Christine Burkette, who is the director of digital equity & inclusion for the innovation and technology department at the City of Detroit, gave an inspiring tech talk at the 2023 Women of Color STEM Conference.
In her flash presentation, she encouraged women and girls to explore opportunities in technology. She explained that there are different paths to get into the tech industry and that skills are transferable.
She suggested the first step is to identify what you want to do, research the different jobs available in that field, and then consider getting certified.
There are many companies that offer free or paid online certifications, which can help you decide if tech is right for you.
After that, get an internship or apprenticeship to gain experience and then seek job placements.
Christine emphasized that while college is a great option, it's not the only way to enter the tech industry.
Christine has multiple degrees, but she recognizes that certifications and recertification can be just as valuable.
Watch the video below and read the excerpts:
"I went the traditional way by going to school to be a chemist and then getting into technology through a lot of different avenues. But that's not the only way," she began. "I think a lot of times we don't understand skills are transferable."
So first do some research and find out all the different jobs that fall into that space.
What we do in tech, A.I., is created by a person like me who wrote an algorithm to program something to do something. Think about the different types of programming. It's not just one language, we all speak different languages. There are different programming languages.
If we want to understand how to develop websites or mobile apps, I suggest UI and UX, so you can be an app developer.
You can also be a person who analyzes data that helps make my job more efficient. So those are the different things you can do.
More importantly, you could always get your tech certifications online through multiple companies. Try getting a free tech certification to see what a crash course looks like; see whether this is something you really want to do Then after that invest some money into it.
There are a lot of companies that certify people and then you can go dabble in that space, get an internship, apprenticeship, and then job placements in the tech world.
You don't always have to go to college. You are talking to someone who has multiple degrees, so I'm not against colleges and universities. But you can get tech certification and recertification online," she concluded.
