Sam Caine, COO of Northcoders, explores the importance of widening diversity in tech and how coding bootcamps, such as those at Northcoders, are continuing to play a crucial role in closing the gender gap and encourage people from all backgrounds to pursue a career in technology.
“Technology will save us.” In 2018 I saw a billboard that said this. The purpose of the advert wasn’t clear, nor were the timings or methods of this salvation. I didn’t even know what we were being saved from. It sticks with me because it was so vague, yet so hopeful; so indicative of the way many people adjacent to (but not in) tech feel. It sticks with me because it felt so wrong.
In some circles, there is a belief that technology is a force. The “technology will save us” crowd buy into this idea wholeheartedly.
READ MORE: Northcoders Women and Gender Diversity Fund announce five new part-time scholarship bootcamps
Most people working in the technology sector are well aware this is a fiction; technology is not a force, benevolent or malign. It is a tool, which can be used by certain people for certain tasks. Much like a hammer, technology can build or destroy. Much like a hammer, who wields it, and for what purpose, materially affects the chances of salvation (from the unspecified).
While the progressive nature of technology isn’t innate, our species is increasingly dependent on it. We carry computers with us everywhere, and many of us have more than one about our person at any one time. Writing this, I have four devices immediately accessible to me. My watch alone is 250,000 times faster than the Apollo Guidance Computer, used in the moon landings. Every day it does not do much - beyond telling the time and alerting me when my phone rings, but it’s got bags of potential.
As these tendrils of technology worm their way into every corner of our lives, it’s important that the production of that technology is as democratic and participatory as possible; that the people making technology should broadly reflect the people using it.
When people generally say that things are important, they tend to say it with an inflection of moral urgency which often renders the reasons unquestionable. But the reasons are well documented, and broadly break down into these categories...
Strength of solutions: Diverse thoughts and life experiences in a team lead to greater innovation and a broader range of approaches.
Strength of product: Products developed by diverse teams tend to have a better understanding of broader markets, and are much less likely to include built in bias. Which is important if you don’t want to accidentally develop a racist soap dispenser or an algorithm that unintentionally works against a minority group in society.
Strength of performance: More diverse teams tend to perform better and see higher financial returns - which undoubtedly has a lot to do with the two previous categories.
Finally, and perhaps most compellingly for me, there is a social and moral case. As more of our lives happen online, software becomes an extension of society. If certain groups of people are effectively barred from being anything more than passive participants, and their participation is hindered by bad product design, then technology - far from bringing people together - will likely accelerate growing inequality and division.
Knowing how to build technology is a skill that needs to be learned (and honed over a lifetime), so education is essential to ensuring that tech teams can become more reflective of society. The bitter irony of traditional higher educational paths into tech like university, is that when it comes to accessibility, they offer as many problems as they do solutions. Students claiming free school meals, or from areas of high deprivation, are significantly less likely to attend than their financially better off peers.
As demand for technical expertise has outpaced supply in recent years, employers looking for software engineers have become more progressive in their hiring patterns, and looked outside of traditional educational routes. A major leader in this sector has been Coding Bootcamps - short, intense courses, designed to upskill with all the skills and knowledge required to get a foothold in the industry.
READ MORE: Northcoders set to make tech careers more accessible in Northern Ireland
Coding Bootcamps remove many of the practical barriers to a traditional education. The full time versions of these courses last around three months, rather than three years, allowing people to change industries and pivot their careers much more quickly than was previously possible. Even the part-time versions, to allow people time for other work or ongoing childcare commitments, only take around six months. They also tend to cost far less than universities, whose increased tuition fees can be off-putting.
In terms of “diversity of experience”, Coding Bootcamps clearly have a huge advantage. At Northcoders, where I work, comparatively few students are straight out of school. Typically, our students have had other careers, and see the speed and price of an intense education via a Coding Bootcamp, as an advantage. Most of them want to get back into the workforce as quickly as possible, and many are driven into tech by a perceived lack of progress or frustration with their previous vocation.
Finally, many Coding Bootcamps recognise there is a big gender gap in industry, and are doing everything in their power to welcome women and non-binary people in the industry. At Northcoders, we have made significant investment into this area, by taking steps to refine our curricula and technical products to ensure that they have improved success rates (and comparable) between genders.
These products have all been designed and implemented by a diverse team - it should go without saying I believe that that has significantly contributed to their success. Also, as recently reported here, we often run large full-scholarship programmes for women and non-binary people, so if paying isn’t an option at all for you, we still have other pathways.
While I don’t believe that “technology will save us”, I do think it has the power to make our lives easier, better, and less stressful.
To fully take advantage of that, technologists from every background will be needed. Coding Bootcamps aren’t the only solution to this problem, but over recent years they have taken shape as a critical contributor in the UK’s output of highly skilled technical people, and are making strides in shifting the backgrounds and the demographics of its builders. Perhaps salvation awaits.
To find out more about Northcoders, and the different options available, visit: northcoders.com.
Subscribe to Sync NI newsletter for the latest technology news, jobs and upcoming events in N.I.
Read the magazine online for free here.
You can follow Sync NI online and across our socials on Twitter/'X', LinkedIn, and Facebook.
