I saw one guy setting up a hiring pipeline in large industrial/tech company in the south, and changing the face of a office for that company.
- When he start : The city is 60% black, almost not black dev. A few in IT/Support. - He strike a deal with a local bootcamp, being extremely specific on the training content. Basically the boot-camp became a dedicated training ground for that company. several hiring event a year, summer internship program. Young folks from diverse backgroun. usually a solid 40/60 female/male blend.
- 2 years later I see junior black devs male AND female in a lot of teams. When I left some were promoted senior and a few really good recruits were on track to become team-lead/architect/whatever they wanted.
It's highly anecdotal, and that was matching that industrial behemoth goal to 'blend' into the culture of the south. ( read : hire black folks )
But I do think that a hiring pipeline do make a difference. Maybe this particular exemple was just too easy. Again, more than a majority of folk here are black, so it just natural to find more black candidate.