The non-profit organization Rewriting the Code (RTC) was developed to help empower undergraduate and early-career women in tech, maintaining a focus on equity, community building, and fostering future leaders. Black Wings was later started as a subgroup of RTC to provide support to Black women in tech, helping them navigate the industry.
Kristin Austin, VP of culture and community health at RTC, says its mission is to prepare women for the technical workforce, which includes everything from mentorship, technical workshops, professional development support, skills-based workshops, interpersonal workshops, and extensive networking opportunities with other women and companies aligned with the organization’s mission.
“Often from the Black Wings perspective, what we’ll do is come alongside the greater RTC strategy to prepare women for the technical workforce, and then we’ll see where it makes sense to provide an additional layer of support that’s racially affirming,” she says.
On a high level, RTC focuses on the overall experience of women in technology, but there are also unique experiences that come with navigating the tech industry as a woman of color. Black Wings’ goal is to support Black woman pursuing a career in the IT and tech industry, boost retention, create more inclusive environments, and encourage more Black women to embrace careers in technology.
Providing mentorship for career development
Mentorship is a critical aspect of career growth and leadership development, and members of RTC and Black Wings have access to mentorship opportunities through the organization. Anyone can sign up to be a mentor, but RTC typically looks for three or more years of professional experience in the industry. RTC often taps company partners first for mentors, but there’s also a link on the website where anyone can apply to be a mentor for the community.
And despite RTC and Black Wings being women-focused organizations, mentors aren’t limited to women. Austin notes that, despite a focus on uplifting women in tech, “we know there’s value in having men as mentors, especially in the technical industry,” she says.
Mentors can be paired by different criteria including technical and functional areas of expertise, experience, and education. However, they can also be paired by racial identity, whether they’re a first-generation college student in their family, or even by low-income geography. Members can seek out mentors who might be able to speak directly to their unique experience in the tech industry, helping them navigate corporate spaces.
Résumé workshops and navigating bias
As a part of RTC, Austin says they ensure Black Wings works alongside RTC to augment established programming for culturally affirming groups. For example, RTC hosts résumé workshop events covering all the specific information relevant to members of the organization. From there, Austin will hold a separate workshop for the Black Wings members that speaks on other aspects of résumé writing. Other culturally affirming groups of RTC, like RTC Tech Natives and Latinas de RTC, are also included in these workshops, helping members navigate the unique experience of being a woman of color in the tech industry.
In this workshop, Austin helps guide women of color through the nuances of writing a résumé for the tech industry that doesn’t completely erase their identities, but still gets them noticed by recruiters and ATS systems. There some considerations women of color will need to take when writing a résumé that their white counterparts may not, such as navigating bias around ethnic names.
“Some of the women in our community who are Black and Brown have multi-syllabic names, they have ethnic names, or they have names that aren’t traditional European names,” says Austin. “I facilitated a talk about what that looks like on your résumé. How can we represent the beauty of your culture and your name, and your visibility on your résumé, but do so in a way that doesn’t amplify bias.”
Translating life experience to work experience
Another aspect of early-career development and résumé writing Austin focuses on with the Black Wings community is translating life experience into work experience. There’s a greater chance that Black women won’t have the same extracurricular background as their white and male peers in the industry. There might be gaps in areas such as technology clubs, hackathon clubs, or internships at MAANG companies in their early-career years.
This of course isn’t a lack of interest, but rather a lack of opportunity for young women of color who are often not encouraged or led down a STEM path from an early age. Many Black women may not have had the opportunity to be involved in tech or science clubs in their early education or undergraduate years, but Austin says it’s likely they’re engaged with culturally or racially affirming groups instead.
“We talk about how we can use those same experiences in those organizations to still be competitive with their white or more privileged peers, who don’t need organizations that are racially affirming, and still build a résumé that’s compelling,” says Austin.
Additionally, Austin says they also guide low-income members who might be the first of their family to go to college and don’t have the same background as their peers. What these members typically do have is applicable life experience, whether it’s caring for a sibling or actual job experience. And while that experience might not be directly in the tech industry, those skills can always translate on a résumé to demonstrate they have the right aptitude and skills for a career in tech.
Networking and events to build community
RTC holds monthly and annual events centered on the perspectives and experiences of Black, Latina, and Native women in the tech industry. These include virtual workshops, monthly virtual check-ins, virtual workshops, Black History Month celebrations, and more. Black Wings helps build community for women of color within RTC, creating inclusive spaces for them to collaborate, network, and foster an overall sense of belonging. There are several ways organizations can get involved with RTC or with subgroups like Black Wings, RTC Tech natives, and Latinas de RTC. RTC hosts virtual career summits, connecting organizations with 2,000 women from over 400 colleges and universities. Organizations can also volunteer their engineering and recruiting teams as mentors through RTC’s mentoring programs.
Plus, companies host in-person networking events for RTC members, send representatives to conferences, and create relationships with future candidates through internships programs. There are also many ways to donate, including directly to the Future of Tech Fund, which helps undergraduate tech students facing financial hardship. And from March 25 to 27 is the RTC Unite & Ignite Week, an annual three-day event that brings RTC members together to build connections, gain inspiration from speakers and mentors, and explore in-demand tech fields like AI, cybersecurity, and sustainability. The events are virtual, but there will be in-person sessions running in tandem around the globe at different company sponsor headquarters. Additionally, there’ll be in-person networking events in New York, Seattle, SF Bay, and London.
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