Nnamdi Iregbulem – The State of Black Software Development

Recent events have raised awareness of pervasive issues facing blacks in America. Further, blacks have historically been underrepresented in software development, accounting for approximately 2% of software developers despite making up approximately 13% of the American population. Many companies claim to be committed to diversifying their software engineering workforce, and these promises have only accelerated in recent months. However, aside from data revealing their prevalence among software developers, little publicly available data or analysis exists on the professional experience of black software developers. In this presentation, I analyze pay gaps, paths to promotion, job and career satisfaction, and other aspects of black software development to better understand the career journeys of black software engineers.