Tech Trainings For Working Moms Come To NYC

TRIBECA, NY — A tech training program tailored to college-educated mothers returning to the workforce is coming to New York City.

The de Blasio administration and Google are partnering with MotherCoders, a non-profit that prepares moms for tech careers and helps them focus on their studies with on-site childcare, to bring the nine-week program to New Yorkers — free of charge.

Public library branches in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens will host classes that give students hands-on industry training including teaching HTML, CSS and Javascript skills, exploring tech trends and issues, and visiting companies in the industry.

Professional, on-site childcare is a key approach to MotherCoders program and is a boon to New York moms looking to get their foot in the door of the tech sector, said Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen.

"We need to do all we can to connect talented people with tech opportunities - including mothers, who have historically been underrepresented in the field," said Glen.

"MotherCoders innovative combination of training and child care takes that issue head on, helping us to build a tech ecosystem that is truly representative of NYC."

Women accounted for only 25 percent of the information technology workforce in 2014, according to a 2016 Census report. And in 2016, More than half of highly qualified women in science, engineering and technology companies left their jobs in part because of isolation, inhospitable work environments and a lack of advancement opportunities, a report on tech diversity by the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found.

MotherCoders is committed to making the tech industry more inclusive and was a 2015 Google Impact Challenge finalist. The non-profit was founded in California in 2013 by working mother Tina Lee who created MotherCoders after struggling to find tech resources that fit her schedule.

The nine-week New York course is the first time the group's trainings will take place outside of the Bay Area.

MotherCoders is accepting applications for the program, with the first cohort of students beginning in February 2019. The deadline to apply is Sunday, Dec. 2.

To be eligible, applicants must identify as a woman, be a resident of New York City, be at least 21-years-old, have a bachelor's degree and at least 2 years of work experience and care for at least one child 17-years-old or younger in their household, according to the application.

Classes will run every Saturday or every Tuesday and Thursday for the nine-week program. The exact location of the classes will be selected according to what is most convenient for moms in the courses.

Tuition typically costs $4,500 with on-site childcare and $4,000 without it, but Google is footing the bill for the New York program. The only cost to applicants is a $500 security deposit to hold a spot for those who make the program's cut — the deposit will be returned upon students' completion of the program.

If the $500 deposit is too pricey, MotherCoder encourages applicants to contact apply@mothercoders.org about a scholarship.

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