ITech Provides Free Resources to Empower People to Break Into the Tech Industry
The technology industry is one of the biggest earning ventures in the world today, with companies like Apple, Samsung Electronics, Alphabet, Foxconn, and Microsoft leading in the whole world. These companies rake in billions of dollars in annual revenues. As of 2021, the global tech industry is estimated to be worth $5.2 trillion, with 35% of the total money in North America, 32% in Asia, and 22% in Europe. Undeniably, the United States has the biggest share of the global pie with an approximate $1.6 trillion. ITech, a non-profit organization focused on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM), sees that the future will be heavily driven by the tech industry, and it is for this reason that it endeavors to educate as many young Americans as possible for free to prepare them for the exciting opportunities ahead of them.
ITech has a special mission as a non-profit organization. It specializes in career and job placement for recent college graduates and professionals who aspire to build a promising career in the tech industry. To create awareness among young learners aged seven to 18 years old, the organization hosts computer drives, coding, and software camps.
One of the most exciting offerings from ITech is its more than 300,000 free learning resources that are available to interested individuals who see themselves creating a fruitful career in the tech industry. It has developed its own e-learning platform for kids with more than 20 coding languages through partnerships with Google, Microsoft, and TechSoup. Children can learn from the comforts of their homes, something rare for a lot of people today, most especially people of color.
Founder Darrick Johnson established ITech in 2019 and has helped place more than 1,200 people in jobs or mentorship programs in Silicon Valley since then. Throughout the course of his decade-long career in the tech industry, he has received over a thousand rejection emails from companies in Silicon Valley. This motivated him to think about the plight of the younger generation in the future and opted to prepare them to be part of the growing industry. Since the establishment of ITech, Johnson has donated more than 500 computers, which he hopes will make a difference in the lives of so many individuals who will one day become tech leaders themselves.
“We are here to help any and everyone looking to break into technology. Our goal is to help change the face of technology by providing a space for anyone, no matter their background, to succeed in the tech space,” Johnson shared.
Despite the current success of ITech, Johnson still sees it doing so much for the community in the next couple of years. In the next five years, he envisions creating ten more STEM centers across the country to help more people. “By that time, I see our job placement numbers being close to seven figures, and we will have a partnership with every major tech company in Silicon Valley,” he explained.
Johnson is undoubtedly creating a worthwhile legacy, which he envisions will benefit generations 100 years from now. He believes that what he has started will impact underprivileged youth long-term and help drive diversity and inclusion in Silicon Valley.
