Diana Carew
To increase diversity in tech, we need to rethink what 'tech' is
[Commentary] Tech jobs can be found across the United States in virtually every industry. New York, Denver, Austin and "Silicon Beach" in Los Angeles are just a few tech clusters enjoying rapid growth, with jobs spanning industries such as finance, energy, healthcare and marketing. Jobs once thought of as being outside of tech — installation and repair, human resources, project management, sales and advertising — increasingly heavily rely on tech-driven skills. That's why fostering greater tech diversity starts with rethinking what constitutes a tech job.
Taking a broader view enables a more comprehensive strategy that could foster awareness and diversity, capture various skill levels and include tech employers across all pertinent industries.
[Carew is an assistant policy analyst at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation and a doctoral candidate at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. She is also a senior fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute.]