Communications of the ACM
How to Get More Latinas Into Tech
Laura Gomez, a tech entrepreneur who didn't learn English until she was 10, has some ideas about how Silicon Valley can diversify its workforce.
Credit: Christopher Wiggins/USA Today
Silicon Valley could be more innovative if it drew from an even richer pool of ideas, suggests media start-up Vyv co-founder Laura Gomez.
Gomez, 35, came to the U.S. from Mexico at age 10, enrolled as a computer science student at the University of California, Berkeley at 17, and appeared headed for a career in the field. However, Gomez felt overwhelmed in an introduction to computer science course with few women in the class. Gomez decided to pursue a master's degree in sociology and Latin American studies, then traveled, and finally reconsidered a career in the technology when she was faced with having to pay off her student loans.
Over the years, Gomez has worked as a contractor for YouTube, led Twitter en espanol, and headed internationalization and localization for Jawbone. She says Latinas and African-Americans can take a similar path, but believes tech companies also need to break out of their hiring patterns.
Gomez says women and minorities must first be encouraged to pursue tech and science, and then recruited, supported, and promoted. "Tech is not just done by programming," she notes. "I want to see more girls like me in 20 years."
From USA Today
View Full Article
Abstracts Copyright © 2014 Information Inc., Bethesda, Maryland, USA
No entries found