How Community Colleges Can Help Change Diversity in Tech With Competency-based Education

Qualified diverse candidates who meet job criteria with their resume is the number one way to help fill the millions of open jobs in tech. Community colleges are uniquely situated to produce these candidates and diversify the workforce, addressing the real pipeline problem around diversity in tech. Not just any kind of program will succeed, however, at changing the demographics of the tech workforce, due to the demands of employers and how employers hire.

Programs offered by community colleges that aim to get learners into tech jobs need to be dynamic and adaptable for students of all backgrounds to succeed. Also, they need to be aligned to the ideals of competency-based education to encompass all of the qualifications employers are looking for today. Most importantly, they need to foster an inclusive and diverse environment for students.

Diversity in Technical Education

Tech is an industry that draws in people of all genders, ages, backgrounds, cultures, and geographies. It is an industry that is not slowing down and will continue to need diverse talent and new perspectives. We need all kinds of people working in tech in order to make tech work for all kinds of people, both nationally and globally.

People come from different educational backgrounds, and not everyone learns the same way: not every student is suited to a four-year college degree, some students went to a technical high school, and others struggled to get through a GED program. Not everyone in the tech workforce has walked the same pathway into tech, but there are significant industry patterns that aren't facilitating getting thousands and millions of Americans into tech jobs.

From an educational standpoint, there are different groups of people who get a computer science degree: some who go to a four-year university and some who go to a private university where big tech companies recruit from. Those students in the latter are already set up for opportunities that others students don’t have access to. Some students have access to training that is to the skill level that companies are looking for. The students that attend community colleges are sometimes looking for a more flexible educational route to accommodate budgetary, family, or geographic needs.

Many students cannot get trained to the skill level that companies are looking for due to cost, accessibility, and a lack of skills-based training programs. These are barriers that students encounter when looking at higher education. Community colleges are an affordable pathway to an education that works for many students from low-income families, first-generation college students, and adults who are retraining or reskilling. Minority students are at a disadvantage when it comes to accessing high-quality education in tech talent training because they don't have $40K a year for tuition. Additionally, traditional learning methods of knowledge transmission simply don't work for some students at all. Many students learn better and retain more by actually doing and applying knowledge, which, in tech jobs, often means coding.  

Statistics show that:

• There are 7.7 million undergraduates enrolled in public two-year colleges in the United States from 2019-2020. Of these students, 3.3 million were male and 4.3 million were female. The race/ethnicity of these students is as follows:
• 64,944 American Indian or Alaska Native
• 481,139 Asian
• 21,680 Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
• 993,445 Black or African American
• 1,898,656 Hispanic or Latino
• 3,512,080 White
• 284,946 Two or more races
• 338,556 Race/ethnicity unknown
• 104,721 nonresident alien

In terms of diversity at major tech companies, here are some statistics:

• At Accenture, 50% of the board of directors are women, 49% of new hires are women, and 46% of their global workforce are women.
• 39% of Amazon employees are female
• 21% of Amazon employees are black, with the next highest as NVIDIA at 14%
• NVIDIA has the least amount of gender diversity at only 17% female employees
• HP has the least diversity in terms of ethnicity, with 73% white employees, 12% asian employees, 3% latino employees, 4% black employees, 2% multiple races, and 1% other.
• Indiegogo has equality in gender with 50% male and 50% female employees, followed by Pandora with 49% female employees and 51% male employees
• As for the Top 50 U.S. Companies, there are 44% female and 56% male
• As for the Top 50 U.S. Companies, the ethnicity makeup is 78% white, 6% asian, 7% Latino, 9% Black.

Amazon hasn't divulged how many employees work in their warehouses or in software jobs, so think critically about their diversity numbers.

Companies that have committed to changing hiring practices to increase diversity:

• IBM committed to hiring 2000 veterans from 2017 to 2021 and accomplished this goal 11 months in advance.
• Amazon set a goal in 2020 to double the representation of Black directors and vice presidents and met this
• Amazon set new goals for 2021:
  • For the second year in a row, double the number of U.S. Black employees at L8-L10 (Directors and VPs) year-over-year from 2020 numbers
  • Increase hiring of U.S. Black employees at L4-L7 by at least 30% year-over-year from 2020 hiring. 
  • Increase the number of women at L8-L10 (Senior Principals, Directors, VPs, and Distinguished Engineers) in tech and science roles by 30% year-over-year.
  • Increase the number of U.S. Black software development engineer interns by at least 40%.
  • Reach 1.6 million underrepresented students globally through Amazon Future Engineer with real world-inspired virtual and hands-on computer science project learning. 
• Google pledges to improve Black+ representation at senior levels 
  • Committed to a goal to improve leadership representation of underrepresented groups by 30% by 2025
• Workday has committed to the following goals by 2023:
  • Increase their Black and Latinx representation in the U.S. by 30% by 2023
  • Double the number or Black and Latinx leaders in the U.S. by 2023
  • Contribute 250,000 volunteer hours to Opportunity in Action by 2023
• Docusign has committed to the following goals by 2024
  • Increase US representation of *under-represented racial and ethnic groups by 30%
  • Increase US representation of under-represented racial and ethnic groups in *leadership by 30%
  • Increase US representation of under-represented racial and ethnic groups in *tech roles by 25%
  • Increase global representation of women by 15%
  • Increase global representation of women in leadership by 30%
  • Increase global representation of women in tech roles by 20%

Major tech companies are full of talent from all over the world, but not necessarily diverse talent. Many companies say that it is a pipeline problem and it is true. There isn’t the skilled technical talent available for them to hire at the level they’re looking for. That is where equity in education comes in to prepare diverse talent through methods of competency-based education to be candidates for top tier tech companies that compete with their counterparts with 4-year degrees. Some companies have committed to changing their hiring practices to increase diversity, while others have recently made advancements in hiring diverse talent.

How Community Colleges Can Help Change Diversity in Tech

Community colleges play a vital role in improving diversity in tech by providing career on-ramps and a different pathway into tech jobs. Community colleges desire to support all learners and give them affordable opportunities to succeed. Many colleges offer programs and certifications for tech fields which are starting points for millions of learners across the US as well as opportunities for ongoing training and lifelong learning.

One of the most important aspects of community colleges and their role in diversity in tech is that they provide accessibility to tech programs. With the rising cost of tuition across the country, private colleges and universities are becoming unreasonable and unattractive for many populations; even 4-year degrees at public institutions are being called into question. The fact that community colleges can provide a low-cost, but high-quality pathway into tech, enables many students to pursue career on-ramps into well-paying tech jobs. Community college programs typically take about 2 years to complete, but programs can be shorter in many cases, especially those focused on workforce development. Course offerings and nature of instruction are two important factors that will enable students to succeed in a community college environment.

Another aspect of community colleges is that they have access to state funding and grants for programs such as tech talent training. For California community colleges, there is a new mandate to drive skills-based and competency based programs that level the playing field by training people to the skill level that companies are hiring for. This allows people from diverse backgrounds to access the education that will prepare them for the career in tech. Populations who were previously excluded or economically disadvantaged from attending these programs, are able to receive a high-quality technical education. Past learning methods do not equate how one may succeed in a new environment. Technical training offers many different diverse courses within programs from full stack development to data science to ai/machine learning. 

Through initiatives to increase diversity in tech, there needs to be flexibility for diverse learning. Community colleges can empower diverse learning among students from various backgrounds, leading to new perspectives and ways of understanding for all students to benefit from: this means moving away from the traditional knowledge-transfer model to an active learning model. Flexibility in how learning happens opens doors for more talent to succeed and develop the on-the-job skills employers are looking for. It also helps to close the achievement gap. Of course, it's in companies' interests to hire diverse talent because more diverse companies tend to have better profits, and companies are generally open to hire diverse tech talent from competency-based programs. Accessibility to high-quality tech programs and providing career on-ramps into tech jobs through competency-based programs are two major ways community colleges can help change diversity in tech. 

Using CBE to Change Diversity in Tech

Competency-based education can be the driving force to creating more diversity in the tech industry. At its core, competency-based education is a method that works for even the non-traditional learner. Knowledge transmission is not a style that works for everyone, and leaves people excluded from opportunities to succeed. The development of competencies is a flexible style of learning that builds confidence in the learner’s skills. They are able to better understand and see what they are capable of doing before technical interviews. It allows learners from all backgrounds to build technical skills and think about problem solving in their own nature. The idea of competency-based learning allows for ethics in education as well as allowing all learners the same opportunities to express their different perspectives and receive a quality education. CBE does not discriminate against learners, but instead allows everyone to master a concept through an approach that is active and hands-on.

Overall, competency-based education in technical areas can level the playing field for all learners to have a resume of equal technical competency as a CS degree from a top-tier university, if not better. Developing true competency in software development is ultimately what employers want, so displaying capabilities through a technical portfolio and technical interviews can vastly outweigh not having a 4-year degree. For colleges, providing an opportunity to have the same opportunity at a well-paying tech job as a graduate from a "top institution" is revolutionary and undoubtedly what is needed today.

Colleges Can Implement Skills-based and CBE Technical Programs in Partnership With Qwasar 

Partnerships with Qwasar enable a college to quickly and effectively implement skills-based and competency-based technical programs, without hiring computer science professors. Our programs are beneficial in so many ways.

First, affordability is a huge factor that we pride ourselves in as the cost of programs can be one of the biggest barriers to entry for those looking to get into tech. Our affordable costs allow for equity in education without compromising on quality of instruction, which aligns fundamentally with the mission and purpose of community colleges nationwide.

Second, our programs are entirely remote and self-paced. This means that learners can do our programs from anywhere in the US and have flexibility to access learning opportunities while balancing other life commitments. Although our programs are online, there is no sacrifice in terms of collaboration with peers. Learners are amongst others in their cohort and have easy access to ask questions and get support needed on their projects.

Another advantage is that we have multiple programs that do not require any previous software engineering or coding experience. This is a major advantage for students who have never coded before, but want to hit the ground running in tech training. Our introductory learning track allows students to orient themselves with the fundamentals of software engineering in areas of algorithms, data structure, and code quality. This lays the groundwork for the rest of their learning tracks all the way through to technical interviews and job searching. The different tracks we offer are Software Engineering, Full Stack Development, Data Science, AI/Machine Learning, and DevOps/Cloud engineering.

By training students to entry-level job requirements, we are making an effort to break down barriers to entry. This puts students on level playing fields and at similar stages to apply for the same jobs, even ones they may not have qualified for previously. We incorporate exactly what entry level jobs are requiring into our curriculum. When you look at the important skills that candidates need to know for a specific position, you will see exactly what our students do. This is constantly changing as shifts in demand for technologies and advancements in the industry are made rapidly, which allows us to tailor our curriculum to what students need to know now and for success in the 21st century.

Our learning model is a combination of project-based learning, competency-based education, and active learning. Through these methods, all students are given an opportunity to learn and succeed without using older, traditional methods of instruction and knowledge transmission. 

Is It Working? Yes!

Learners in the Qwasar community hail from different ethnicities, religions, race, backgrounds, and cultures. Our learning population reflects that of local colleges who tend to serve more minorities than 4-year institutions, and we think that is fantastic. What brings us all together is a passion and interest in coding, and the power and value of diverse thinking. We take pride in our organization’s diversity as a black and women founded company as well as accepting students into our program from all over the world. Our learners bring diverse perspectives and experiences to the table to allow all of us a more well-rounded education. Thinking about problems in different ways has allowed students to understand different approaches and therefore be prepared for the real world.

Further, learners with no background in coding or previous experience in a software role have succeeded in gaining employment at a variety of companies in software-related jobs ranging from web development to software engineering to machine learning to front-end development and more.

Further still, we have a list of employers who want to hire graduates out of our programs because they have actively committed to hiring more diverse candidates who do not have a 4-year degree but who are still highly skilled.

It is our firm belief at Qwasar that colleges can play a transformational and vital role in helping change diversity in tech and getting more learners into the workforce faster and without thousands of dollars of student debt.