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Black in technology, Black black in
technology, black in technology? Why black

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in technology? In technology? Why
black in technology? On this episode of

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the bit tech Talk podcast, Greg
sits down with recent tech boot Camp graduate

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Dshay wood Dushe shares her journey of
participating in the Tech Elevator boot Camp after

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receiving a Bit Foundation scholarship in twenty
twenty two, when she made the decision

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to pivot from a career in the
education and nonprofit and dive into the tech

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sphere. Sit back and relax as
we learn more about our wonderful guest with

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our hosts of the Bit tech Talk
Podcast, Greg Greenley, Hey, Dshay

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Welcome to the podcast. I'm happy
to be here, Greg. How are

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you going pretty well? About you? I'm doing pretty good. I can't

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complain excellent, excellent. So you
know, we're always typically start our Q

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and A with, you know,
telling us a little bit about yourself,

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you know, kind of where you're
from, your education and things like that.

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Righty, will Um, I'm originally
from Detroit, Michigan. I was

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born and raised there. Um and
I did my undergrad over at Western Michigan

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University in Kalamazoo. Got my degree
in our education, then decided that,

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UM, I wanted to move to
Grand Rapids where I currently am. UM

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did a little bit of work within
education and nonprofit and UM now currently I'm

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making I just made that career change
and I'm in tech right now and I'm

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loving it excellent. Are you Are
you a Pistons fan or is how what's

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what is your loyal cy la at
in Detroit? UM, I'm pretty loyal

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to all the teams, you know, the Lion you know, I always

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say, like, especially with the
Pistons and the Lions, like we always

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have like this underdog faith even though
like we're hoping that they can get to

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you know, the finals, we're
always you know, cheering a rooting for

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him, UM every year. So
you know, I'm always gonna have faith.

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You know that the Pistons don't make
it, the Lions don't make it.

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Everybody from Detroit it's gonna make it
right right right? Yeah, I've

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been in Detroite a few times.
UM. There was actually a conference,

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a software developers conference up there called
self uh and it was held is it

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the River River City Casino or Motor
City Motor City Motor City Casino? Uh?

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And UH, the wife and I
we used to we go up there.

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We just make kind of like a
weekend of it. I like I

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like Detroit. I like to,
you know what, because I come from

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you know, I live in Cincinnati. Uh in Detroit is black, yes,

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yes, seeing people there, so
it's it's a totally different atmosphere and

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environment and people are super welcoming and
yeah, so I love I love coming

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up there. Nice. So you
came, you know, from a career

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educationally, what specifically did you do? I know you you know you you

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graduated from uh was it Western Michigan
with a degree in education. But you

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know after that, like kind of
what were some of your your your jobs

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and your titles? Yeah, so, Um, originally I was running an

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arts program for the Boys and Girls
Club in the Greater Kalamazoo. UM did

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that for a couple of years,
so, you know, did all of

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their arts, music, UM,
creative writing, dance, pretty much anything

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you can think of creatively was what
I ran over at the Boys and Girls

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Club. UM decided to kind of
shift more into education a little bit and

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became an e LA specialist at a
charter academy over in Kalamazoo. Realized that

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education wasn't necessarily something I wanted to
do, but I still wanted to be

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involved with the youth, with the
kids, and so I ended up getting

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a program manager program coordinator position for
the City of Wyoming for their Parks and

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Recreation program and ran that program for
two years. And yeah, that's pretty

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much what I did prior to making
that transition on over into tech. So

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it sounds like you were kind of
like on the artistic side of education for

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a while. Were you an artistic
person? Like how did that come about?

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Yeah, Like, I've always been
told that I was extremely creative,

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and I felt, if I'm creative, then I might as well, you

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know, go to school of doing
something that you know I'm good at and

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I love to do. So what
my education consisted of was art education specifically.

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So I wanted to go in being
an art teacher, but I kind

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of realized that I didn't necessarily want
it. I didn't necessarily want to teach

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in like a formal a formal classroom
environment. I wanted to have a little

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bit more freedom and flexibility on how
creative I could be teaching the kids.

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And so that's kind of why I
steered a little bit away from teaching in

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the actual like classroom classroom as an
art teacher. But I loved working in

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nonprofit you know. I loved being
able to expose, especially like black kids

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to certain things that maybe they don't
get the opportunity to do in school or

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in their normal day to day lives. And I just wanted to be kind

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of a representation of Hey, there
are black you know artists, there are

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black you know creatives that love what
they do and want to be able to

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give back to their community. And
so, yeah, I loved my time

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as an artist back then. I
still to do a little bit of it

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now. I'm mostly a painter,
So painting was that I concentrated in when

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I was at Western. So I
just pretty much do that on my downtime

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when I just need a break and
I need to do a little bit of

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mindless work. So yes, that's
pretty much you know, what I do

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creatively right now. Very cool,
very cool, and and you know,

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I know software engineering is not exactly
um all right, but I think I

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think there's a creative side of you
know, coding and and things like that,

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uh, that you can bring from
you know, your artistic in your

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creative mind as a matter of fact, people a lot of what a lot

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of people don't understand or might might
not know, is that especially nowadays with

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uh non traditional you know education around
boot camps and you know self you know,

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being able to be self taught,
that there are software engineers that don't

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come from like a CS background,
right and and and when you start looking

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into their backgrounds, you see that, uh there's a number of them that

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are actually artists and their musicians,
uh you know, their painters, their

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you know, creatives and things like
that. And from what I understand,

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it really helps them, you know, and their and their software development and

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you know kind of being able to
think creatively and things like that. Yeah.

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Absolutely, it definitely helps me per
se because I will say, when

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you're in a creative space, so
when you come from a creative background,

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um, you you deal a lot
with criticism and making mistakes. To how

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it kind of helped build you grow, I mean help you build and grow.

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Um. You allow yourself to make
mistakes, you allow yourself to fall

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so that you can find different methods
of doing different things. And so that's

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really one of the big things that
really helped me, UM in my transition

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was you know, not being afraid
to make those mistakes and kind of being

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able to think outside the box a
little bit, right, because when you're

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a creative, you always want to
you know, make that shock value or

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you always want to either get people
to think or you want people to you

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know, kind of see your vision
of what it is that you're trying to

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put out there. And a lot
of times you do have to think outside

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of the box or you know,
kind of disrupt the pattern in terms of

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what is normally done. And I
feel like a lot of that, you

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know, is easily transferable, you
know, into a software engineering role,

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right because you're gonna be able to
find different pathways to get to the same

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goal and sometimes doing it, you
know, one way may not necessarily work

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for you, and sometimes you do
have to kind of think creatively or think

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outside the box and say, hey, you know, I need this solution.

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I can't figure out the solution to
this specific problem. What are some

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other things that I can do that
I haven't done yet that could possibly get

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it to work. So, you
know, I'm always a big proponent of

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you know, creatives turn tech because
you know, they always bring that that

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innovation, they always bring that creativity
to the space. And I always say

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that, you know, if you
really want to go far in tech,

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you really have to be innovative and
you really have to be creative with how

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you move about in this space.
So um yeah, yeah, he said

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a lot, and I wholeheartedly agree
with you. Uh. And it's it's

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really a good time to to you
know, kind of have that mindset as

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far as uh, failing and you
know, kind of learning from those failures

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because I've been I've been in tech
for over twenty something years and you know,

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back in the day, making a
mistake could be a death wish uh.

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And nowadays, you know, more
more company cultures are adopting, you

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know, having a blameless culture,
right and using using failures as teaching moments

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as opposed to disciplinary and our disciplinary
you know moments right uh. And so

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you know, it's it's all about
the post mortem, right, Like if

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something that there's an outage, or
if there's you know, some bad code

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that happens to make it way in
production and cause everything to fail. Oh,

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like how did that happen? And
you know, what can we do

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to mitigate that in the future,
And you know, let's have this post

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mortem and you know, hash everything
out so that we all can learn from

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it. Like that's kind of where
things have been or for a number of

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years. So I think, you
know, that's that's a really good mindset

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to have and it's a really good
time to be in tech because of that.

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Absolutely, that is always focused on
forming new partnerships and opportunities to assist

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the community and our members with their
continued professional growth and development. If you'd

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like to partner with us, send
an email inquiries at blocks and Technology dot

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net. So you were you were, I know you mentioned what what what

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the job worlds do? Non profit
UM? So I worked for several So

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the first nonprofit I worked for was
the Boys and Girls Up UM, and

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then I made a transition UM into
the City of Wyoming Forum there after school

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program. And then my last nonprofit
that I worked at was called Playworks UM.

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I don't know if you've heard of
it before, but essentially UM they're

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revolutionizing the way that kids play and
it's basically being able to kind of take

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recess and turn it into UM a
classroom where kids can learn about social emotional

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learning UM and be able to learn
kind of like those social skills UM.

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While they play um and so I
worked there for a little bit before or

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I transitioned into tech. So I
love play works, you know, if

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you if you ever get a chance
to you know, yeah, definitely,

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definitely. They have a great curriculum
and a great program over there. Okay,

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nice, Nice, So tell me, like, you know, you

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work in educational space, nonprofit space. What what made you decide to pivot

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and your career and get into the
tech. I always say that I think

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for a lot of people, COVID
has played a big part in kind of

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making people, you know, be
really self reflective and an introspective on kind

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of like where they are in life
and where they're looking to go and what

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I loved what I did. I
felt like I was very stagnant in my

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learning. I consider myself to be
a lifelong learner. So if I'm in

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spaces that continue to challenge me or
continue to push me to learn and grow,

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I feel like that's where I thrived. And I felt like in that

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moment why I didn't feel like I
was being you know, challenged enough,

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and I felt like I just wanted
something different. And I got exposed to

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tech through like a number of different
things. You know, I had friends

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who were considering tech that had recommended
like, hey, you should, you

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know, try to check out coding
and see if you like it. You

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know, social media has definitely played
a big part in you know, exposing

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people, especially black people to tech
because I think a lot of us and

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you know, I'm sure you've been
in it for a long time, so

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I'm sure you've noticed that a lot
of times there's not a whole lot of

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representation or there hasn't been a whole
lot of representation of you know, black

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people within the IT space, within
the tech space. And so social media

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really opened up that door for me
to be able to see like real life

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people being not only being able to
make that transition, but to be successful

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in tech regardless of whatever background they
came from. And so I said,

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you know, hey, um,
I'll make the dive, I'll make the

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risk. Like what's the worst that
can happen? You know, Um,

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I can always just go back to
nonprofit and education and be fined there.

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And I always tell people like,
once I started coding, I literally couldn't

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put it down. It was something
that you know, challenged me. It

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was something that pushed me to learn. Um, pushed me to grow and

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UM it just sparked my creativity that
I felt like I had lost UM kind

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of being redundant and and and doing
the kind of the going in the hamster

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wheel UM of education. And I'm
sure a lot of educators can you know,

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relate to that, and that you're
you're constantly being regulated by UM you

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know, rules and lesson plans and
UM benchmarks and you know, trying to

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get test scores up or trying to
you know, meet meet reach those deadlines.

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And I didn't I didn't necessarily want
want to be constricted by that UM

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and and so yeah, that was
really the big Those are some of the

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big things that really pushed me to
tech and I mean less we really like

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when you're in education, Like it's
almost a double whammy to be a creative

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in the nonprofit or education space because
we probably do the most amount of work

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and get the least amount of pay. That's pretty much what I tell people

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off the time. So UM tech
gives me the opportunity to you know,

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be able to do something I love
and have that financial stability to be able

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to kind of pass that on to
the next generation. Nice I'm glad you.

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You said that because well, a
couple of things you know, um

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about what you said. You know, you were mentioning like seeing things on

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social media friends were kind of encouraging
you to start coding, and you know

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that's that's the whole reason, you
know, or not the whole reason.

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That's one of the reasons why I
BID exists, like part of our mission

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as too increase the representation of black
people in tech. And whenever I give

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interviews and I say that, I
always try to caveat that with like I'm

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not I'm not trying to say to
you know, quote unquote white America like

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hey, we're in this space.
I'm actually trying to reach back to our

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community and say, hey, this
is a space that we belong in too,

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And if if you see me and
you see others in this space,

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you know, maybe that will encourage
you to want to pursue it or at

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least see as as an option for
yourself. Um. And so that that

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representation is more more for us than
than than anything. The second thing you

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mentioned is about, you know,
just having that economic stability and a lot

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of people you know kind of assume
like, oh, you know, Greg,

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you you found it bit, you
know, just to you know,

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uh, to tackle diversity. And
I'm like, no, uh, I

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mean that's I guess you can say
that's part of it. But the other

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part is like I've I've thrived in
tech you know for the past twenty years.

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It's enabled me to be able to
take care of my family and do

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things that you know, my mom
or dad weren't able to do, um,

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create generational wealth, those types of
things. And that's that's the biggest

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thing I feel anyhow for wanting to
get more black people in tech is to

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you know, kind of want to
have that progress, uh and be able

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to have other people built that generational
wealth and pass it down to their kids.

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So for the economic part of that
is more important to me than and

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you know, fulfilling you know,
whether or not you know, a company's

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diversity numbers go go up. I
feel I feel like if we can get

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more people in tech, you know, for the economic part, the other

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part to handle itself, right,
absolutely, So, yeah, those are

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good points. Um, you were
you know a bit scholarship elevator. Yes,

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talk a little bit about that.
Well, how did you learn about

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tech elevator? Actually I learned about
it through a website called career Karma.

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I don't know if you've you've heard
of that site, but essentially it provides

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people with resources on you know,
different types of tech boot camps or programs

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that are focused on bringing you know, minorities or people of color into the

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tech space. And so, uh, they actually do like a quick like

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quiz or questionnaire on you know,
what is it that you're looking for?

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You know, where your strengths um, you know, kind of where do

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you see yourself in the future.
And that's kind of pretty much how I

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stumbled upon tech Elevator, and I
got the chance to do a little bit

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00:18:52.960 --> 00:18:59.079
of research on the program and what
it was like, and I really loved

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UM a whole process of how they
nurture people from all different backgrounds UM and

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00:19:04.160 --> 00:19:11.000
build them up to be able to
be successful UM going out into the tech

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space UM and whatever feel they choose
to UM go after. So yeah,

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yeah, and we have a we
have a real good relationship with with tech

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Elevators. I know that there's a
you know, a kind of a rigorous

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process in the beginning. To tell
us a little bit about that about that

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onboarding, product application process. So
I will say that tech Elevators. Onboarding

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process or application process is pretty um, I wouldn't say grueling, but it

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definitely takes a little bit of time. They definitely take the time to weed

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out people who are really committed and
want to do it. So UM,

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the initial process was filling out an
application, and after that application was just

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a small like aptitude tests maybe like
ten question um, just to see if

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you have the aptitude to potentially be
able to get in the program. And

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then once you pass that aptitude test, UM, there's a little bit more

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an extensive application process in that you
know, they kind of give you a

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little insight on what the program will
teach based on whatever it is that you're

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going into. And then there is
a more extensive aptitude test. And I

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will say that that aptitude test is
it's somewhat difficult. It definitely challenged me

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a little bit, but it really
tests your I would say personally, it

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tests your you know, your visual
awareness, a little bit of your math

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skills, problem solving, you know, deductive reasoning, you know, how

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do you approach you know, certain
tasks that you're given and how do you

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come to the solution. Um.
They're really good at kind of like you

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know, putting that in kind of
like a quiz format, and then you

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know, after that, that's when
they you know, based on that those

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scores, that's when they determine whether
or not you're admitted into the program.

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So that was pretty much my application
and on boarding process. Yes, it

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was. It was a lot.
Yeah, you know, and I feel

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like in you know, it's somewhat
necessary there there, because those boot camps

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are not easy. Um no,
they are not. They want to make

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sure that people, you know,
stick with the program, and especially if

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you're if you're receiving a scholarship and
things like that, they definitely want to

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make sure that it's going to the
right person. So yeah, I definitely

273
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understand. Do you have a product
or service that you would like to share

274
00:21:48.960 --> 00:21:52.880
with a bit audience or maybe you'd
like to support the bit community and do

275
00:21:53.000 --> 00:21:59.160
your part in helping us with stomping
the divide. Start by sponsoring one of

276
00:21:59.160 --> 00:22:07.480
our podcasts. Please email us at
contact us at blacks and Technology dot net.

277
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So what preparation you stated that they
kind of gave you a little bit

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00:22:15.440 --> 00:22:19.400
of insight as to, you know, what to expect from the bootcamp.

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So after that, how did you
prepare and if so, how what type

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00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:29.720
of preparation did you do prior to
the bootcamp. I would say, you

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00:22:29.759 --> 00:22:33.039
know, I did do a little
bit of preparation. There are some things

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that they kind of suggest for you
to do. So when you get admitted

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into the program, there's some free
work that you're required to do, and

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they give you a little bit of
time to complete that pre work before the

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00:22:45.720 --> 00:22:49.079
boot camp starts, which you do
have to complete that freework in order to

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be able to officially start going into
the program. So the pre work pretty

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much just covers like the foundation of
coding, like mostly front end so like

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CSS, HTMLU, a little bit
of JavaScript, not a whole bunch,

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00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:12.519
and basically just helping you to kind
of get your feet wet a little bit

290
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and getting you prepared for kind of
like the rigorous, the more rigorous and

291
00:23:18.519 --> 00:23:22.359
fast pace learning that you're getting ready
to go into. So they definitely give

292
00:23:22.400 --> 00:23:27.200
you that pre work to just kind
of prepare you for what's next. So

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that's pretty much how I prepared.
And I will say that some of the

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things that I wish that I would
have done earlier on was you know,

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whatever, you know, topics or
things that I was learning in the pre

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work that I really struggled with.
I wish that I would have, you

297
00:23:48.319 --> 00:23:52.839
know, taken the time out to
really do my own self study and really

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00:23:52.880 --> 00:23:56.400
deep dive into some of those topics, just so I could have a little

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bit more you know, understanding foundation
or maybe what it was that I was

300
00:24:02.400 --> 00:24:04.359
like, what it was that I
wasn't piecing together, or you know,

301
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what concepts I wasn't grasping very well. Because I will say that take elevators

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00:24:10.559 --> 00:24:17.039
Pace, like I'm sure any other
like guided bloot Camp, boot camp space

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00:24:17.279 --> 00:24:22.079
is it is essentially there, They're
gonna pretty much teach you a topic and

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00:24:22.279 --> 00:24:26.359
review it and then move on to
the next topic. Right Because it's not

305
00:24:26.400 --> 00:24:29.759
a two year program, it's not
a four year program, so you don't

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00:24:29.759 --> 00:24:33.880
have the kind of like luxury of
having a whole lot of time to review

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00:24:33.960 --> 00:24:38.400
things and look over things and take
your time with learning concepts. You pretty

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00:24:38.480 --> 00:24:42.480
much have to, you know,
take the time to do your own research,

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00:24:42.559 --> 00:24:47.799
your own studying, so that when
it gets down to kind of seeing

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if you have that knowledge or if
you're able to do some of the tasks

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00:24:52.519 --> 00:24:56.119
that they're asking you to do,
you kind of are you set yourself up

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00:24:56.240 --> 00:25:00.039
better for success by you know,
kind of doing that self study. So

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00:25:00.119 --> 00:25:02.839
that's one thing I wish I would
have done, and one thing that I

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00:25:02.880 --> 00:25:06.039
do highly suggest if you are going
to a boot camp and they're giving you

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00:25:06.119 --> 00:25:11.079
concepts and work prior to that and
you are just still like, I'm still

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00:25:11.119 --> 00:25:14.240
not quite getting it, you know, go to YouTube, go to Google.

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00:25:14.960 --> 00:25:18.839
Google is every software engineer's best friend. I feel like at this point,

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00:25:18.400 --> 00:25:22.880
um, you know, because a
lot of people have already you know,

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00:25:22.480 --> 00:25:26.559
solved, you know, solved whatever
it is that you're looking at,

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00:25:26.599 --> 00:25:30.599
So doesn't hurt to you know,
kind of see what solution they've come up

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00:25:30.640 --> 00:25:34.880
with and figure out how they got
there. So yeah, I would those

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00:25:34.880 --> 00:25:38.200
are definitely some of the things that
you know, I did or I wish

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00:25:38.200 --> 00:25:44.599
I would have done during my time
preparing for the boot camp. Yeah,

324
00:25:44.160 --> 00:25:48.359
it was a great point. I
think, um that it also prepares you

325
00:25:48.440 --> 00:25:52.519
for how you know your career and
tech are going to be because a lot

326
00:25:52.559 --> 00:25:56.559
of times that's what you're you're doing. And so like, you know,

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00:25:56.680 --> 00:26:00.759
a lot of self studying because you
know, tech is const changing, its

328
00:26:00.799 --> 00:26:04.079
constantly moving, so you constantly have
to make sure that you're you know,

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00:26:04.279 --> 00:26:08.400
on top of the latest, you
know whatever, whatever technology it may be

330
00:26:11.279 --> 00:26:12.839
in your space. You kind of
have to stay on top of that.

331
00:26:12.920 --> 00:26:18.559
So you're it's a continuous learning journey. Um. And you know the other

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00:26:18.599 --> 00:26:22.359
part is that that you made a
good point about is you know, YouTube

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00:26:22.359 --> 00:26:30.799
and Google like because and there I
think people tend to get I know,

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00:26:30.799 --> 00:26:36.960
people tend to get intimidated, especially
when they meet someone and you know,

335
00:26:37.119 --> 00:26:41.880
and there at their job who seems
like they're just a genius like person.

336
00:26:42.759 --> 00:26:48.000
And what they don't understand, or
they may not know, is that that

337
00:26:48.079 --> 00:26:52.400
person is using Google and YouTube as
well. Absolutely, and the difference usually

338
00:26:52.440 --> 00:26:57.880
it's just experience, right, Like
they just have more experience at finding like

339
00:26:59.200 --> 00:27:03.759
it's solving their own problems, right
They've had so many airs and bugs and

340
00:27:03.839 --> 00:27:07.680
had to work through that. They
start to gain all that knowledge from from

341
00:27:07.720 --> 00:27:11.079
all their failures, and now they
seem like this, you know a person

342
00:27:11.119 --> 00:27:14.400
who's you know, came out of
the wound coding, when that's not the

343
00:27:14.440 --> 00:27:18.160
case at all. They just they
know how to use Google, they know

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00:27:18.240 --> 00:27:22.759
how to search, stack overflow,
you know, things like that. And

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00:27:22.799 --> 00:27:26.839
so I've seen a lot of you
know, especially when I wasn't a senior

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00:27:26.359 --> 00:27:33.079
engineer. I've seen a lot of
senior engineers just use Google like and say,

347
00:27:33.119 --> 00:27:36.440
I don't know, I don't know, look it up. Oh,

348
00:27:36.519 --> 00:27:38.559
this is how you do it.
Okay. So, you know, for

349
00:27:38.720 --> 00:27:41.759
for anyone that's listening, if you're
you know, thinking about getting the software

350
00:27:41.759 --> 00:27:48.200
engineering or any type of engineering and
tech and you know you're kind of apprehensive

351
00:27:48.200 --> 00:27:52.880
about it, just understand that this
is a continuous learning journey. You're gonna

352
00:27:52.920 --> 00:27:56.839
start at the bottom and you're gonna
work your way up, and you're you

353
00:27:56.880 --> 00:28:00.519
know, the same people that you
say at the top, they were once

354
00:28:00.559 --> 00:28:03.920
doing everything that you were doing.
So it's no shame at all. Absolutely

355
00:28:04.079 --> 00:28:08.799
absolutely, I will say, um
to piggyback off of that, I've heard

356
00:28:08.799 --> 00:28:14.359
a lot of senior engineers say that
you're never gonna come a point, come

357
00:28:14.400 --> 00:28:17.319
to a point in your career where
you say, okay, I know everything,

358
00:28:17.839 --> 00:28:22.640
because tech is constantly evolving. Um. You know, the space,

359
00:28:22.799 --> 00:28:27.279
especially within software engineering, is constantly
evolving, and so you're constantly going to

360
00:28:27.319 --> 00:28:32.440
be you know, once you feel
like you've kind of had something nailed down,

361
00:28:32.720 --> 00:28:37.240
they're probably going to create or you
know, um change something else.

362
00:28:37.400 --> 00:28:41.920
Or uh, create a whole entire
you know, coding language, and that's

363
00:28:42.240 --> 00:28:45.720
going to be more efficient. And
you know, there are things that you're

364
00:28:45.720 --> 00:28:49.920
going to continue to learn. So
if you feel now at the beginning that

365
00:28:51.000 --> 00:28:52.160
you know, oh man, I
don't feel like I haven't yet, Like

366
00:28:52.200 --> 00:28:56.799
trust me, there are people who've
been in the game for decades and are

367
00:28:56.920 --> 00:29:00.720
still like, hey, I don't
all the way get it either. So

368
00:29:00.160 --> 00:29:03.759
you know, just a word of
encouragement for people. It's conflantly going to

369
00:29:03.799 --> 00:29:07.720
be a learning it's conflantly going to
be a learning curve. But I will

370
00:29:07.759 --> 00:29:14.000
say like the experience and the journey
along the way is definitely rewarding. Yeah,

371
00:29:14.079 --> 00:29:21.240
people, I think people have to
understand or need to understand that less

372
00:29:21.240 --> 00:29:27.000
than sixty years ago, like we
were we were sending men to the moon

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00:29:27.599 --> 00:29:33.839
powered by computers that were not even
as powerful as calculators that we have now.

374
00:29:33.319 --> 00:29:38.319
Yeah, Like that's how far and
how much tech has changed just in

375
00:29:38.400 --> 00:29:42.480
that time span, right, Like
that's not a long time, sixty years

376
00:29:44.400 --> 00:29:48.119
and you know, comparison to how
long everything else has been around, it's

377
00:29:48.160 --> 00:29:52.599
nothing. It's like a blink of
an eye. And so you know,

378
00:29:52.720 --> 00:29:56.680
people who think that these people,
you know, people know everything like that's

379
00:29:56.720 --> 00:30:02.960
not, that's not. The things
change way too often. There's huge advancements

380
00:30:03.000 --> 00:30:07.880
in tech all the time, and
so uh, you're you're constantly going to

381
00:30:07.920 --> 00:30:11.319
be on that journey where you gotta
you know. And there's even times where

382
00:30:11.839 --> 00:30:15.400
when you know, for me,
for example, I get involved in a

383
00:30:15.480 --> 00:30:19.720
certain technology for instance, uh,
and I start reading and research it,

384
00:30:21.079 --> 00:30:23.240
read reading and researching it, and
I feel like I gotta go, Oh,

385
00:30:23.279 --> 00:30:27.720
I gotta go back to the beginning. I gotta basics because I forgot

386
00:30:27.759 --> 00:30:30.839
something, you know, in this. So I'll go back and pick up

387
00:30:30.920 --> 00:30:34.680
up a book that I've read,
probably you know, several times before,

388
00:30:36.400 --> 00:30:40.720
just to understand like the base concept
like oh okay, that's how okay,

389
00:30:40.920 --> 00:30:44.920
now you know everything kind of fits. So there's there's that as well.

390
00:30:44.960 --> 00:30:48.440
So you're constantly going to be doing
this dance as long as you you know,

391
00:30:48.519 --> 00:30:51.240
you have a career in tech and
it's okay, every everyone does.

392
00:30:52.079 --> 00:31:02.720
Yeah, what's up everyone? We
hope that you're enjoying this episode of the

393
00:31:02.720 --> 00:31:07.440
Blacks and Technology BIT tech Talk podcasts. Do you or someone you know have

394
00:31:07.519 --> 00:31:11.319
a dope story that they want to
share with our Bit audience, Blocks and

395
00:31:11.359 --> 00:31:15.880
Technology is seeking guests to be on
our podcast. We're looking to highlight the

396
00:31:15.960 --> 00:31:19.119
journeys and experiences of black women and
men in the tech industry. So if

397
00:31:19.119 --> 00:31:23.400
you know of someone, send them
our way, shoot us an email to

398
00:31:23.519 --> 00:31:29.000
contact us a Blacks and Technology dot
net, or click on the link in

399
00:31:29.039 --> 00:31:32.720
the show notes and fill out our
form. We're looking to hear from you.

400
00:31:38.599 --> 00:31:42.279
So look, you know, sticking
with you know, the tech Elevator

401
00:31:42.359 --> 00:31:47.160
topic, what was what was your
experience like, what were some of your

402
00:31:47.400 --> 00:31:51.440
your challenges and how did you overcome
some of those challenges. Tell us a

403
00:31:51.480 --> 00:31:57.160
little bit about that. So I
was a part of m tech elevators first

404
00:31:57.839 --> 00:32:04.640
part time remote cohort. It was
a thirty two week cohort. Normally their

405
00:32:04.759 --> 00:32:10.119
remote cohorts or their full time cohorts
are about thirteen to fourteen weeks, I

406
00:32:10.119 --> 00:32:14.440
believe, so it's a very short
amount of time. So the part time

407
00:32:14.480 --> 00:32:17.880
programs just allows you to be able
to steal you know, work, do

408
00:32:17.960 --> 00:32:25.480
your nine to five, and then
continue to learn software engineering on Saturday morning.

409
00:32:25.640 --> 00:32:34.640
So pretty much my experience. Definitely, I think people I know it's

410
00:32:34.799 --> 00:32:40.200
like a running theme within the software
engineering space where there's kind of like the

411
00:32:40.200 --> 00:32:46.200
the motivation there's like the motivation bar, and so you start off pretty optimistic.

412
00:32:46.279 --> 00:32:50.039
You go in saying, yeah,
like I'm excited, you know,

413
00:32:50.079 --> 00:32:52.799
I'm getting ready to learn about this
new thing. And then you start learning

414
00:32:52.839 --> 00:32:58.640
all these new concepts that you had
never heard before, processes that you've never

415
00:32:58.720 --> 00:33:01.799
done before, and then you start, you know, your your your confidence

416
00:33:01.839 --> 00:33:06.000
starts going down and you're like,
oh, this is getting a little hard,

417
00:33:06.079 --> 00:33:08.599
but I guess I'm trucking along.
And then you kind of get into

418
00:33:08.720 --> 00:33:14.880
like the valley of despair where you're
almost like, oh, this is too

419
00:33:14.960 --> 00:33:19.400
hard, Like we learned about this
thing yesterday and I still don't understand it.

420
00:33:19.440 --> 00:33:22.559
There are concepts from like weeks ago
that I'm still struggling with, like

421
00:33:22.640 --> 00:33:27.119
I don't even know if I can
can do this. And then, slowly

422
00:33:27.160 --> 00:33:30.799
but surely, like once you once
you kind of get past that that valley,

423
00:33:31.440 --> 00:33:37.079
slowly but surely, you'll start like
once you start practicing and creating like

424
00:33:37.160 --> 00:33:42.160
your own projects and learning more concepts
that kind of piece the puzzle together a

425
00:33:42.160 --> 00:33:45.160
little bit, and you start saying, Okay, I don't know everything,

426
00:33:45.759 --> 00:33:49.880
but I'm starting to learn a little
bit more than I did, you know,

427
00:33:50.279 --> 00:33:53.319
a day ago, a week ago, a month ago, and you

428
00:33:53.440 --> 00:33:58.160
slowly start building your confidence back up
and you start saying, okay, like

429
00:33:58.200 --> 00:34:01.559
I'm actually under standing this and I'm
getting that. And I will say like

430
00:34:01.920 --> 00:34:07.639
that along with a lot of the
other classmates that I had within my cohort,

431
00:34:08.079 --> 00:34:12.679
that was pretty much our experience,
Like you're so surprised, like the

432
00:34:12.719 --> 00:34:16.360
first week, you have no idea, like what get is? You have

433
00:34:16.360 --> 00:34:21.519
no idea what get hubbies? You
have no idea, like you know how

434
00:34:21.599 --> 00:34:27.119
to how to create like a class
and Java, And then all of a

435
00:34:27.119 --> 00:34:30.679
sudden, like you get to you
know, the final a couple of weeks

436
00:34:30.719 --> 00:34:38.519
and you're building like full stack applications
and websites and you're just amazed that all

437
00:34:38.599 --> 00:34:44.840
the progress that you've gone through.
But I will say, like, it's

438
00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:47.639
definitely so fulfilling when you get to
the end, But there are tons of

439
00:34:47.719 --> 00:34:57.000
challenges along the way that I definitely
experienced. Yeah, a couple of things

440
00:34:57.000 --> 00:35:04.719
from what you said there. I've
been reading, uh several books around learning

441
00:35:05.400 --> 00:35:10.360
UM techniques and uh one it's called
Deep Work about boy Cal Newport, and

442
00:35:10.360 --> 00:35:16.280
there's another one by it's called So
Good they Can't Ignore You. Two books

443
00:35:16.320 --> 00:35:20.760
by cal Newport. He's he's a
really good author, and he always talks

444
00:35:20.800 --> 00:35:25.840
about this initial like when whenever you're
you're really really trying to learn something deeply

445
00:35:25.920 --> 00:35:31.519
learn something, this initial shock that
you have because you don't get it right

446
00:35:31.760 --> 00:35:37.559
and how normal that is. But
it usually, you know, throws people

447
00:35:37.599 --> 00:35:43.639
for a loop. And because it's
it's i would say painful from the standpoint

448
00:35:43.760 --> 00:35:47.039
of, um, you know people, you know, if you feel like

449
00:35:47.079 --> 00:35:51.119
you're not getting something, you're just
like, oh, I'm not getting this,

450
00:35:51.320 --> 00:35:54.679
and it's painful in that in that
respect, right, Um, people

451
00:35:54.760 --> 00:36:00.280
tend to, you know, kind
of run away from it. And that

452
00:36:00.519 --> 00:36:04.840
he talks about if you get over
that initial shock over of it, right,

453
00:36:04.840 --> 00:36:08.960
Like, if you start in this
kind of habit of like going deep

454
00:36:09.000 --> 00:36:13.679
into learning. So for instance,
you might start setting up a routine where

455
00:36:13.880 --> 00:36:17.679
you say, I'm going to spend
thirty minutes you know, in deep you

456
00:36:17.719 --> 00:36:22.280
know, learning, right, uh, And maybe the first the first week

457
00:36:22.400 --> 00:36:27.920
or so, it's going to seem
grueling because you're you're you're you want to

458
00:36:28.159 --> 00:36:31.559
run away from it because everything seems
foreign, you don't seem like you're grasping

459
00:36:31.599 --> 00:36:38.079
it. Um and becomes a painful
exercise. And then once you get beyond,

460
00:36:38.079 --> 00:36:42.719
if you can survive like that first
week, right or maybe that first

461
00:36:42.760 --> 00:36:46.199
couple of weeks and stick to it, then it's gonna you want to make

462
00:36:46.280 --> 00:36:51.360
leaps and bounds as far as you
know, being able to engage in this

463
00:36:51.559 --> 00:36:55.960
deep learning and exercises in this deep
focus, because then it's not going to

464
00:36:57.119 --> 00:37:01.039
feel as daunting, it's not going
to feel us hainful. So there's definitely

465
00:37:01.079 --> 00:37:07.159
that you know that aspect to it, and those two books have really teaches

466
00:37:07.159 --> 00:37:10.760
you a lot about how to get
into this mode of deep learning and focus

467
00:37:10.880 --> 00:37:15.400
and you know, kind of getting
over that that hump. The second thing

468
00:37:15.400 --> 00:37:19.079
you were talking about is something that
I don't want to take full credit for.

469
00:37:19.480 --> 00:37:24.119
But um, I remember back in
twenty nineteen, and I'm pretty sure

470
00:37:24.159 --> 00:37:29.119
COVID had a lot to do with
this as well. But I met with

471
00:37:29.159 --> 00:37:34.960
somebody from tech elevator, Rita,
you know Rita, Yes, I met

472
00:37:34.960 --> 00:37:37.360
would reader. This is the first
time I had she. I think she

473
00:37:37.480 --> 00:37:44.159
reached out to me to learn more
about bit and to see how you know,

474
00:37:44.199 --> 00:37:45.880
there can you know, not only
get some ideas from me, but

475
00:37:46.119 --> 00:37:50.960
figure out like how maybe we can
partner. And so we met at a

476
00:37:51.760 --> 00:37:55.239
Starbucks I think I'm gonna say,
for coffee like one morning, and she

477
00:37:55.400 --> 00:37:59.320
was telling me more about the program, right, you know, she was

478
00:37:59.320 --> 00:38:02.239
telling me how much your cost and
the time frame of the program. And

479
00:38:02.280 --> 00:38:06.800
I told her straight up, yeah, if you're trying to get more black

480
00:38:06.800 --> 00:38:10.320
people or more minorities into your program, that right there is not going to

481
00:38:10.400 --> 00:38:20.039
work because you know, you know, unfortunately we some of us don't have

482
00:38:20.079 --> 00:38:23.800
the means to just up and quit
a job and spend you know, the

483
00:38:23.840 --> 00:38:30.719
next fourteen, you know, three
months or so doing this full time.

484
00:38:30.800 --> 00:38:31.920
And that's what I said. I
was like, that's you know, some

485
00:38:32.000 --> 00:38:36.800
of us are the brand winners.
We don't have that generational wealth, not

486
00:38:36.920 --> 00:38:39.000
all of us, and that requires
us to have a nine to five.

487
00:38:39.599 --> 00:38:44.119
And if you're trying to get more
you know, black people, more minorities

488
00:38:44.159 --> 00:38:46.239
into this program, it's going to
take some adjustments. You're going to have

489
00:38:46.280 --> 00:38:52.639
to do something in order to accommodate
people's time. Like that's you know,

490
00:38:52.800 --> 00:38:54.360
some people have to work first shift, some people have to work second shift,

491
00:38:54.360 --> 00:38:57.679
Like there has to be some type
of part time option, and at

492
00:38:57.719 --> 00:39:00.840
that time they didn't have that.
It was strictly four time. And then

493
00:39:00.880 --> 00:39:05.679
then the second thing was around cost, right, Like I was just like,

494
00:39:05.800 --> 00:39:09.559
that's just that's too expensive. Yes, that's expensive, you know,

495
00:39:09.679 --> 00:39:15.920
like that's you know, like we're
unfortunately and we don't have that head start

496
00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:19.639
like you know people from other cultures
and other races right like that. That's

497
00:39:19.639 --> 00:39:22.000
just the reality of it. And
so there needs to be either or cost

498
00:39:22.039 --> 00:39:28.840
effective solution or you know, there
needs to be some more partnerships that you

499
00:39:28.880 --> 00:39:31.880
know, kind of take away that
cost for for people if you're trying to

500
00:39:32.280 --> 00:39:35.960
you know. So I'm glad that
you know, and I'm not saying again

501
00:39:36.000 --> 00:39:38.000
it could be a lot of it
is I know some parts of it.

502
00:39:38.000 --> 00:39:45.519
It's definitely COVID related because that force
people, businesses, organizations to kind of

503
00:39:45.559 --> 00:39:49.000
switch up things and you know,
work remotely and you know, go down

504
00:39:49.000 --> 00:39:52.239
a part time and things like that. But I'm glad we had that conversation.

505
00:39:52.320 --> 00:39:57.400
And then the results of it are
you know, them changing their curriculum

506
00:39:57.400 --> 00:40:02.079
around to accommodate more people. So
that absolutely, I'm I'm appreciative for you

507
00:40:02.159 --> 00:40:07.480
putting that bug in her ear because
if I if you had put that bug

508
00:40:07.519 --> 00:40:12.159
in their ear, I possibly wouldn't
have even have had this experience, because

509
00:40:12.719 --> 00:40:16.360
both of those things were big reasons
why a lot of the boot camps that

510
00:40:16.440 --> 00:40:22.159
I had initially applied to just didn't
work, and either conflicted with my work

511
00:40:22.199 --> 00:40:25.519
schedule and that you know, I
don't have the means to take off you

512
00:40:25.559 --> 00:40:31.239
know, three months and not work
and not essentially to be able to learn

513
00:40:31.320 --> 00:40:36.000
something, and with the possibility that
I might have to go a couple of

514
00:40:36.079 --> 00:40:38.519
more months, you know, searching
for a new software and searching for a

515
00:40:38.519 --> 00:40:44.039
new job within software engineering. And
then I like obviously the cost, you

516
00:40:44.039 --> 00:40:50.800
know, especially since I went to
a four year institution and gotta master certification

517
00:40:50.960 --> 00:40:53.280
in school counseling because I thought I
wasn't going to be a school counselor.

518
00:40:53.280 --> 00:41:00.199
But that's a whole nother, a
whole nother, a whole another journey in

519
00:41:00.239 --> 00:41:04.239
and of itself, um, and
and realizing like, hey, you know,

520
00:41:04.440 --> 00:41:08.000
I don't have you know, the
I don't think I have the resources

521
00:41:08.039 --> 00:41:12.440
to take out any more loans than
I've already taken out right now. So

522
00:41:13.280 --> 00:41:16.320
any type of you know, help
or assistance that I could get, you

523
00:41:16.360 --> 00:41:22.280
know, I was all for so
I'm so appreciative, um of Rita,

524
00:41:22.599 --> 00:41:27.199
you know, because I know she
really advocated for me, um to be

525
00:41:27.239 --> 00:41:31.239
able to you know, get the
scholarship because she she even saw like the

526
00:41:31.280 --> 00:41:36.239
potential that I had and being able
to go through the course. And so

527
00:41:36.760 --> 00:41:39.360
UM, appreciative of you and appreciative
of Rita. If you're listening to this,

528
00:41:39.480 --> 00:41:45.280
Riata, thank you so much.
That's that's cool. Rita's a cool

529
00:41:45.280 --> 00:41:50.599
person. She was at at bet
con her end. Uh. I can't

530
00:41:50.599 --> 00:41:53.480
even remember his name. He's gonna
she's gonna kill me. Um. But

531
00:41:53.559 --> 00:41:58.559
the founder of tech Elevator was there, Yes, Anthony Okay, yeah,

532
00:41:58.599 --> 00:42:00.800
yeah yeah, and we kicked it
as well, so it was it was

533
00:42:00.840 --> 00:42:07.840
real cool. UM. So I'm
glad out all worked out right, absolutely,

534
00:42:07.079 --> 00:42:10.639
But you know what to the other
part of that is something that you

535
00:42:10.639 --> 00:42:15.039
know, you touched on and I
think it's really important, is you she

536
00:42:15.159 --> 00:42:19.599
advocated for you, right, and
you know that's something that we also need.

537
00:42:19.679 --> 00:42:22.840
We need advocates, we need allies. But the other part is just

538
00:42:22.880 --> 00:42:28.519
an opportunity. Like people think that, you know when when they say,

539
00:42:28.960 --> 00:42:31.039
um, when they talk about you
know, diversity and inclusion, the first

540
00:42:31.079 --> 00:42:35.559
thing they want to go go to
the kind of run two things. Oh

541
00:42:35.719 --> 00:42:37.599
you're lauring the bar. It's like, now we're not asking you to laura

542
00:42:37.639 --> 00:42:42.360
anything. We just want the opportunity
absolutely, And so once you give us

543
00:42:42.360 --> 00:42:45.360
an opportunity, advocate for us and
you know we're we're able to take it

544
00:42:45.440 --> 00:42:50.920
home. So you're you're now working
as an engineer your internet. Tell us

545
00:42:50.960 --> 00:42:54.239
a little bit about about that.
Had our opportunity come about? UM,

546
00:42:54.280 --> 00:43:01.280
so, I mean LinkedIn was really
what UM kind of exposed me to Interrupt

547
00:43:01.360 --> 00:43:09.880
today. UM interesting Lee Enough had
a full stack immersive training program UM where

548
00:43:09.960 --> 00:43:16.039
they take a certain amount of candidates
and they'll essentially train you on the stack

549
00:43:16.159 --> 00:43:22.320
that they're you know, third party
company there that they're collaborating with. You

550
00:43:22.360 --> 00:43:27.000
know, they want like they want
entry level you know, UM engineers,

551
00:43:27.119 --> 00:43:30.039
but you know, maybe they don't
have like the time or the resources to

552
00:43:30.079 --> 00:43:36.159
be able to train them on all
of the you know, stacks that they're

553
00:43:36.199 --> 00:43:39.719
looking for. And so Interrupt had
an opportunity where you know, they're picking

554
00:43:39.760 --> 00:43:46.039
candidates to essentially be a part of
UM that immersive UM with the with the

555
00:43:46.079 --> 00:43:52.559
goal of being able to transition us
into UM. A spot over at CBS

556
00:43:52.639 --> 00:43:57.000
Health as a software engineer. So
UM, that's pretty much what I'm doing

557
00:43:57.119 --> 00:44:01.760
right now along with nineteen other people, where kind of learning UM a little

558
00:44:01.800 --> 00:44:09.840
bit of the full stack JAVA UM
that CBS Health pretty primarily like works with

559
00:44:09.480 --> 00:44:14.800
UM with the goal that at the
end of the immersive the immersive training program

560
00:44:14.880 --> 00:44:17.760
is about three months, so we're
pretty much take the three months to kind

561
00:44:17.760 --> 00:44:22.800
of learn about UM, what they're
working with and kind of doing projects and

562
00:44:23.239 --> 00:44:27.679
kind of you know, learning and
growing with each other along the way with

563
00:44:27.719 --> 00:44:34.000
the hopes of kind of transitioning into
a role over at CBS Health. So

564
00:44:34.519 --> 00:44:37.960
UM, a lot of what we're
doing is pretty much learning learning learning learning,

565
00:44:38.480 --> 00:44:43.039
And so how how does that compared
to you know, what you were

566
00:44:43.079 --> 00:44:45.760
doing at TECH. I know,
you know, you're not starting from the

567
00:44:45.800 --> 00:44:49.119
you know, from the bottom or
anything like that, but you know,

568
00:44:49.239 --> 00:44:52.840
kind of you know, compare contrast
a little bit between that and Tech Elevator.

569
00:44:53.760 --> 00:44:59.760
I would say it was it's very
similar in that UM they're very accommodating

570
00:44:59.800 --> 00:45:02.679
to people who may have had,
like their own, like a lot of

571
00:45:04.119 --> 00:45:09.039
experience within UM within software engineering,
or people who may have had little to

572
00:45:09.199 --> 00:45:14.000
none. But I think the goal
for Interact, which I really love,

573
00:45:14.599 --> 00:45:20.199
is they want to give the opportunity
for UM minorities, especially people of color,

574
00:45:20.440 --> 00:45:22.559
especially black folk, because I see
a lot of us in there in

575
00:45:22.639 --> 00:45:31.000
there, and I'm so happy they're
they're all about giving us the opportunity to

576
00:45:31.039 --> 00:45:38.199
be able to um UM have that
role in the opportunity for companies like CBS.

577
00:45:38.280 --> 00:45:43.000
And I know you mentioned opportunity,
you know, not too long ago,

578
00:45:43.119 --> 00:45:47.559
and Interact is really, you know, passionate about giving us an opportunity.

579
00:45:47.599 --> 00:45:52.679
And so I would definitely say that
they're similar in that regard to tech

580
00:45:52.719 --> 00:45:57.599
Elevator, but I would definitely say
the pacing is a lot quicker than tech

581
00:45:57.639 --> 00:46:00.400
Elevator. I kind of got a
little you know, I got got got

582
00:46:00.440 --> 00:46:04.440
some luxury on that. You know, I had thirty two weeks, whereas

583
00:46:04.599 --> 00:46:09.559
this is thirteen weeks. So it's
a very short condensed process UM. And

584
00:46:09.639 --> 00:46:16.360
it's it's definitely for UM. We're
kind of looking for that UM that role

585
00:46:16.599 --> 00:46:22.239
essentially, so we're kind of building
our knowledge up to potentially kind of move

586
00:46:22.360 --> 00:46:29.000
on into like a full time role
UM over at CBS. So UM that's

587
00:46:29.039 --> 00:46:32.400
a little bit different, and that
like there's actually you know a job opportunity

588
00:46:32.559 --> 00:46:38.280
that that is really lined up for
us at the end. Um, So

589
00:46:38.320 --> 00:46:43.320
there's a lot more you know,
motivation to kind of do very well and

590
00:46:43.400 --> 00:46:46.639
to learn as much as I can
and UM, really support one another.

591
00:46:47.000 --> 00:46:53.199
Um. And because I will say
at interapts specifically, UM that UM,

592
00:46:53.239 --> 00:46:57.880
the cohort that I'm a part of, we're really big on you know,

593
00:46:57.960 --> 00:47:00.880
supporting each other. And not that
that elevator didn't do that, but it's

594
00:47:01.000 --> 00:47:06.840
it's nice to see people that look
like me, that come from the same

595
00:47:06.880 --> 00:47:10.039
backgrounds as me, be able to
say, hey, we're all in the

596
00:47:10.079 --> 00:47:15.800
same boat. Even if all of
us don't get a job opportunity here,

597
00:47:15.320 --> 00:47:20.920
let's all still continue to support each
other and help each other so that whatever

598
00:47:21.000 --> 00:47:23.719
opportunity that we end up getting,
you know, everybody ends up winning and

599
00:47:23.760 --> 00:47:29.880
everybody ends up eating, you know. So I love that aspect and that

600
00:47:30.000 --> 00:47:35.800
you know, Um, there's there's
that representation there, there's that support there,

601
00:47:36.960 --> 00:47:40.000
and there's that relatability there, Like
I don't have to feel like I'm

602
00:47:40.239 --> 00:47:45.480
colde switching or you know that I
have to kind of put on this like

603
00:47:45.639 --> 00:47:49.760
professional hat for you know, eight
hours of the day, Like I can

604
00:47:50.119 --> 00:47:52.559
be myself. You know, I
can you know, talk how I talk.

605
00:47:52.800 --> 00:47:57.000
You know, you know, we
we just talked about like, uh

606
00:47:57.159 --> 00:48:00.559
the other day, like you know, somebody it's off topic, but somebody

607
00:48:00.599 --> 00:48:02.960
talked about like what we have for
lunch, and you know, somebody says

608
00:48:02.960 --> 00:48:07.360
spaghetti, and then everybody kind of
like had that growing dread of like if

609
00:48:07.440 --> 00:48:10.880
you know, you grew up in
a household where you didn't have a whole

610
00:48:10.880 --> 00:48:15.480
lot of money to be able to
eat good every day, you were eating

611
00:48:15.559 --> 00:48:19.280
spaghetti, you know, threefold top
four or five, six days of the

612
00:48:19.320 --> 00:48:22.079
week. So we were just kind
of relating on that. And it's it's

613
00:48:22.119 --> 00:48:27.280
those small things you wouldn't think like
like you think like, oh, you

614
00:48:27.320 --> 00:48:30.400
know, it's just you know,
it's something that you you know, could

615
00:48:30.400 --> 00:48:34.840
talk about. But I've been in
spaces where I talk about that and people

616
00:48:35.079 --> 00:48:39.079
just stare at me like why that
because they just don't understand, like they

617
00:48:39.119 --> 00:48:45.239
can't unrelate culturally to what that means
of represents for us. So you know,

618
00:48:45.280 --> 00:48:49.400
it's it's always refreshing to be in
those spaces. And I'm definitely enjoying

619
00:48:49.440 --> 00:48:52.679
the journey so far. I definitely
know what you mean. And sometimes spaghetti

620
00:48:52.760 --> 00:49:00.280
would just butter not even throwing that
out there too. But it's funny because

621
00:49:00.280 --> 00:49:07.519
a friend of mine, uh this
was probably back in twoy ten when bitt

622
00:49:07.719 --> 00:49:10.679
was first getting started, and we
were discussing like kind of the same thing,

623
00:49:12.119 --> 00:49:14.599
and one of the things he brought
up and this. And by the

624
00:49:14.639 --> 00:49:19.840
way, this guy is exceptionally smart, probably one of the smartest people I've

625
00:49:19.840 --> 00:49:25.440
ever met. He's an ex marine, and he just has this regiment about

626
00:49:25.599 --> 00:49:30.280
himself when when when it comes to
learning, So he so and it's not

627
00:49:30.360 --> 00:49:35.480
just tech stuff. It's like our
game theory. It's all types of stuff.

628
00:49:35.480 --> 00:49:39.320
So economics, it's psychology. So
what he does is, you know,

629
00:49:39.519 --> 00:49:43.480
he's like, oh, well,
I want to know about this topic.

630
00:49:43.800 --> 00:49:47.559
Let's just say economics. I'm gonna
read whoever are the top you know

631
00:49:47.639 --> 00:49:52.440
economics people in the world. I'm
going to read their book, and then

632
00:49:52.480 --> 00:49:57.199
I'm gonna read three or four other
books. Right, That's that's how he

633
00:49:57.239 --> 00:50:00.960
goes at things. Um, and
so he real instrumental. And I guess

634
00:50:01.079 --> 00:50:07.639
me finding kind of like that,
you know, like that what's that kind

635
00:50:07.639 --> 00:50:14.159
of finding my footing And as far
as like you know, in this space,

636
00:50:14.199 --> 00:50:16.000
and when I say in this space, not just tech, but you

637
00:50:16.039 --> 00:50:22.000
know, helping black people in this
space, right being in having that knowledge

638
00:50:22.000 --> 00:50:25.199
and being able to like help build
community. And one of the things that

639
00:50:25.199 --> 00:50:31.000
he said was, you know,
it's not even going to these uh these

640
00:50:32.320 --> 00:50:37.920
I think we were talking about um
tech conferences at the time. He's like,

641
00:50:37.960 --> 00:50:43.079
it's not about you know, being
able to talk tech, he said,

642
00:50:43.119 --> 00:50:45.440
I can talk tech on anybody,
you know, and going into some

643
00:50:45.480 --> 00:50:50.719
of these conferences. It's the other
stuff like what if I want to talk

644
00:50:50.719 --> 00:50:52.159
about and not saying that, you
know, there are not other people that

645
00:50:52.239 --> 00:50:57.159
can talk about, you know,
the latest Rutang album or the latest this

646
00:50:57.360 --> 00:51:02.119
order. But you know, there's
a certain in a relationship that you have

647
00:51:02.239 --> 00:51:07.159
with people in your community. And
like you were talking about about the spaghetti,

648
00:51:07.320 --> 00:51:09.079
Like if you brought that up somewhere
else, people would be like,

649
00:51:09.239 --> 00:51:15.199
let's what's what's what big deal about
spaghetti? You know, And so it's

650
00:51:15.280 --> 00:51:17.760
those things, those small that within
that community, within that you know,

651
00:51:17.800 --> 00:51:24.199
being that that those commonalities that you
have that at that time were definitely missing

652
00:51:24.239 --> 00:51:29.480
from tech and back in twenty two
thousand and nine, twenty ten, you

653
00:51:29.519 --> 00:51:35.239
know, they're definitely there was not
this awareness that around black people in technology,

654
00:51:35.400 --> 00:51:37.119
you didn't have these all these various
programs. You had a few,

655
00:51:37.159 --> 00:51:42.239
but not not as much as many
as you have now. Uh, And

656
00:51:43.159 --> 00:51:46.960
you definitely didn't have this community,
right, so that part was missing.

657
00:51:47.000 --> 00:51:51.239
So going to the you know,
these tech conferences, you're definitely not going

658
00:51:51.280 --> 00:51:54.480
to get that. So it's good
to hear, especially you know, you're

659
00:51:54.519 --> 00:52:00.880
being part of this cohort that you're
surrounded by people you know who look like

660
00:52:00.920 --> 00:52:04.400
you, walk like you, talk
like you. You know, this community

661
00:52:04.400 --> 00:52:07.519
where you have all these commonalities and
you know, similar backgrounds and things like

662
00:52:07.559 --> 00:52:12.079
that, and you're able to have
that comfort, uh and being that that

663
00:52:12.519 --> 00:52:16.199
safe space so that it actually when
you're when you're not stressed out about those

664
00:52:16.239 --> 00:52:22.480
things, it really helps your learning
absolutely. So that's that's great to hear.

665
00:52:22.679 --> 00:52:30.559
UM. So tell us a little
bit about like, um, you're

666
00:52:30.639 --> 00:52:34.519
you're you're in this cohort, like
what what are they, what type of

667
00:52:34.719 --> 00:52:37.880
what's the curriculum or what you know, kind of like a day to day

668
00:52:37.039 --> 00:52:43.239
what is that like? Yeah,
so pretty much how our day is structured

669
00:52:43.559 --> 00:52:51.119
is um the majority of the time
that we're kind of um on on online

670
00:52:51.119 --> 00:52:54.559
with you one another is mostly learning. So we pretty much have our morning

671
00:52:54.639 --> 00:53:01.239
at afternoon split into like a morning
lecture an afternoon lecture where we kind of

672
00:53:01.280 --> 00:53:07.039
talk about things that we learned the
day prior and then we bring up new

673
00:53:07.159 --> 00:53:12.320
topics that we're getting ready to learn. So we just kicked off yesterday,

674
00:53:12.599 --> 00:53:16.280
so we're kind of building up a
little bit, so I know pretty much

675
00:53:16.480 --> 00:53:21.840
we're kind of getting into GET and
we're kind of getting into like AHML and

676
00:53:22.000 --> 00:53:23.880
CSS, so we're kind of getting
our feet wet a little bit. But

677
00:53:24.800 --> 00:53:28.719
I've done the boot camp thing before, and I know, like this is

678
00:53:28.840 --> 00:53:34.320
just like the start of the snowball. It's definitely gonna snowball fast. But

679
00:53:34.880 --> 00:53:39.159
I will say while we do have
kind of like our morning lecture, our

680
00:53:39.199 --> 00:53:45.880
study hall on our afternoon lecture,
there are plenty of times for breaks,

681
00:53:45.719 --> 00:53:52.159
and I do appreciate that they're developing
a culture where they they encourage us to

682
00:53:52.480 --> 00:53:57.760
kind of take that time away from
the screen, because burnout is so real

683
00:53:57.800 --> 00:54:01.280
in tech. Even if you're not
even doing like a a tech focused job.

684
00:54:01.320 --> 00:54:06.880
Within tech, it is very easy
to kind of get into the cycle

685
00:54:07.000 --> 00:54:08.960
of your clock in at nine,
or you or if you mean, if

686
00:54:08.960 --> 00:54:12.800
you you get lucky and you get
a flexible schedule, kind of you clock

687
00:54:12.880 --> 00:54:15.199
in whenever you want to clock in. You start doing your work on the

688
00:54:15.280 --> 00:54:20.360
screen, and you kind of get
lost in that for hours and hours and

689
00:54:20.440 --> 00:54:23.000
hours, and you don't even take
the time to take a step back to

690
00:54:23.679 --> 00:54:28.239
you know, eat, to kind
of you know, go outside to get

691
00:54:28.280 --> 00:54:32.760
some fresh air, to relax.
And they really do promote that, like

692
00:54:32.960 --> 00:54:37.360
us getting those breaks, like,
you know, every hour, even if

693
00:54:37.440 --> 00:54:42.960
it's just you know, going and
stretching or getting like a cup of water

694
00:54:43.119 --> 00:54:46.039
or just taking a quick walk,
Like those things make such a big difference

695
00:54:46.639 --> 00:54:51.760
because they're kind of preparing us for
kind of that work where I know,

696
00:54:51.800 --> 00:54:53.639
at some point we might get a
little bit more, they might let us

697
00:54:53.639 --> 00:54:58.159
give us a little bit more autonomy
with our work, and we really need

698
00:54:58.199 --> 00:55:04.199
to kind of have that um kind
of have that structure in that the amount

699
00:55:04.239 --> 00:55:07.400
of time that you have for work, you need to dedicate that time for

700
00:55:07.519 --> 00:55:12.440
rest because you're not gonna do any
good when you're on em. You definitely

701
00:55:12.440 --> 00:55:15.440
need to take the time to refill
yourself, you know, kind of get

702
00:55:15.440 --> 00:55:20.800
back to doing kind of like that
work life balance, Like they really you

703
00:55:20.840 --> 00:55:24.199
know, kind of encourage that,
and that's pretty much what I love.

704
00:55:24.320 --> 00:55:28.800
But a lot of what we're doing
right now is pretty much kind of like

705
00:55:28.880 --> 00:55:30.800
soaking, Like we're pretty much spunge
is at this point. You know,

706
00:55:31.119 --> 00:55:37.000
they're giving us every opportunity that they
can within that a our time span for

707
00:55:37.119 --> 00:55:40.079
us to learn and um kind of
test our knowledge and be able to work

708
00:55:40.079 --> 00:55:45.599
with one another and share knowledge amongst
each other. So it's been great so

709
00:55:45.639 --> 00:55:52.239
far, and I'm glad that tech
is matured in that way. There is

710
00:55:52.400 --> 00:56:01.039
a there is a documentary that you
can find on your tube and it's about

711
00:56:01.559 --> 00:56:07.400
um man. It's about one of
the earlier browsers. Uh. And now

712
00:56:07.440 --> 00:56:12.119
I can't even think of the name
of it. Um. But you they

713
00:56:12.199 --> 00:56:16.719
have this deadline right where they're they're
losing. It's about Netscape, the Netscape

714
00:56:16.719 --> 00:56:24.119
browser, UM, and they're starting
to lose market share, uh to I

715
00:56:24.159 --> 00:56:30.239
think probably like Internet Explorer at the
time, right uh An Internet Explorer first

716
00:56:30.239 --> 00:56:35.400
came out, Microsoft started started dominating
the browsers, wars and everything like that.

717
00:56:35.480 --> 00:56:39.639
Netscape is trying to hold its footing
um. And so you see these

718
00:56:39.760 --> 00:56:45.920
engineers like you know, of course
this was you know, back in the

719
00:56:45.079 --> 00:56:50.400
nineteen nineties and things like that.
So, uh, as far as like

720
00:56:50.480 --> 00:56:54.440
software development goes and like the process
of doing it, like it's it's definitely

721
00:56:54.480 --> 00:56:58.760
different than they didn't have get you
know and stuff like that back then,

722
00:56:58.920 --> 00:57:04.760
so they didn't have that luxury they
were so but you you'll see in that

723
00:57:04.920 --> 00:57:12.039
documentary like these these developers are like
spending like the whole entire night and in

724
00:57:12.119 --> 00:57:16.440
the office, right Like that's and
and and I've heard stories, you know

725
00:57:16.679 --> 00:57:21.880
of software developers working on weekends,
working through the night and things like that.

726
00:57:22.480 --> 00:57:25.079
And so I'm glad that there's like
this maturity in this in this space,

727
00:57:25.119 --> 00:57:30.280
in this industry where they really value
mental health, work work life balance.

728
00:57:31.159 --> 00:57:34.920
Uh, because you can't you can't
work people or the death and then

729
00:57:35.000 --> 00:57:38.159
expect them to work at you know, their optimal level. Like that's just

730
00:57:38.239 --> 00:57:43.360
not just not how we're wiring as
humans. Like that's right, every every

731
00:57:43.519 --> 00:57:46.119
you know, all muscles get tired, including the brain. Right. So

732
00:57:47.280 --> 00:57:52.119
so it's good to hear that they
are you know, kind of exposing you

733
00:57:52.199 --> 00:57:57.159
to to that early because I think
a lot of organizations are now you know,

734
00:57:57.480 --> 00:57:59.599
catching onto that. They're like,
hey, we got to have a

735
00:58:00.000 --> 00:58:05.199
because people are demanding, especially with
covid uh nowadays and people being able to

736
00:58:05.199 --> 00:58:08.920
work from home and are having like
kind of like that hybrid situation of just

737
00:58:09.000 --> 00:58:13.960
like, yeah, I'm not going
to be working thirteen hour days and you

738
00:58:14.000 --> 00:58:15.400
know, I can go to this
company and make the same amount of money

739
00:58:15.400 --> 00:58:19.599
and they you know, I get
five weeks of vacation and I can take

740
00:58:19.639 --> 00:58:22.079
a day off here and there.
They're not gonna yell at me or anything

741
00:58:22.119 --> 00:58:23.960
like that. Like nobody wants to
go through that anymore. Those days are

742
00:58:24.679 --> 00:58:28.920
gone, hopefully, and so it's
good days. It's good that that that

743
00:58:29.000 --> 00:58:31.920
they're exposing your all to that right
now. Yeah, Yeah, it's it's

744
00:58:31.960 --> 00:58:37.559
really nice to it's really nice to
be able to kind of see where tech

745
00:58:37.840 --> 00:58:43.400
kind of see where tech has how
far tech has come, and how far

746
00:58:43.480 --> 00:58:49.360
the culture of tech has come.
And I'm really hopeful that, um that

747
00:58:49.760 --> 00:58:53.480
as we keep progressing that you know, tech will continue to become better and

748
00:58:53.559 --> 00:58:59.639
better in terms of culture and you
know, how to nurture like, you

749
00:58:59.639 --> 00:59:02.960
know, the minds of the people
that I'm working within it, because it

750
00:59:04.039 --> 00:59:08.239
is not an easy job, like
I know, especially like with a lot

751
00:59:08.280 --> 00:59:13.719
of social media, like a lot
of people sometimes have painted it like,

752
00:59:13.800 --> 00:59:16.119
oh, yeah, I log in
and you know, I work for two

753
00:59:16.199 --> 00:59:21.239
hours, and you know, I
log off and I get to go,

754
00:59:22.960 --> 00:59:25.639
you know, vacationing for days and
days and days and don't have to do

755
00:59:25.679 --> 00:59:30.119
a whole lot of work. And
you get in it and you start realizing

756
00:59:30.199 --> 00:59:35.920
like, no, I mean,
if you have some code that you have

757
00:59:36.000 --> 00:59:38.599
to finish, or there are some
books that you have to sort out and

758
00:59:38.760 --> 00:59:43.480
you can't figure out what the problem
is, sometimes you will go hours and

759
00:59:43.599 --> 00:59:47.000
days just trying to figure out how
to solve this one issue. And so

760
00:59:47.440 --> 00:59:52.039
I'm appreciative that they kind of are
giving us a little bit of wiggle room

761
00:59:52.159 --> 01:00:00.000
to be able to kind of work
out those issues without kind of dictating or

762
01:00:00.039 --> 01:00:06.440
forcing us to, you know,
constantly work around the clock because it's impossible.

763
01:00:06.679 --> 01:00:12.119
And I feel like that's where education
was for me, Like I felt

764
01:00:12.159 --> 01:00:15.360
like we were getting more and more, we were having to do more and

765
01:00:15.440 --> 01:00:21.960
more work outside of the clock,
and it just didn't feel very fulfilling and

766
01:00:22.000 --> 01:00:28.039
there wasn't a culture for educators.
And I'm hoping that it's getting a little

767
01:00:28.079 --> 01:00:30.199
better. I've only been one year
out of the game, but I'm hoping

768
01:00:30.239 --> 01:00:35.559
that it's gotten at least a little
better where they're at least starting to recognize

769
01:00:35.599 --> 01:00:39.639
that, you know, nobody is
able to work twenty four hours, seven

770
01:00:39.679 --> 01:00:44.519
days a week. It is just
literally impossible, Like our bodies are not

771
01:00:44.639 --> 01:00:47.480
formulated for that, Like we're not
created to work twenty four to seven And

772
01:00:47.519 --> 01:00:53.159
so yeah, I'm hoping that you
know, people will look at tech in

773
01:00:53.239 --> 01:00:58.280
other different spaces outside of tech and
realize like, hey, we can incorporate

774
01:00:58.320 --> 01:01:02.119
this not only in the tech space, but in other spaces. So I

775
01:01:02.119 --> 01:01:06.880
agree, yeah, yeah, I
don't. I don't envy teachers at all.

776
01:01:07.239 --> 01:01:14.199
I don't. My wife volunteers UM
at my son's school, UM,

777
01:01:14.239 --> 01:01:16.519
and she tells me about some of
the things that you know, and of

778
01:01:16.559 --> 01:01:20.639
course, you know this this is
elementary school and you're dealing with younkers kids

779
01:01:20.639 --> 01:01:24.199
and things like that, and but
just the amount of stuff that they they

780
01:01:24.239 --> 01:01:29.760
have to do outside of it,
and then you know, um, now

781
01:01:29.880 --> 01:01:35.880
nowadays they they have you know,
parents by a bulk of because I remember

782
01:01:35.880 --> 01:01:38.920
when I went to school and I'm
you know, like he's showing my age

783
01:01:38.920 --> 01:01:45.679
here and tell my but you know, you you needed the real basic stuff

784
01:01:45.800 --> 01:01:49.480
right right, Like a couple of
councils and things like that, and I

785
01:01:49.480 --> 01:01:52.199
didn't need to bring glue, and
I didn't need to bring you know,

786
01:01:52.280 --> 01:01:57.920
colored paper, and they schools had
all that stuff, right, But nowadays

787
01:01:58.719 --> 01:02:08.159
they they're sitting and higher list yeah
right right right, um, And and

788
01:02:08.920 --> 01:02:15.320
I've heard of teachers having to come
out of their own pockets for f and

789
01:02:15.400 --> 01:02:20.880
so yeah, and so I don't
envy teachers as far as like the workload,

790
01:02:21.039 --> 01:02:22.559
as far as things like that,
and not only that, but they're

791
01:02:22.639 --> 01:02:28.039
so so underpaid. Yes, I
wish that it would, you know,

792
01:02:29.440 --> 01:02:31.480
I wish there was something would happen. I don't know how would happened,

793
01:02:31.840 --> 01:02:37.760
but maybe you know, take some
of that lottery money and just right and

794
01:02:37.880 --> 01:02:42.639
just kind of uh divert it to
you know, paying teachers, man,

795
01:02:42.639 --> 01:02:47.480
because I'm pretty sure that affects how
teachers teach. I'm pretty sure that affects

796
01:02:47.599 --> 01:02:52.800
how they want to work and and
everything, like if you if I'm coming

797
01:02:52.840 --> 01:02:59.000
into class, you know, and
and I'm not saying all kids are like

798
01:02:59.079 --> 01:03:00.039
this, but kids, you know, you have to pay for your own

799
01:03:00.039 --> 01:03:05.280
supplies, you have to work later
hours. You know, you got kids

800
01:03:05.440 --> 01:03:12.280
acting food acting a food good and
I'm only getting forty fifty thousand a year.

801
01:03:13.559 --> 01:03:17.079
Nah, I'd rather rather do something
else. And I'm pretty sure and

802
01:03:19.159 --> 01:03:21.599
now not that it's all about money. I know there's a lot of teachers

803
01:03:21.599 --> 01:03:24.960
out there that you know, do
it for the love of teaching, but

804
01:03:25.079 --> 01:03:32.039
that's still a very high bar for
people to overcome, right, So I

805
01:03:32.079 --> 01:03:37.519
hope they figured this out one day. I mean, we were giving fifty

806
01:03:37.079 --> 01:03:42.480
sixty million dollars to Baseball and bat
and hey, I'm all about get your

807
01:03:42.519 --> 01:03:45.880
money. I'm not saying don't get
your money. But at the same time,

808
01:03:46.639 --> 01:03:51.199
I mean they're teaching, They're teaching
our kids, so something's got to

809
01:03:51.239 --> 01:03:55.400
give, right eventually, absolutely,
Yeah, So what are some of your

810
01:03:55.400 --> 01:04:00.599
goals? Um, you know,
next, next few years, Yeah,

811
01:04:00.719 --> 01:04:05.360
next, for years. UM.
I'm hoping that once I get settled into

812
01:04:06.119 --> 01:04:11.880
a role as a software engineer.
UM, I really do hope to give

813
01:04:11.960 --> 01:04:17.119
back to, you know, my
community. I really had a huge,

814
01:04:17.480 --> 01:04:21.079
you know, a strong tie with
the the youth that I worked with in

815
01:04:21.159 --> 01:04:26.519
Coundla Zoo and in Grand Rapids,
and I really want to be able to

816
01:04:26.559 --> 01:04:30.840
give back to not only those communities, but like, you know, my

817
01:04:30.960 --> 01:04:38.039
hometown in Detroit because I if I
would have been exposed to seeing more black

818
01:04:38.079 --> 01:04:44.719
women UM in this space when I
was younger, I think about the possibilities

819
01:04:44.719 --> 01:04:47.719
of HUME. Would I have taken
that route a lot sooner if I had

820
01:04:47.760 --> 01:04:51.239
just seen more people that looked like
me? And so I want to be

821
01:04:51.320 --> 01:04:59.119
able to UM, you know,
help expose more youth, especially like little

822
01:04:59.119 --> 01:05:00.760
black girls, and and letting them
know, like, you know, you

823
01:05:00.880 --> 01:05:06.320
have the capability to be able to
be successful in this field. So my

824
01:05:06.480 --> 01:05:11.880
hope and my goal is to kind
of get back into that nonprofit space a

825
01:05:11.920 --> 01:05:15.360
little bit. I want to be
able to kind of develop my own nonprofit

826
01:05:15.840 --> 01:05:21.360
or maybe collaborate with other nonprofits in
the area to where we provide like free

827
01:05:21.400 --> 01:05:31.239
software engineering courses or free exposure to
software engineering engineering or software engineers to UM

828
01:05:31.480 --> 01:05:36.760
schools in like UM at risk areas
or in places where you know, they

829
01:05:36.760 --> 01:05:41.320
don't have the means to be able
to get that exposure you know, on

830
01:05:41.360 --> 01:05:44.960
their own. And so that's pretty
much, you know, my goal that

831
01:05:45.000 --> 01:05:48.840
I hope to to That's pretty much
my goal for the next five years.

832
01:05:48.840 --> 01:05:54.039
So hey, if you're listening,
then you know you got any ideas or

833
01:05:54.159 --> 01:05:58.360
you want to kind of get on
that ballpark with me. I would love

834
01:05:58.400 --> 01:06:00.800
to have some people, you know, get on the bandwagon with me.

835
01:06:00.960 --> 01:06:04.079
You know, I'm not superwoman,
even though I would like to say that

836
01:06:04.159 --> 01:06:09.320
I am. UM. I definitely
would love to have a team that has

837
01:06:09.400 --> 01:06:15.559
like that same goal and want that
has that same mindset about UM creating like

838
01:06:15.639 --> 01:06:20.119
that next generation of black engineers.
Because I've always said, like, if

839
01:06:20.159 --> 01:06:25.000
you want your company, if you
want the tech space to grow, um,

840
01:06:25.119 --> 01:06:29.039
you have to be innovative. And
I believe innovation comes with diversity.

841
01:06:29.440 --> 01:06:32.000
And if you are not diverse,
you were, You're constant, you will

842
01:06:32.079 --> 01:06:36.880
never be challenged to think outside the
box. You know, when you when

843
01:06:36.880 --> 01:06:43.159
you have a diverse group of people, you're gonna constantly always be getting new

844
01:06:43.239 --> 01:06:47.199
ideas, new ways of thinking.
You know, um, how somebody does

845
01:06:47.559 --> 01:06:51.679
you know this in one area might
be completely different than how they do it

846
01:06:51.719 --> 01:06:56.159
in another area. And we see
it all the time, um in many

847
01:06:56.199 --> 01:07:00.440
other different spaces. And so I
want to be able to help bring more

848
01:07:00.480 --> 01:07:04.920
of that diversity into the space so
that we can really see like like tech

849
01:07:05.239 --> 01:07:11.079
sore, Like I really feel like
we should be living like um um.

850
01:07:11.440 --> 01:07:16.679
What is that one show called UH
The jetsons. I really feel like that's

851
01:07:16.719 --> 01:07:19.599
how we should be living. We
should you know, I feel like we

852
01:07:19.639 --> 01:07:26.559
should have discovered living in space and
we should have like everybody should have,

853
01:07:26.719 --> 01:07:30.199
you know, flying cars, and
you know, we should be living in

854
01:07:30.239 --> 01:07:33.760
like a futuristic era. But I
do think one of the big setbacks is

855
01:07:33.800 --> 01:07:42.679
that the tech space really has not
UM has not like embraced bringing in more

856
01:07:42.800 --> 01:07:47.440
diversity into the space. And so
if I can like push the needle a

857
01:07:47.440 --> 01:07:50.960
little bit more towards that, you
know, I'd love to do that.

858
01:07:51.039 --> 01:07:57.920
So, yeah, that's like my
ultimate goal or dream for the next couple

859
01:07:57.920 --> 01:08:02.199
of years. And you know,
PLU a plug here for you know,

860
01:08:02.239 --> 01:08:08.360
there's BIT foundation, so there's always
opportunities for uh, you know, for

861
01:08:08.440 --> 01:08:12.599
helping out there. But I think
there's a chapter in Detroit, a BIT

862
01:08:12.679 --> 01:08:17.039
chapter in Detroit UM as well,
UM, and you know, there's always

863
01:08:17.039 --> 01:08:24.399
possibilities to starting one and grand grand
rapids as well. But I do agree

864
01:08:24.560 --> 01:08:30.640
with your statement about helping at risk
youth because one of the things that ends

865
01:08:30.720 --> 01:08:34.760
up happening in this space, UM
is that we end up grabbing the low

866
01:08:34.800 --> 01:08:40.439
hanging fruit, which is a lot
of times, you know, kids are

867
01:08:40.640 --> 01:08:44.960
you know, young adults that are
that have maybe you know, maybe a

868
01:08:45.079 --> 01:08:50.119
little itch for tech already, right
Like, they're not that so far removed

869
01:08:50.159 --> 01:08:54.479
from it that they're you know,
it immediately turns them off from they're here.

870
01:08:54.479 --> 01:08:57.119
They're just like, oh okay,
yeah, I've looked at that.

871
01:08:57.520 --> 01:09:01.520
Right. So it's those people that
you know, uh that organizations like ours

872
01:09:01.520 --> 01:09:09.119
that normally grab but being able to
the the real I think impact is going

873
01:09:09.159 --> 01:09:14.560
to be made when we really start
getting those at at at risk youth and

874
01:09:14.600 --> 01:09:18.279
bringing them into the fold, uh
and and growing that talent as well.

875
01:09:19.000 --> 01:09:24.199
So I think like that's I don't
I know that there are some there are

876
01:09:24.239 --> 01:09:29.920
some organizations out there that have tapped
into it a little bit, but I

877
01:09:29.960 --> 01:09:33.359
still think I mean because if you
look at you know, some communities like

878
01:09:33.399 --> 01:09:38.199
this, there's a lot of at
risk used out there that if they just

879
01:09:38.239 --> 01:09:41.560
had something else to focus on,
you know, they can make an impact,

880
01:09:41.640 --> 01:09:45.760
They can make a career and and
tech and so it's always been about

881
01:09:45.760 --> 01:09:49.319
well, how do you go about
reaching not only reaching out to them,

882
01:09:49.399 --> 01:09:54.239
but but bringing them in and keeping
them there? Right Like that's going to

883
01:09:54.319 --> 01:09:58.039
be a key thing too. Uh
So, yeah, I mean, you

884
01:09:58.039 --> 01:10:00.319
know, if you have some ideas
about it and you can bring some of

885
01:10:00.359 --> 01:10:04.279
those ideas to bet and want to
want to get something started with the chapter

886
01:10:04.399 --> 01:10:09.039
near you, that that would be
great. Absolutely, that sounds awesome.

887
01:10:10.119 --> 01:10:14.039
Um, last thing, are you
going to make it or be able to

888
01:10:14.039 --> 01:10:15.520
make it to bitcoin? You know, we're in Nashville this year, and

889
01:10:15.880 --> 01:10:21.439
yes, I am definitely gonna make
it to bitcom this year. I loved

890
01:10:21.439 --> 01:10:25.600
it last year when we were in
Orlando. I loved the sun, I

891
01:10:25.680 --> 01:10:32.159
loved connected I did. I was
there there. I think I might have

892
01:10:32.199 --> 01:10:35.119
seen you in passing. I know
it was. It was a lot going

893
01:10:35.159 --> 01:10:41.039
on and there was so many different
like speakers and sessions that I really wanted

894
01:10:41.079 --> 01:10:44.600
to go to. So I was
jetting all over the place, and I

895
01:10:44.720 --> 01:10:46.840
know that I might have seen you
on the stage a couple of times,

896
01:10:46.840 --> 01:10:51.119
but I don't think I got the
chance to formally introduce myself because I know

897
01:10:51.359 --> 01:10:55.359
when I saw Rita at the check
in, she was like, you gotta

898
01:10:55.399 --> 01:10:57.840
go meet Greg, you gotta go
see Anthony, and I was like,

899
01:10:57.920 --> 01:11:00.800
yes, and then never got the
opportune to be It was my first tech

900
01:11:00.840 --> 01:11:04.359
conference, so you know, I
think I was a little bit overwhelmed by

901
01:11:04.359 --> 01:11:09.920
everything and I just wanted to do
everything and so yes, so hopefully we

902
01:11:09.960 --> 01:11:14.319
can meet this ye yeah, when
you see me, just come up to

903
01:11:14.399 --> 01:11:16.560
me. I'm yeah, I'm super
approachable, like you know, so,

904
01:11:17.359 --> 01:11:20.039
uh yeah, that would be that
would be fantastic. I didn't even know

905
01:11:20.079 --> 01:11:24.680
you were there. That's so that's
awesome too. Yes, excellent, excellent.

906
01:11:24.960 --> 01:11:27.399
Okay, so before we get out
of here, UM, you know,

907
01:11:27.479 --> 01:11:29.680
how can people, you know,
if they want to learn more about

908
01:11:29.680 --> 01:11:31.760
your journey, or even if they
want to contact you for you know,

909
01:11:31.840 --> 01:11:34.439
to hear more about your journey,
maybe they want to get you on another

910
01:11:34.479 --> 01:11:38.399
podcast like this one, how can
they get in contact with you? So

911
01:11:38.520 --> 01:11:42.800
I'm pretty active on LinkedIn, So
if you look up my name Dshaye d

912
01:11:43.039 --> 01:11:47.600
E s h E what um,
you feel free to send me a connect

913
01:11:47.840 --> 01:11:53.000
or um, just a quick personal
note and I'll be happy to get with

914
01:11:53.039 --> 01:11:59.199
you. UM. I should probably
do a lot more, um kind of

915
01:11:59.479 --> 01:12:04.079
a journaling my experience. So I'm
trying to kind of see if I can

916
01:12:04.119 --> 01:12:09.560
do a little something on TikTok um, so kind of kind of you know,

917
01:12:09.640 --> 01:12:13.479
documenting my journey of on interrupt.
Since I didn't get the opportunity to

918
01:12:13.520 --> 01:12:16.760
do it on tech Elevator, so
you can follow me on TikTok at woods

919
01:12:16.840 --> 01:12:21.119
d sche Um, so I'll be
on there too, And hopefully if you

920
01:12:21.239 --> 01:12:26.000
have any questions on what my journey
was like in tech Elevator or what it's

921
01:12:26.079 --> 01:12:29.520
like at Interact, you know,
I'm more than happy to be able to

922
01:12:29.560 --> 01:12:32.760
share my experience or kind of give
you all some insight on you know,

923
01:12:32.840 --> 01:12:38.279
kind of what my you know,
experience was like transitioning from you know,

924
01:12:38.479 --> 01:12:43.920
education into tech. So, yeah, it was a pleasure having you on

925
01:12:43.920 --> 01:12:46.840
a podcast which you wish you nothing
but the best. Hopefully we get to

926
01:12:46.840 --> 01:12:50.720
meet at at Big Corn this year. Yes, we will meet at Big

927
01:12:50.760 --> 01:12:57.359
com So good luck with everything.
Good luck. We're interapt and and TVs

928
01:12:57.520 --> 01:13:00.039
uh and I hope to hear from
you soon. All right, thank you

929
01:13:00.079 --> 01:13:03.560
so much, great, I appreciate
it. Take care of you. Two

930
01:13:04.399 --> 01:13:15.800
Blacks and Technology Wi Wack, Blacks
and Technology, Blacks and Technology, White

931
01:13:15.880 --> 01:13:23.359
wax and Technology, Blas and Technology, White Wax and Technology,