In awe of a recent survey, Facebook launches TechPrep to empower minorities. As the name might suggest, Facebook’s new program is meant to offer educative materials to Black and Hispanics, the two ethnic groups that are more appropriate from programming careers.
- Findings of Facebook’s recent survey
- Facebook’s TechPrep program and facilities it offers to ethnic group
- Feedback on Facebook’s TechPrep
Facebook, like many other companies is willing to give back to the community. The social network has recently commissioned a survey at the McKinsey consulting firm to get a clearer picture of ethnic representation in their company.
The survey has revealed that Blacks would gladly take up programming careers, but unfortunately, they often lack the means to do so. 50% of the Black respondents and 42% of the Hispanics who have been recently interviewed consider that they would be very good at programming.
The rest of the respondents had more modest opinions about their capabilities. Only 35% of the Whites and 35% of the Asians considered themselves good for a programming career, while the majority of them never considered a similar career.
In spite of their intention, facts prove the opposite. Few parents can support their children to start programming careers. 77% parents in the interview told surveyors they do not know how to help their children and those who did, rarely possessed the financial means to do so.
Facebook has, thus, found out that educating parents is the first step the social network needs to make to help the younger generations. Developers have come up with the TechPrep program – a collection of books, games and educational materials for children and parents. Their objective is to educate the younger and the older generations to understand the general requirements for a programming career, as well as to help them make their first steps in this direction.
Since the program was designed for Blacks and Hispanics, most of the materials in the collection are written in English and Spanish. Subscribers will also have access to jobs in programming and they will be able to apply for them.
Unlike Google, who is directing their attention towards the younger generations, Facebook is more interested in getting parents’ support and implication. This is vital in their opinion because parents still have a strong influence on their children’s choice of career, especially for the Black and Hispanic communities.
Image source: www.bing.com
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