Tech industry professionals are working to expand diversity, equity and inclusion through a recently established non-profit organization focused on software development training, coding, and developing a professional community.
The goal is to provide a pathway for underrepresented minorities to start a career in tech, regardless if a person is a career switcher, underemployed, or unemployed.
Reskill Americans[1]' first 130-person bootcamp cohort graduated in October 2021. They received mentorship from tech industry professionals, learned from 40 instructors, technical advisors and project managers, and built 16 full-stack projects.
A first-person perspective
Jalen Harris
Jalen Harris was part of the program's initial cohort.
Technology, Harris said, "wasn't always a particular interest of mine … but, after learning how much value it has as far as opportunities and potential growth, I became a lot more interested."
He had enrolled at Bowling Green State University to study information technology but decided to take a break from school to focus on work. When things shut down due to the pandemic, Harris wanted to learn something new and got into coding.
Around the same time, he saw Reskill Americans' inaugural cohort invitation. He decided to apply and got accepted. Harris described the overall experience as a good one.
"You learn how to work as a team, collaboration, you learn to work through difficult times. … Sometimes things may not make sense, so it takes self-discipline to do the research and get the answer you need," Harris said.
"But Reskill was also there as far as a helpful community," he continued. "We had a lot of tutors, one-on-one sessions, live sessions. They did everything in their power to help the people in the program succeed. It was basically like no person left