Valerie Phoenix, Founder of Tech By Choice, joins the podcast to talk about her non-profit that helps people interested in technology. Topics discussed include breaking barriers in the tech industry, diverse career paths, navigating career progression, breaking into the tech industry, and the importance of helping others in tech.
Tech by Choice supports underrepresented minorities enter and thrive in tech by providing workshops, mentorship, and resources.
Tech by Choice focuses on financial literacy to empower individuals from marginalized backgrounds to overcome financial barriers in the tech industry.
Tech by Choice fosters a sense of community by providing mentorship, support, and a community-driven recruiting service for individuals from marginalized backgrounds.
Deep dives
Tech by Choice as a Supportive Community
Tech by Choice is a nonprofit organization that aims to foster diversity and inclusion in the tech industry. They provide workshops, events, resources, and mentorship to help underrepresented minorities enter and thrive in tech. The organization focuses on three pillars: enter, stay, and thrive. They support individuals in bridging the gap between tech skills and the workplace, providing career guidance, mentors, and resources to navigate the industry. Tech by Choice also offers an open-source project where a cohort of developers, designers, and project managers collaborate to build a small project over a few months, providing valuable experience and a track record for participants. The organization welcomes donations, volunteers, mentors, and connections to sponsorships for support in their mission.
The Importance of Financial Literacy in the Tech Industry
Tech by Choice recognizes the importance of financial literacy in the tech industry and provides resources to support individuals in understanding and managing their finances. They offer workshops and programs to help participants navigate financial challenges that may arise, such as implicit bias in salary negotiations, the cost of attending industry events, and the financial impact of career transitions. By addressing financial barriers and providing guidance, Tech by Choice aims to empower individuals from marginalized backgrounds to overcome financial obstacles and thrive in their tech careers.
Mentorship and Support in Tech by Choice Community
Tech by Choice fosters a sense of community by providing mentorship and support throughout individuals' tech journeys. They connect participants with mentors from the industry, offering valuable guidance and feedback. The organization also facilitates a community-driven recruiting service, where members support each other through the job search process, including salary negotiation. Tech by Choice emphasizes the importance of advocacy and self-advocacy, helping individuals build their skills, gain recognition for their work, and navigate career advancement. The community-driven approach of Tech by Choice provides a valuable network of support for individuals from marginalized backgrounds.
The Impact of Tech by Choice Open Source Project
Tech by Choice's open source project has been instrumental in providing hands-on working experience in a team setting. Participants work collaboratively on small projects with guidance from mentors in the industry. The program allows individuals to build their portfolios, gain practical experience, and receive feedback on their work. The open source project covers different roles, including development, design, project management, accessibility, and more. By providing real-world experience and a supportive community, the open source project helps participants showcase their skills, gain references, and increase their chances of landing job opportunities.
Supporting Tech by Choice
There are several ways to support Tech by Choice. Donations, sponsorships, and connections to companies interested in partnering are highly appreciated. Funding allows the organization to continue offering free events, resources, and programs. Volunteering and offering mentorship are also valuable contributions. Tech by Choice welcomes experienced professionals to join as mentors and provide guidance to individuals within the community. By offering support, expertise, and resources, allies can contribute to the mission of Tech by Choice and help diversify and empower the tech industry.
Valerie Phoenix from Tech By Choice joins Amal & Kball to tell them all about her non-profit that’s passionate about helping people interested in technology, no matter their experience level.
Changelog++ members save 4 minutes on this episode because they made the ads disappear. Join today!
Sponsors:
Appwrite – Build Fast. Scale Big. All in One Place. Appwrite is a backend platform for developing Web, Mobile, and Flutter applications. Built with the open source community and optimized for developer experience in the coding languages you love.
Fastly – Our bandwidth partner. Fastly powers fast, secure, and scalable digital experiences. Move beyond your content delivery network to their powerful edge cloud platform. Learn more at fastly.com
Fly.io – The home of Changelog.com — Deploy your apps and databases close to your users. In minutes you can run your Ruby, Go, Node, Deno, Python, or Elixir app (and databases!) all over the world. No ops required. Learn more at fly.io/changelog and check out the speedrun in their docs.
