A study from Deutsche Bank shows Black and Hispanic Americans are experiencing a “racial tech gap,” which could threaten their future ability to gain meaningful employment and grow wealth in a digital economy. That gap could eventually mean large numbers of Black and Hispanic American workers could be disqualified or underprepared for 86% of jobs in the U.S. by 2045.
The study also suggests that the hardware part is the simplest part to fix, because, for a billion dollars, you can provide the equipment to families. The part which sets people back the most is access to training. The report suggests that digital inequity, which starts early in life, especially in middle school, is what sets people back the most in the digital generation. And lots of kids, when they come to college, it is the first time they’re exposed to coding, compared to children from other families where they’ve had a lot of exposure. And that gap takes a long time to fill. That’s where the researchers feel, whether the biggest investment or biggest thinking, has to come through to address that.
As someone who has seen and experienced firsthand how access to the right resources at the right time can help someone grow, Andrea Atkins, as the Marketing Manager at Google Cloud feels blessed that her daily work at Google involves implementing educational programs for students looking to explore tech careers now. Her latest edu initiative, the Career Jump Start program has helped hundreds of underrepresented students receive access to cloud computing training and mentorship to help bridge the gap in this emerging field.
Andrea’s professional journey certainly was not a linear path. Her mom was a professor, and she was lucky to have access to computers at a young age. She was thrilled to upgrade from the college library DOS machines to their first personal computer, the Apple //e. As an only child, the computer became a trusted friend and connected her to a community. However, she confesses that she never would’ve studied computer science as a career path if she had known how lonely the field is for both women and people of color. After a year of programming in some very dark library basements as an intern, Andrea decided to go back to school to study business, and later marketing. However, those early experiences now guide her in her role. Her career seems to have come full circle as she now works to help others looking to break into tech through computer science, machine learning, data science, cyber security, and more.
Creating Opportunities
Andrea admits that the best thing about working in Google Cloud as a Marketing Campaign Manager is the diverse and creative projects she gets to work on and the decentralized nature of the teams. Innovation can come from anybody in the company, regardless of their pay grade or job title. “We brainstorm often, our ideas are heard, and we’re committed to providing value to our customers. Working in public sector marketing, I’m delighted to build integrated campaigns that help government, universities, and research institutions continue to find new ways to meet their needs across healthcare, transportation, social services, climate and sustainability, and more. Although the public sector has historically been seen as a slow space, cloud computing, and digital transformation are rapidly expanding the possibilities available in this field. It’s an exciting time,” says Andrea.
Working in tech, innovation (often at break-neck speeds) is the name of the game. This is why creating diverse teams in tech is so important to Andrea personally. Research has shown that diverse teams are significantly more impactful and profitable than homogenous ones, so championing diversity in tech makes the world better by allowing her team to find creative solutions to solve problems faster and more sustainably.
Andrea also leads several DEI initiatives for Google’s public sector team and regularly volunteers with external groups also. She received her Certified Diversity Professional credential last year from the Institute of Diversity Certification and is working to publish an inclusive marketing handbook for marketing teams at the end of the year.
Overcoming her Challenges
Andrea’s biggest challenge coming into the tech world was overcoming imposter syndrome; not being afraid to have a voice in spaces that are traditionally inhospitable to minorities. The industry can be difficult to navigate, and she’s happy to see so many avenues for support available now to ease the transition for new hires. “Don’t be afraid to be visible and vocal when you have something to say, even if you aren’t a senior leader or an ivy league grad,” she advises the new hires.
Her roles have helped Andrea grow as a professional. As a person with ADHD in a technical field (online marketing), she had to master project management systems to meet tight deadlines and communication with many different stakeholders. This is a struggle for many of us on the neurodivergent spectrum, but a few years ago she took a job with a project management startup and learned the lean management framework which has been a complete lifesaver for her. Adopting Kanban, just-in-time delivery and work-in-progress (WIP) limits lets her focus on only the most impactful tasks in her day. “I’m more efficient during busier times like product launches and our marketing event season while giving myself space to tackle technical debt when my workload is less chaotic. Lean and agile methodologies allow me to be more productive while avoiding mental burnout both at home and in the office,” shares Andrea.
Way for AI
Although AI is seen as a brand-new technology, many people are unaware that it’s been a part of our daily lives for many years. From organizing camera photos on our phones to auto-correcting our text messages and automated customer service bots, we’ve relied on AI productions for quite some time. Generative AI tools are particularly exciting, feels Andrea, in marketing, as they work to improve the efficiency in copywriting, creative production, and analytics. As AI continues to advance, the need for ethics teams that can identify biases, errors, and privacy issues will become even more important going forward. “AI is here to stay, but we’ll need continuous training for our workforce to learn how to handle AI models safely and ethically,” says Andrea.
Going Forward
As part of the Google Public Sector, Andrea and her team will help U.S. public sector customers use Google Cloud’s advanced cybersecurity products to protect their users, applications, and data from growing cyber threats. The experts will assist agencies and educational institutions in their use of Google Workspace to enable secure communication and collaboration, and to attract new employees to the government through the use of these modern tools. And they will also continue to invest in training public sector employees in digital and cloud skills, and in expanding the thriving ecosystem of partners who are already working with Google Cloud to build solutions that meet the urgent and growing needs of U.S. public sector organizations.
Word of Wisdom
Andrea’s advice to new entrepreneurs or anyone making a life change is not to let fear of trying something new hold you back. “Do your research, and start testing your ideas. Successful companies aren’t built in a day, but they are instead of a series of iterations that provide value to the customer. Don’t guess when making decisions; experiment and test as much as you can,” concludes Andrea.
Quote: “An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail.” Edwin Land, scientist, and co-founder of Polaroid
