By: Kate Smith

Kate Smith — Fri, 15 Mar 2019 23:43:50 +0000

Your connection of our discussion of the space race, also happening around the time when more people were needed in companies to code, brings this conversation to a broader level than just computer programming/coding. Through reading this aspect of your post, I was reminded of an alumni speaker who came to my “Leading Innovation and Entrepreneurship” course I took last semester, Amelia Lobo. She came to speak about microfinancing in the United States. When I spoke with Amelia after class for coffee, she spoke more on her experiences in general working for banks. It became clear to me how passionate she is about access to banking resources and information for people, specifically in the age of technology. Online banking has exploded over the last few years, and while it can be a lot easier for some than going to a physical bank, it makes the process more difficult for many as well. There is the assumption by a lot of companies now that everyone has the technological and monetary means to access online banking and information, which is not true. This idea is very similar to the expectation that most people will be able to learn to code through even free online organizations, even though technology access in itself is not universal across the United States (schools being an example discussed in class). Furthermore, she touched on the use of property as collateral for loans, and how the fact that African Americans in the US could not own property until the later 1800s has put many at an immediate disadvantage, as loans and money, in general, are very cumulative.

Comments on: Teaching Coding and Who Gets Left Behind

By: Kate Smith