It’s no secret there’s a shortage of tech talent not only in Washington, but all over the country—a shortage that will only continue to grow if more measures aren’t taken to attract capable people to the industry (and keep them there). An effective place to start recruiting talent is in the classroom. Many studies show a relationship between early STEM exposure and continued interest in science, technology, math, and engineering. Educating local students about the tech industry and the many career opportunities that await them there shouldn’t be considered a luxury, but rather a necessary strategy to reverse the expanding talent gap and guide more young people into promising career paths.

Last year, we created a FullConTech play that addressed this issue. FullConTech participants brainstorm ways to create positive changes in the tech industry, and WTIA recruits volunteers to carry out the plays. (See the full 2018 playbook here.) The goal of this particular play was to organize tech talks for students in grades 9-12, which would demystify the technology industry and open their eyes to the many different ways they can be a part of the industry in the future. Brianna Rockenstire, director of industry outreach at AppConnectNW, and Jonathan Heuer, founding partner at HomeSquare, signed up to take charge of the play.

“It seemed like the perfect fit,” Rockenstire, who spends her day job maximizing the impact that local technical and community colleges have on the Washington tech industry, said. “We want to be able to work with high schools in the area to make sure students, teachers, and counselors know about these opportunities…It’s a good way to start building connections with high schools.”

Heuer, who is also working on a separate project to bring ‘adulting’ classes to local high school students, recognizes that educators generally want their students to be exposed to enriching experiences like these talks but can find it difficult to work around rigid curriculum requirements on their own. “Most teachers find it very valuable to have outside professionals coming in,” he said.

To get things started, WTIA sent Heuer and Rockenstire a list of contacts who’d expressed interest in speaking to students. Responders then noted which dates and times they were available to speak at Lake Washington School District high schools. At the time this blog post was written, three of the ten people who signed up have given talks. Jennifer Harris, a marketing teacher at Juanita High School, witnessed two of the talks; one by Frances Dewing, CEO of the cybersecurity startup Rubica, and the other by marketing consultant Julie Lynn Try, who did a brief presentation on branding in addition to a Q&A.

“Students really enjoyed both speakers,” Harris said, noting that they were especially interested in Frances’ career story. “When I asked for feedback from students, [they said] they would like to hear more about a speaker’s ‘story’: how they got where they are, if they would change anything, stories about industry, etc.”

The third speaker was Shawn Sullivan, CTO and co-founder of biotech startup Phase Genomics. He spoke on a panel with other professionals at Redmond High School. The goal of the panel was to demonstrate to the students that there was a wide range of careers out there for them and there doesn’t need to be a clear cut path on how to get there. Sullivan will likely be asked to come back to the school and speak to some students directly.

“I think Shawn would do very well in our AP Computer Science classes,” said Cheryl Ferry, the College and Career Center assistant at Redmond High School. “I’m still working with the teacher on putting something together.”

Going forward, Rockenstire and Heuer would like to get more technically-inclined and organize talks that are more specific in nature. They are also in the early phases of finding student developers at local colleges to automate the process of matching speakers to schools.

“There was a lot of back and forth involved in trying to figure out what the schools were interested in, what dates and times worked, and which specific speakers were available,” Heuer said. “It was a lot of matchmaking, but this was a good start.”

Save Oct. 15, 2019 to attend the next FullConTech.