Portia Kibble Smith is an executive recruiter and diversity and inclusion lead for Karat, a company that conducts technical interviews on behalf of businesses hiring software engineers to create a more predictive, fair, and inclusive process. She has recently been the driving force behind the Real Talk: Diversity in Tech series and the launch of Brilliant Black Minds.
When Portia Kibble Smith started her career at Xerox as a black woman in tech in the early 1980s, D&I programs were "virtually nonexistent," she said.
Survey of 300 Black computer science students highlights the importance of access to computers, exposure to the technology industry, and interview practice
/PRNewswire/ -- Karat, the world leader in technical interviewing, today announced Brilliant Black Minds, a program to improve access, fairness, and inclusion...
Based on the high participation and positive feedback from our pilot with Howard University students, we're expanding the program this semester to other HBCUs and industry organizations. These institutions produce brilliant software engineers, but many of the candidates haven't been exposed to formal interview training and preparation for how big-tech companies assess talent, which puts them at a disadvantage.
The lack of representation of Black engineers in tech is a barrier to entry for the next generation. A lot of the HBCU students we interviewed are first-generation college students. They don't have a clear understanding of what goes on in a technical interview until they're interviewing for their first engineering internship, and they don't have anyone in their networks to help them prepare.
The reality is that many D&I programs, and the chief diversity officers (CDOs) who champion them, have not been properly equipped to make impactful changes in how their companies recruit, retain, and promote diverse talent.