Equalizing access to opportunities in tech — Code for America launches an apprenticeship program!

Diversity and inclusion are core values here at Code for America. We serve ALL Americans with our work. As we make decisions, our employees in the room must be representative of those we serve. It’s key to our programmatic and organizational success.

We are also acutely aware that access to opportunities in tech are not equal. Many people land their first break through networks and connections, of which access is often determined by power and privilege.

We’re trying to level the playing field and diversify our candidate pool by launching our first apprenticeship program in software engineering and data science for junior technical talent! Apprentices will be paired with a mentor and work side by side on some of the most exciting and important problems we’re trying to solve here like our Integrated Benefits Initiative, Client Comm and GetCalFresh.

The apprenticeship is a full time, 6 month program beginning in early June. By building our capacity to train and support junior talent we widen the reach of those we can hire, expanding the diversity of our candidate pool and providing ourselves and the larger tech space with skilled candidates from diverse backgrounds! We are committed to providing our apprentices with the training and support they need during the apprenticeship to successfully grow their careers.

Here’s who we’re specifically targeting with this initiative:

• Recently graduates from college or bootcamp programs
• Those returning to the workforce and wanting to update their skills
• Those early in their career and looking to gain more experience

The apprenticeship is just the start of some important work we’re doing as an organization around diversity and inclusion. Stay tuned, we’ll be sharing more. In the meantime, if this sounds compelling, share this opportunity! We’re offering a data science apprenticeship and multiple engineering apprenticeships. We’ll be reviewing applications on a rolling basis. Apply online here.