Partner Series: /dev/color and Intuit: A Look Inside Partnering to Change Tech for Good

In this series, we’ll be highlighting some of the work and conversations we have with our wonderful partners who are committed to joining us in changing tech for good. Today, we’re sharing some reflections from a fireside chat we had with Intuit’s Tech Women @ Intuit and DEI Programs team facilitated by one of our fantastic members, William Kimeria, a software engineer at Intuit working on the QuickBooks team.

William Kimeria joined /dev/color’s A* program in 2016, years before he found his current position at Intuit. He had spent well over a decade in tech in Boston, and had been presented with the all-to-familiar challenge of finding Black peers.

So, after moving to San Francisco, William decided to join /dev/color. Once there, he found himself supported by a community of all different kinds of technologists, who had a great variety of experiences, ready to grow with him in his career.

Years after joining the program, William began the task of looking for a new job in tech. His /dev/color squad joined him on Zoom calls to help him sift through offers from a number of companies, including Intuit where he finds himself today.

This year marks Intuit’s first year as a /dev/color partner. To kick things off, Rhonda Allen, /dev/color’s CEO, joined William to talk about /dev/color’s work and what it means to partner with and uplift Black voices in tech.

When we think about a successful partnership at /dev/color, we think about exactly the experiences discussed by Rhonda and William. As they both highlighted, it’s not about just throwing money at a problem, real change takes sustained commitments and action to actually improve the experiences of employees. We can’t focus solely on attracting diverse talent, we have to continue to invest in and grow amazing Black leaders.

That’s why /dev/color works to elevate key issues with every partner in our program using tools like The State of Black Tech to highlight the experiences of Black technologists as well as the changes they’d like to see from the industry.

We ask every /dev/color partner: Where are you now? Where do you need to be? How can we take care of the people between that space of your current state and your future state and do it in a way that’s honest? How do we empower action and not just talk?

Rhonda and William also discussed the importance of working together, like a family, on every level: within /dev/color and working with partners. It’s one thing to be a mentor, and it’s another thing entirely to be a sponsor and advocate, actively working to empower and promote Black leaders.

We also want to be in the trenches with partners. A great first step on the road to equity and inclusion is involving organizations that are ready to help you do the work, and that you trust to do the work, relieving Black employees of the obligation to be the constant voices for equity in the workplace.

Finally, it’s important to remember that any partnership takes sustained work over time. Results from one DE&I report to the next are not enough to show the progress that needs to happen. We can only change tech for good if we keep up with the practices to improve the experiences of every marginalized community.

At /dev/color, we’re so excited to be working with Intuit on starting the practice of sustained commitment to Black leaders and technologists, and appreciated their commitment already to not just hosting a fireside chat and calling it a day, but rather working hand in hand with us. Employees like William Kimeria, keep the conversation going and make the changes that the community so dearly needs. We’re excited about the work that Intuit is doing internally and optimistic about what we’ll be able to accomplish as partners.

Learn more about careers at Intuit by joining their Talent Community.