In this guide, I'll be dropping some advice and resources for Latina K-12 students interested in pursuing a career in tech that involves coding.
Why care?
Numbers don't lie.
To quote the Pew Research Center (2016), "Hispanics are the youngest major racial or ethnic group in the United States."
To quote Brookings (2022), "based on sheer population size and growth, Hispanic children and youth will shape the U.S. economic and political landscapes for years to come."
So from a purely statistical perspective, there are so many Latino kids in this country that if we decide not to actively support their path towards financial stability and prosperity, the entire country will be economically worse off.
My belief is that one of the most stable paths toward financial stability and prosperity is in the tech industry. Tech remains one of the largest sources of wealth in the world and has proven to be a powerful source of intergenerational wealth.
This is why I over-index on roles that involve coding: demand will continue to be high for software engineers, and being able to code is a valuable skill to have if you want to launch a startup too.
The hope is that folks read this and get more Latina students interested in coding, which in turn will make the entire country better off.
Programs to explore
Many organizations serve Latina K-12 students in the US who are interested in learning how to code. You'll find them in the K-12 section of our resources page. My personal favorites are the ones I've volunteered for, which include Code Nation, Code.org, SMASH Academy and Mission Bit.
My K-12 story
I didn't realize software engineering was even a career path available to me until my junior year of high school.
Up until that point, I was pretty much set on going on a 10+ year journey of majoring in biology and becoming a neurosurgeon. When my biology teachers passed out the frogs to dissect, I was that kid who asked for another frog. I was a top student in the medical specialty program at my high school and everything seemed to be tracking towards the end goal.
However, the summer before my senior year of high school, I realized I was pursuing a path that my parents had set out for me and not a path I had set out for myself. I pivoted to exploring the only other thing I had shown a true passion for at the time: MMORPG games.
I started taking courses on Codecademy during my free block and then after school. It turns out I really enjoyed coding. I created the first version of my personal website too and really started to specialize in web development.
I went on to apply to some of the most competitive computer science programs in the country, and probably because I didn't have anything tangible to show my interest in computer science besides a couple of online course completions, I got waitlisted or rejected by nearly all of them. But things still worked out.
The next generation of Marias
"Marias" is an optimistic word I use to describe the next generation of Latina K-12 students. It's a play on the name Maria, which has a lovely ring to it in my opinion.
Ideally, the Marias end up pursuing a career in tech and do some really cool and beneficial things for the world. Way cooler and more beneficial things than what the Marks of tech have done. 🙈
Advice for allies of Maria
Allies here are the parents, friends, siblings and mentors of Latina K-12 students.
- Check if Maria shows any interest. Regardless of what Maria is interested in, she should have the opportunity to explore computer science as a career. Maria may surprise you.
- The earlier Maria learns she's interested in computer science, the better. That may seem a tad harsh, but women and people of color are more likely to keep advancing in their careers the earlier they get their start. My take is that as your knowledge grows over the years, your confidence grows with it, and you're less likely to see yourself as a statistical anomaly.
- Get Maria a computer. Exposing her to computers as early as possible will make her more tech savvy. I asked for a MacBook Pro in high school because I wanted to explore the Apple ecosystem and have the portability to code wherever I went. My parents made me feel that money was never an obstacle when I asked, and I only realized later how substantial their investment in me was. If there's no discipline, it's easy to fall into smartphone or computer addiction, so that's something to look out for. Being able to buy a laptop is not a privilege everyone has, but if you can afford it, invest in her tech education however you can. It will pay off substantially in the long term.
- Maria will need your emotional support sometimes. At times, Maria may doubt herself and face rejection after rejection. Anytime that happened to me, I'd feel a deep sense of impostor syndrome, and talking with my mom helped me, even though she was basically a Luddite.
Calls to action
- Volunteer for or donate to any of the K-12 organizations on our resources page.
- Advocate for computer science to be a required course for all students. Code.org and CSforALL are making great progress on this, but it's still not a country-wide policy yet.
- Get more Latina students interested in AI specifically. Innovations in AI represent the cutting edge of technology and will impact how we work and interact with each other in massive ways. To quote AI4ALL, "there is a diversity crisis in AI and computer science: a homogenous group of technologists is building AI solutions for our diverse population."