It was tough to land a job as a software engineer after I graduated from college. The main issue was that I did not have any prior experience as a programmer. Interview after interview, rejection after rejection it was the same refrain, “we are looking for someone who has prior experience”. I would think to myself. How am I supposed to gain experience if no one will hire me? And now one will hire me without experience. It was highly frustrating. Was I supposed to get experience while I was in college? It took me 5 months to land my first job after college. I graduated in December of 1986. I accepted an offer as a junior programmer in May of 1987.

And the only reason I was able to land that job was because I had the experience they were seeking. It was not professional experience, but it was experience, nonetheless. The language was Turbo Pascal which I had learned in college. As a result of my work as a mentor to aspiring Black software engineers it seems that not much has changed. At least much as not changed for us.  I have mentored several Black recent graduates who are grappling with the same issue I faced in 1986. However, since then I have learned that not having experience is not the same hurdle for others as it is and has been for us.  Since starting my career, I can cite several examples where I have worked with folks who did not have the required experience for a job nor the required degree in computer science or a related field.

Many folks have had two-year degrees when a bachelor’s degree was listed as a requirement.  Some have not had a degree of any type. Let alone the necessary experience. It seems for some folks this is not a problem.  These examples are all over LinkedIn. For example, I saw a post recently where an ex-colleague of mine was changing companies. He mentioned in his post how he wanted to thank his former manager for taking a chance on him even though he had zero experience as a…  I can assure I have NEVER been hired in such a fashion. Please understand most of the people who are given such opportunities without experience are not Black people.

I am sure there are a few exceptions. My point is experience has nothing to do with who are given these opportunities. Although I don’t deny that the shortage of African Americans in the tech field is partly due to the fact that we don’t have the requisite experience. I am merely saying that the rules are not the same for everyone.