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Wow, the answers here are pretty ignorant of the factors at work. I'm a Black programmer and the first hurdle I ran into was not having access or understanding

Wow, the answers here are pretty ignorant of the factors at work. I'm a Black programmer and the first hurdle I ran into was not having access or understanding the concept of a computer until I HAD to use one. For instance, it was in high school where a guidance counselor told us we should send college applications and provide an email address - thing is - I didn't know what an email address was. I learned typing on a typewriter... I'm 26 years old, I was still learning to set margins and tabs while most of my peers were using typing applications on a computer. My idea of a mouse was the creature that ran to and fro with the roaches in the building we lived in. For the longest, I thought Yahoo.com was the internet lol. Second, we programmers feed off the community we surround ourselves with - hence this forum, hacker meetups etc. But in my neighborhood - it's non existent with the focus being on sports, programs for at-risk youth and countless other interest - not computers or programming. I say MY neighborhood because I can't speak for all - but the trend is highly prevalent throughout all inner city and rural communities. The economic hardship is also a factor. Not having access to a computer goes hand in hand with school district funding, family income etc. Also, programming changes so rapidly, the moment you get your foot in - its easy to get discouraged by your lack of understanding because the technique you just learned gets optimized and becomes the new norm before you master the fundamentals. Saying 1% of this is the same as in the field is ridiculous. Explain the NFL, NBA, FIFA, NASCAR - does those reflect the population? Some states are reaching out to the inner city to teach them to solve the very problems they face using code - other places are still fine with utilizing the tools already made and have no interest in innovating them.

OafTobark 14y ago
I'm sorry but I have to assume your experience is that of an outlier. I grew up with many black friends and even those that were poor knew what a computer, mouse, etc... was, how to use one, etc... I can't imagine your experience speaking for the norm although I have no statistic to back your experience versus that of another peer in your age group.
1123581321 14y ago
Respectfully, I don't think I am ignorant of this. All the problems you mention are linked to lower college graduation rates. As I said, when the college graduation rates improve, more blacks will go to college and the ones who want to will choose CS -- and college graduation rates will improve as some of those problems are fixed. Trying to pull blacks who will graduate college into CS without raising college graduation rates just pulls them out of other degree programs. Maybe you think it's an improvement because you see CS as superior; that's fair, but keep in mind members of every field of study want more racial diversity in their respective fields. I think it's better to focus on pure gains than a zero-sum game. Introducing students to code at an early age, and making it part of people's lives, will certainly increase interest in CS, and it will also increase interest in college and ability to attend it and succeed at it. It's no different than a program to introduce good books to children who normally wouldn't encounter them and who, again, would obviously be unlikely to go to college. I live in a white rust-belt city where people definitely do not talk about anything I read on Hacker News outside of the few small developer meetups some of us have barely managed to keep going. It's the same kind of problem you have in the inner city -- low rates of education that prevent people who might have been interested in software development from really get a chance to explore it. P.S. I learned to type on a typewriter too. I happen to count that one as an advantage.

OafTobark 14y ago

I'm sorry but I have to assume your experience is that of an outlier. I grew up with many black friends and even those that were poor knew what a computer, mouse, etc... was, how to use one, etc... I can't imagine your experience speaking for the norm although I have no statistic to back your experience versus that of another peer in your age group.

1123581321 14y ago

Respectfully, I don't think I am ignorant of this. All the problems you mention are linked to lower college graduation rates. As I said, when the college graduation rates improve, more blacks will go to college and the ones who want to will choose CS -- and college graduation rates will improve as some of those problems are fixed. Trying to pull blacks who will graduate college into CS without raising college graduation rates just pulls them out of other degree programs. Maybe you think it's an improvement because you see CS as superior; that's fair, but keep in mind members of every field of study want more racial diversity in their respective fields. I think it's better to focus on pure gains than a zero-sum game. Introducing students to code at an early age, and making it part of people's lives, will certainly increase interest in CS, and it will also increase interest in college and ability to attend it and succeed at it. It's no different than a program to introduce good books to children who normally wouldn't encounter them and who, again, would obviously be unlikely to go to college. I live in a white rust-belt city where people definitely do not talk about anything I read on Hacker News outside of the few small developer meetups some of us have barely managed to keep going. It's the same kind of problem you have in the inner city -- low rates of education that prevent people who might have been interested in software development from really get a chance to explore it. P.S. I learned to type on a typewriter too. I happen to count that one as an advantage.