Business

Highlights From The 2014 ATE PI Conference

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STEM careers

Last week I was invited to present web design/development instructional prototypes at this year’s ATE PI, an annual conference held in Washington DC that looks at ways to improve STEM education and workforce development in community colleges nationwide.  My presentation was sponsored by the National Science Foundation.

I presented two websites I created from scratch, or hand-coded – Global Exchange Reality Tours and Women Talking to educators and policymakers from around the country.  The point of the presentation was to showcase new ways to teach web design and development skills in an innovative classroom setting that will attract more students.  I received a lot of great feedback on the prototypes.

Web development is one of the fastest growing fields today.  However, there are not enough students pursuing these ICT careers. I have discussed many times here the need to address the fact that the United States beginning to lag behind in the global economy because of the lack of American STEM workers.

In my home state of Massachusetts, its Department of Education released a new report yesterday, Degrees of Urgency, that also warns that the Commonwealth is not graduating enough students in these skilled fields to fulfill growing demands in the economy.

Community colleges are best suited to train future leaders in these fields because they are already set up to provide vocational training.  Also, community colleges are more affordable and accessible to more people than four-year colleges.  In addition, these schools attract a more diverse student body, from young people fresh out of high school, to veterans returning to civilian life, to single parents going back to school, to working professionals looking to enhance their skills.  I went to my local community college last year to take some programming skills.

I also had a chance to talk with other STEM employers at the conference about their hiring frustrations. Terry Iverson, president and CEO of the machinery distributor Iverson and Company, dispelled the common belief that there are no more manufacturing jobs in America.  In fact, he said there are many U.S. based jobs, but many people don’t want them because of social stigma.

Chandra Brown, deputy assistant secretary for manufacturing at the U.S. Department of Commerce, spoke to the conference about her concern about the lack of women and minorities in these fields.  She noted that workforce diversity improves dividends for many STEM employers.

“We need to tap into a resource we haven’t tapped into yet,” she said.

Keith Masback, CEO of the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation, precision technology is the future and can see job growth.

There were other people from around the country presenting STEM educational tools too that I would like to point out:

I finally got to meet the guys behind STEM Guitar, a program that uses guitar building to teach STEM subjects.

Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC)  provides digital media and programming training to underrepresented groups in the San Francisco area.

Concerns of Small Business Owners During The Mid-term Elections

Entrepreneurship

Small business is the fuel in the engine of the American economy.  The vast majority of Americans work for small firms with 50 or less employees.  One would think that the concerns of small business owners would be a priority in Washington.

A new survey says otherwise.  Only seven percent of small business owners approve of what Congress is doing, and 26 percent of them don’t feel either political party represent their best interests.

As a small business owner myself, I have to agree with this sentiment.  Politicians these days are more concerned about deepening their pockets from Wall Street than providing support to Main Street.  Because of this disparity, many believe this is causing the growing income inequality nationwide.

Wage hikes is an issue I have to think about regularly running my own company Global Wire Associates, as well as many of my entrepreneur friends.  Yes, most reasonable employers believe in a living wage, but can’t afford the added health care costs that come with this, so they are not able to grow and maintain their businesses and pay employees the way they would like to in many situations.

Then there is the issue of immigration reform.  A large number of employees at U.S. tech firms are foreign-born but attended American universities.  This is partially due to the lack of Americans pursuing careers in information and communications technology (ICT).  Approximately 90 percent of my past and present employees are foreign-born.  I would love to hire more qualified American and especially women and minority employees, but they can be far and few in between.

The whole process of getting work visas for foreign-born workers is difficult.  The U.S. only randomly selects and admits 65,000 foreign workers annually for six years.  U.S. Immigration Services has already capped out on H-1B visas for fiscal year 2015.

One would say that the solution to this is to invest in better STEM education for American students.  I agree with this, but there also needs to be a mindset change towards STEM careers.  ICT careers are not just for geeks and nerds; it’s also for people who want to be a part of the future global economy.

However, the immigration battle is really raging in the retail/fast food industries, which largely employ immigrants in low-skilled, minimum wage jobs.  This same survey says that small business owners are divided on the issue.  Forty-two percent of owners would vote for a candidate that supports a wage hike, while 38 percent would not.  Health care, immigration and employment rules are top issues for small business, but where is Washington?

These numbers are not only uninspiring for current small business owners, but also for people thinking about starting a business in the future.  A lot of concerns here, but it seems like no one is listening.   

Where I Get Design News & Training

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web design - text in vintage wood letterpress printing blocks against grunge metal typeset

I have been a professional web designer for five years.  I developed an interest in graphic and interactive design as a journalist covering technology issues when I had to design my own website seven years ago.  Since then, I have been hooked and have designed dozens of websites for other people over the years.

I also teach web design to other journalists.  Last week I had the opportunity to instruct a multimedia design for media development class in New York City for a group of journaIists from the developing world during UN Week.  Many were very excited to be in the class, as it is often difficult to receive this kind of training in their home countries.  They asked me how I got my training.  I told them that I took some traditional web and graphic design classes in the past, but I am mostly self taught from just taking in all the free resources online.

Technology is always changing, so I have to stay up to date with the latest news and innovations.  The students in the media development class asked me to share my resources on my blog.  The following is a short list of online resources for design training:

Smashing Magazine: This is the most popular online magazine for web designers and developers with useful resources in their blog and ebook series.

A List Apart: Another must-read website for web professionals.  They have great articles about the politics of web design, like this piece on making web design events more inclusive for young designers. Their sister company, A Book Apart, also sells a great selection of design ebooks.

Awwwards: This is a pretty cool website to go to see some of the most innovative websites from around the world.  You can even vote on the ones you like.

CSS Zen Garden: HTML and CSS go together like peanut butter and jelly (wait a minute…) You can learn how to design better style sheets straight from the pros.

W3Schools:  If you ever Google any HTML code, most likely a link from this website will pop at the top of the search list.  A great website for basic explanations and tutorials on regularly used coding.

Code Academy: Another great site to learn coding

Khan Academy: Good place to learn JavaScript through an interactive experience.

Graphic Design Blender: If you have any interest in freelancing, this is a great place to hear from other self employed designers talk shop and inside baseball on running your own business.

YouTube:  When in doubt, most likely someone already thought of doing a video tutorial about whatever web design question you have.

Graphic Design School: If I had to recommend one book you should read, it’s this one.  It gives you a basic foundation of graphic design principles that are useful for print and web.

Do you have other recommendations? Leave a comment or email me directly.

Reproductive and Sexual Health is an Economic Issue

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Reproductive Rights are Human Rights - Image credit: Secular Pro-Life PerspectiveI had a discussion with a group of teenage girls I mentor last week about the recent Supreme Court decision on Hobby Lobby, which allows private firms to opt out of paying for contraception for its female employees based on religious grounds.  Most of them were actually surprised that the decision came in favor of the Christian focused company.

These young girls are used to living in a country where their reproductive rights are fully protected.  In the United States females have access to safe abortions, birth control pills and other contraceptives and education for proper family planning and sexual health.

As a business owner myself, I have been torn on this issue since the decision.  While I support the right of privately-held businesses to do what they please, as a woman, I could never see myself denying those rights to my female employees.

As a matter of fact, access to proper reproductive and sexual health rights is an economic issue that affects female workers worldwide.

I have worked in international development for the last 12 years, mainly in media development for journalists in the developing world.  However, one of my first jobs in this field was working in reproductive and sexual rights in Africa and Southeast Asia.  I saw firsthand many of the injustices women and girls faced on a regular basis.
In many countries women and girls simply don’t have any rights when it comes to their bodies, such as when they get pregnant or protecting themselves from sexually transmitted diseases. Obstetric fistula, female genital mutilation and, of course, HIV/AIDS are corrupting the lives of many females in these regions.  Sometimes this is due to cultural or religious traditions, but much of the time it is caused by poverty and lack of education.

I told my mentees that in many poor countries some women and girls usually have to stay home from work or school when they menstruate.  They literally have to sit on a rag at home for the duration of their flow because they can’t afford feminine products.

Women can play a big role in global market over the next decade, especially in the developing world, where GDPs can significantly increase and current rates of female workers are below 30 percent.  Economically empowered women also raise healthier, better educated families.

When women and girls can’t go to work or school, it affects economy in the long run.  Women and girls shouldn’t have to worry about losing their job or not receiving an education because of an unwanted pregnancy, a sexually transmitted disease or even a lack of maxi pads.

My girls were shocked when I told them this because for them their rights is something that is taken for granted.  It is really important to educate others about these issues and make sure women’s reproductive and sexual health worldwide moves forward, not backwards.

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