The Blacks in Tech Conference, or BITCon, might be Twin Cities Startup Week's most national conference. The conference, in its second year, draws about half of its attendees from out-of-state, according to organizers. It had about 900 visitors this year.
Community was the focus on Saturday, Bitcon's final day.
At the Saint Paul RiverCentre, the highlight was the career fair, where local companies like When I Work and Jamf shared space with giants like Microsoft Corp. and McAfee.
Five students from Carleton College made the trip north to St. Paul to test the job market as they prepared to enter the job market. They weren't necessarily computer science majors; one studied psychology, another English literature. Instead, they were exploring potential careers.
"We want to understand our options," one of the group said.
Dolph Augustus is a recruiter for Elastic, the enterprise search tool that sites like Netflix and Ebay use. Elastic is based out of Los Angeles, but Augustus said that wasn't a problem; 85 percent of the company's employees worked remotely. Augustus flew in from L.A. for the event.
"Part of diversity is you have to put yourself out there," he said.
And after lunch, Fabian Elliot of Black Tech Mecca, a Chicago-based research organization, presented "State of the Twin Cities Black Tech Ecosystem" event. The event featured multiple panels focusing on different segments of the tech ecosystem, such as the K-12 education system and corporate employment.
The K-12 panel, for example, emphasized the importance of getting kids interested in computer science. That work is being done inside schools, by groups like KIPP Minnesota, and outside of schools by groups like Afrobot Boyz, an initiative launched by DJ Comeaux, a local eighth-grader.
But introducing computer science into school curriculums doesn't solve more underlying problems. Minnesota schools have some of the nation's widest gaps in achievement between white and black students.
Later, a panel on the corporate world talked about the importance of organization, including within companies. Chikio Richmond, an account executive at Comcast Business, encouraged attendees of color to get in touch with HR departments and create human networks.
"The most impactful thing you can do," Richmond said, "is shake someone's hand."
