Tech Talk

In the past year, I've written several pieces on the gender gap in cyber security. Only last month, the fact that women were members of college teams competing in national cyber competitions was news worthy. When I posted last week about hiring women, I received a message from a reader who had shared the blog with his three daughters. He said, "Your title should have been: Don't wait for educational process to close jobs gap: Hire women and Pay them Like Men."

Think diversity in tech is a pipeline issue? Think again. Nine percent of graduates from top engineering programs are black and Latino, according to a recent report titled “Diversity in High Tech” by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Representation for blacks and Latinos at tech firms, however, typically falls to around 5 percent, showing a sharp disparity between supply and demand.

Fifth graders Davonayshia Hollis, left, and Denaya Rippey, review a group entrepreneurial project for a parent-approved music device, developed in a mentorship program, Thursday May 19, 2016, at Brooklyn's P.S. 307 in New York. Startups and established tech companies are providing a crash course in entrepreneurship, sending engineers and designers into public schools to mentor students.