Black males are in college as are in prison.
- Military and Civic Engagement: 25% of adult Black men have served in the uniformed military, and the demographic donates to charity and engages in philanthropy at 25% higher rates than the national average.
- Hiring Practices Shift: Google and other major tech firms are beginning to decouple hiring success from traditional degree requirements, with data showing no correlation between college GPA and employee performance at Google.
- Learning Methodology: The consensus among panelists is that "construction-based" learning and peer networking are more effective than traditional instruction for developing coding skills and retaining diverse talent.
- Boot Camp Limitations: While 192 coding boot camps have emerged in the last three years to offer 12-week training for salaries up to $80,000, these models currently lack infrastructure to support non-traditional students, such as single parents.
- Workforce Development Gap: The U.S. currently lacks a unified, sector-wide workforce development strategy to connect introductory programs, job training, and employer hiring pipelines.
- Aggregation Strategy: The "Yes We Code" initiative is positioned to aggregate and coordinate existing community programs rather than creating new training centers, aiming to launch a unified campaign on July 4th.
- Philanthropic Endorsement: Prince has committed to promoting the initiative during his "Purple Rain" 30th-anniversary tour, and the Ford Foundation and Facebook are providing direct organizational support.
- Social Impact Startups: Kapor Capital is investing in startups that address social issues through technology, such as LendUp (payday loan disruption) and platforms for bilingual education, driven by the diverse backgrounds of their entrepreneurs.
- Innovation in Low-Income Communities: Hackathon projects by youth in Oakland included apps to remind court-date attendees of their schedules via vibration, highlighting the need for tech solutions to address systemic justice barriers in these communities.
- Media Representation Gap: The panel identified the lack of highly visible Black or Latino tech entrepreneurs (a "Black Mark Zuckerberg") as a critical barrier to inspiring younger generations to pursue coding careers.
- Education Reform: There is a growing push for competency-based learning and "connected learning" models that grant credit for self-taught skills, allowing advanced students to bypass redundant coursework.
- Call to Action: Van Jones invited the audience to engage with "Yes We Code" to help coordinate resources, noting that the primary challenge is no longer a lack of talent but a lack of connectivity between existing programs and employers.