How might we prepare underrepresented learners to succeed wildly in tech careers?

Learners at East Palo Alto-based StreetCode Academy are working to master skills in coding, entrepreneurship and design— yet excellent technical skills aren’t all they need for a successful career in the tech world. We hypothesize that mindset is one of the big keys to their success, but how might we build a series of short-yet-potent experiences to support their development of that resilient mindset over time?

Work side-by-side with diverse tech learners, tech professionals, and StreetCode community members for a real-world design challenge. Together we’ll create and test five-to-fifteen minute experiences to help learners cultivate a powerful mindset – one that will give them the resilience and creative confidence they need to become rising stars in the tech world.

You’ll have opportunities to:

1)      Learn from Other People & Contexts – Empathize and build solutions right along with the users you’re designing for, rather than simply interviewing and imagining

2)      Navigate Ambiguity – Practice designing solutions that are experiences rather than products, knowing there are many variables at play

3)      Rapidly Experiment – Prototype experiences alongside novice learners and successful tech professionals who have a clear mental model of their contexts and what might make a difference for young learners on a similar trajectory

Mindset is a puzzle we must solve if we’re going to effectively prepare underrepresented learners for a lifetime of career success in the field of tech. 

Come out to explore, imagine and test the kinds of hands-on experiences and simulations that may help StreetCode’s learners gain the power to persevere and thrive in the tech workplace.

Teaching Team