Tech’s High Barrier to Entry for the Underprivileged

It seems like the genuine ways to address this would be:

* Some kind of telecom/internet access becomes a social right, provided universally. The easiest actual ways to do this are municipal public libraries, open libraries at community colleges, and municipal wifi.

* Transit and mobility subsidies for the poor, or possibly just for everyone. It simply shouldn't happen at all that someone lives mere miles away, in the same city, from hackathons and other educational/career-building activities and yet can't afford the trip. I also can't count the number of poorer people I've met who simply have fewer chances in life because they were born in a rural area and cannot afford to move until there is a signed-and-sealed job offer with relocation provided.

* Trades training and job counseling as part of the public education system. Because duh.

Making even the most basic infrastructure and opportunities for-profit has resulted in a "You must be this well-off to enter" barrier for things that we like to believe are normal and universal. We should make them actually universal.

Even after reading the article, I still think programming has the fewest artificial barriers of any other professional job. Of course, there is still a mountain of shit that poor people need to climb- but once Maurice can functionally write code, he can find a job that pays WAY more than other entry level work. College would further his career, but isn't a requirement.

Do you think someone could get a white collar finance job just because they were able to figure out some trading vernacular on McDonalds WiFi? Or what about a career in HR? No way. Those have all the same barriers as a tech job, while requiring more institutional accreditation and social proof.

So if you care about the lack of diversity in race in the industry, a good place to start is addressing the underprivileged.