How the 2024 Fellows Are Defying Tech Norms and Driving Racial Equity: Part 2

By Selene Chala and Q McEachern

Fellows Program & Hiring Season

One shift we made was developing a structured & intentional hiring season curriculum. We approached this season, which runs October through April, with impact at the forefront of our priorities. We built workshops, engagement opportunities, and resource allocation with our Fellows’ needs in mind. We leaned heavily on feedback from previous years’ cohorts, specifically including deeper emphasis on support for students in the technicality of the internship search experience like succeeding in behavioral/technical interviews, resume reviews, and direct connections with Code2040 community members at companies globally.

We also prioritized building racial equity advocates within the tech industry. Each of the technical sessions was interwoven with conversations on equity and advocacy, as well as empowerment practices, including addressing imposter phenomenon by pulling its roots of racism & patriarchy out of the dirt. Furthermore, we made space for open feedback from Fellows about how the experience was going; making live adjustments and redesigning aspects of the curriculum in the moment to meet the unique needs of THIS cohort.

As April came quickly and the hiring season came to a close, we asked Fellows: “What's the best thing about the Fellows Program so far?” Feedback was resoundingly positive, and this response really encapsulates the feedback we received:

“[The best thing about the program so far is] the network, support, and knowledge I've received throughout the hiring season. The Fellows Program's welcoming environment has enabled me to grow during this period and I just love all the fun we've had as fellows together so far.”

Code2040 staff gather joyfully, preparing to welcome 2024 Fellows to Welcome Weekend.

Welcome Weekend 2024 Launches with Community

During Welcome Weekend, our CEO Mimi Fox Melton reminded our Fellows that community is necessary for riding the waves of sadness, anger, and joy; we need community to make it through moments like now, a time when we are facing major backlash against anti-racist work and facing growing authoritarianism in tech. When movements for racial justice make promising moves forward, those in power respond with backlash. We will continue to withstand these moments by being in community with people who have similar goals and visions of what racial equity in the tech industry can look like. We are not meant to go through challenges by ourselves and in isolation. We need each other, and Welcome Weekend brought us together in community for racial equity.

Oakland was the grounds to unite over 50 Fellows, mentors, and Alumni in person as the summer started! Our staff welcomed students from across the country, many who took days off work to be with us. They arrived eager to be in space together and curious as to what the weekend would hold. The first night of Welcome Weekend focused on establishing connection through a dinner, get-to-know-you icebreakers, and legos (we heard from at least 5 of our students that space to play with legos together supported their nervousness and allowed them to connect more organically). We built on the community building momentum of the first night for a weekend grounded in the values of relationship building, transparency, and joy!

Code2040 Fellows share their dreams and visions for the future at Welcome Weekend. 

The Organizers Panel: Tech and Struggles for Social Justice

Code2040 is committed to moving aligned with our organizational values. In our conversations about equity, we push ourselves and each other to think about what values we move with and why. And, that’s exactly what we did with our Fellows through our organizer’s panel. The panel connected tech to current struggles for social justice, and was one of the most impactful experiences of Welcome Weekend.

Our Fellows face challenges both in entering the tech industry and in navigating the systemic racism that shapes tech. The panel posed the question, “what are we as individuals willing and not willing to accept in an industry that is often enabling policing, wars, and individualism?” Our fellows engaged with this question deeply, thinking about their career choices, and identifying their non-negotiables as they move into their tech careers. Seeing racial equity values in tech is not just a dream, but fully possible because the new generation of Black and Latinx technologists entering tech are going to hold companies accountable!

CS students preparing to enter the tech industry are looking for community; not only to connect each other to opportunities and resources, but also to imagine more possibilities while holding each other accountable in their work for racial equity. Our Fellows showed us that people are hungry for conversations about values, and we are powerful as Black and Latinx people in the tech industry. Although the organizers panel was a deeply personal and challenging conversation, a few hours later, we finished the night dancing to Bachata and Usher. In the spaces we create, we find our way back to joy. We challenge ourselves to be in the hard conversations, in the wrestling with how to show up as advocates, and we lean on each other for laughter, joy, and play.

Summer Program Continues Racial Equity Advocacy

As we came off Welcome Weekend, we still had an exciting 5 weeks of curriculum and programming for the Fellows & Mentors! Our Programs Associate Abi facilitated workshops around a myriad of topics centered on racial equity activation within the tech industry. For example, they facilitated a workshop called “Reframing Our Narrative,” which challenged students to look critically into and begin to address the ways that our perspectives and understandings of the world are skewed and potentially shaped by white supremacy and patriarchy.

Above: Programs Associate Abi (left) invites Fellows into Community Agreements. Programs Manager Q (right) kicks off Day 2 of Welcome Weekend in Oakland, CA.

We also hosted Dr. Ben Waber from MIT who held an intriguing conversation with fellows around the ethics of AI and the inherent biases that exist in algorithmic systems. Our Community Engagement Lead Oscar facilitated an updated mentorship program with a new structure that allowed mentors to support two fellows directly. He also provided more opportunity for mentor development, hosting Dr. Della V. Mosley from The Wells Healing Center. Dr. Mosley facilitated programming focused on culturally mindful mentorship, supplementing additional conversations about the relationship between the tech industry and society as a whole.

Additionally, we pivoted the structure for the Reverse Career Fair (RCF), experimenting with a relationship development approach to the event by tapping program alumni and volunteers to be intricately involved in the experience. Our Company Engagement Manager Brionna was instrumental in this shift. She leaned into conversations with our alumni, who excitedly shared stories of their experiences within the industry alongside plenty of nuggets of wisdom and advice for our current students.

Above: Code2040 alumni, volunteers, staff, and Fellows come together for the Reverse Career Fair.

Closing Season for Fellows Program ‘24

This year further affirmed that community and connection is the heartbeat of this program. There is immense joy that comes from leaning on each other, giving tips and advice within a story, and creating support systems that will last long past the short duration of the program. After 10-months, we closed out the Fellows Program ‘24. Despite all the shifts and challenges, we believe it was an immense success!

The collective of our Programs Team held a beautiful closing ceremony. As we closed out, our Fellows shared how impactful the program had been, expressing their appreciation for community and connection. As they shared:

> “I don’t know how my perspective would’ve been if I wasn’t part of the program. We learned so much, I learned so much and I’m thankful for the program.”

> “It was so nice meeting everyone, The code 2040 Team, Mentors and Volunteers are so sweet, i felt so safe in this community and sad its ending :(“

> “I admire the relationships that have been created here. It's like everyone has each other's backs, which is relieving when trying to break into tech.”

> “Damn, I am actually quite sad that the program is ending haha.”

Looking back at this year, we are proud to have witnessed the growth of fellows’ racial equity tools, and their commitment to be part of the change within the industry. This past year has shown us directly that even as companies and CEOs divest from DEI, the people who work for these companies are not only invested in pushing this work forward, but actively seeking skills and opportunities to hold companies accountable to disrupt the status quo.

At the end of our program, 100% of our students report wanting to recommend our Fellows Program to their community and friends. We believe it’s because our folks understand the importance of holding one another, pushing one another, and fighting for work that’s equitable together. Our people are ready to demand racial equity and to insist industry leaders prioritize racial equity as a necessity.