My Experiences as a Black Women in IT

It's been 8 years now that I've in IT and I've always heard stories about the lack of black IT talent as

well as stories about the lack of women in IT so I would like to add my own perspective on it. When I originally started in IT, I was recruited within the company that I worked for by a black IT manager and a Pilipino women who was fairly new to the department and I was her resource. At the time she supported the department in which I worked and relied on me heavily for assistance to complete her task so they recruited me and I've been in IT ever since. My reason for providing the historical data was to show that I was recruited by people of color based on my skillset and since then, I've continued in the field and I have participated in a group for Women in IT for a large organization which found that women start in IT but for various reasons, end up out of the field entirely. For people of color, the statistics are far worse because the induction into the field doesn't even occur.

My suggestions for all those who are trying to break into the field is to start independently. There are so many IT consultants that I know of who work for themselves it's beyond amazing but the trick to this is that you must be excellent in your domain. IT is so vast and the name itself can be a bit intimidating but what schools don't tell you is that you need to pick a niche in the IT arena and own it. Learn it, master it and if you can build yourself a portfolio of credentials and certifications in that your field. The more concentrated your field, the more money you can command because people in IT tend to know bits and pieces of a wide array of things. This too is good but having a specialty is best in my opinion. I don't work on the info structure side of the business but I do work with them and they constantly use contractors who specialize in more precise work. The field itself is too wide and encompasses too many things to know everything.

On the contrary to this, also make sure that you're evolving and constantly growing your knowledge base as well. Pick a specialty but know the market and see the forecast in the market. Technology is rapidly changing and there are always newer and better coming to market. Make sure you're up on the changes because I've seen people who get wrapped up in their day to day quickly become obsolete in their arena. So remember "the more you know, the more you grow". Especially in the world of IT.