Social Service-Based Tech Careers: An Alternative Path into Tech for 1st Generation Black College Students

Background and Purpose: Employment of computer and information technology occupations is projected to grow 13 percent from 2016 to 2026. Although the demand for tech workers is increasing, black employment in tech careers looks bleak primarily because of the “leaky tech pipeline,” that creates continuous and intersecting obstacles (e.g. poorly funded black schools, lack of Black STEM Professors, no diversity benchmarks at tech company, and no funding for black tech startups) for black people to be gain and retain employment in tech careers. One solution to help address the lack of representation of black students in stem and computer science fields is by combining computer science trainings with black students’ interest in social service-based careers. There is much data that shows first generation black college students are over represented in social service-related majors and careers. Because of this scholars are are arguing for an “ethic of care” framework (e.g. Combining social justice and technical training) to recruit, teach, and retain black students in stem  and computer science courses. To develop a foundation of knowledge on creating a social service-based tech curriculum that would, specifically, support first generation black colleges students’ pathways into tech, I developed a qualitative study to interview experts in the fields of civic tech, govtech, social work, and minority-serving institutions (e.g. HBCUs).

Methods: This study purposefully sampled 20 experts in the fields of Civic Tech & GovTech, Social Work, and Historically Black College and Universities (HBCUs) that ranged from 10 to 20 plus years of experience in their respective fields. Then each respondent was given a list of civic techs and govtech job descriptions to view before answering questions about the obstacles and challenges of developing a social-service based tech career pathway for first generation black college students. The interviews ranged from 20 minutes to 45 minutes.

Findings: The study revealed that most experts believed that technology is as an administrative tool that can increase or decrease the effects of systemic oppression. Though all experts agreed that technology is a tool that can be both good and bad, the civic tech govtech experts differed, slightly, in their thoughts on how to prepare first generation black college students for this new world of social work and technology. The majority of civic tech and govtech experts recommend that students learn a “human user design” emphatic framework (e.g. clients co-create tech intervention) when developing social service-based products for clients. For the majority of civictech and govtech respondents, using this framework of “human centered design” and “empathy” will ensure students will think proactively about the lived experiences of clients. This was in slight contrast to both social work experts and HBCU experts who believe students should be taught specific theories on social inequalities and then layer computer science into the course sequence.

Conclusions and Implications: This study has implications for the overall social work profession in developing curriculum, accrediting norms, funding streams, and tenure processes to blend social work theories and practice with computer science and design thinking principles.