Inspiring and supporting tech’s next great engineers

The diversity data reported by the top companies in Silicon Valley is alarming and unacceptable. There’s a serious lack of Black representation at every company, and the disparity is even greater within engineering teams and leadership roles, barely breaking one percent. To take steps to combat this issue, today we’re announcing /dev/color, a non-profit organization that aims to maximize the success of Black software engineers.

The idea for /dev/color came about when I was mentoring a Black CS student at Stanford, who went on to complete three outstanding internships at a top tech company. The relationship was so successful and impactful for the both of us, I wondered how I could scale it and build an organization that helps all Black engineers. In Silicon Valley, you can go weeks without seeing another black engineer, and having a go-to person is a needed reminder that you’re not alone.

I wanted to build a community, a voice for Black engineers.

Introducing /dev/color

It’s hard to get inspired about achieving your dreams when you don’t have mentors you can relate to, or connections to create a network that’s so vital to career development and advancement. Our mission is to provide Black engineers with the connections and skills needed to start and stay in the industry, and advance into leadership roles. We’re a community for software engineers, by software engineers. We work with members throughout their careers, from college to industry, through mentorship, goal setting and events.

Moving forward

People often debate the source of the issue. Is it a pipeline problem? Is it unconscious bias in interviews? Is it a lack of awareness and connections? The truth is, all of these factors contribute, and we need to make progress on all fronts to have a meaningful impact. It’s going to take many different efforts to move the needle. /dev/color addresses one part, which is providing Black engineers with support and guidance to navigate the industry to reach the highest levels. We’re focused on:

• Mentorship: Mentorship can be transformative, so we match each member with with one other person to provide guidance, create goals and find new ways to excel. Every member of the organization is a mentor and mentee. By having someone pull you up, you can make the right connections and reach your full potential.
• Events: We bring together engineering students and industry engineers for monthly social and professional development events. We give members access to engineering leaders to learn from their experiences, and also to start developing important connections.
• Goal setting: We help members set and reach ambitious goals. By sharing our goals we create opportunities to help one another as well as keep each other accountable.

We’re creating a unique place where we can learn from the best, and teach others the lessons we’ve learned, without sacrificing time from day-to-day engineering work.

This is just the start. With engineers from Pinterest, Facebook, Airbnb and more, and the support of some of the most prominent engineering minds, we’re growing a community of Black engineers who will move the industry forward, together.

Join us!

If you’d like to help and support /dev/color, please reach out to info@devcolor.org. Visit our website for more information about joining, and follow us on Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook.