A New Partnership Challenges Inequality in the Tech Sector

“Because of Code the Dream, I now have a career,” says Abel, a software engineer with fuboTV. “I have a bright future. And I have the means to provide for my family.” 

Abel, originally from Kenya, got his fuboTV job after training with Code the Dream – the latest organization to receive GitLab Foundation funding. 

Code the Dream offers high-quality, free training in software development to people from diverse, low-income backgrounds. In Code The Dream Labs, apprentices work with experienced mentors to hone those skills by building apps and technology platforms for a range of nonprofit, business, and government clients. 

The ultimate aim of Code the Dream is to create a unique win-win situation, in which coders gain real experience building apps that make the world a little better, and then use that experience to launch new careers providing significant opportunities for themselves, their families, and their communities.

Every year, the tech sector creates hundreds of thousands of high-paying new jobs. However, the benefits of the tech boom have been extremely unevenly distributed, with only tiny fractions of new jobs going to qualified Black and Latinx applicants, or to immigrants and refugees who do not already possess an advanced technical degree. As technology becomes a larger part of the U.S. economy, this only exacerbates existing inequality. In 2022, over 95% of Code The Dream apprentices launched their careers in tech with an average salary of $85,300.

The GitLab Foundation partnership will help Code The Dream scale its volunteer mentorship to double student capacity and expand the apprenticeship program by over 60% in the next two years. 

 We’re excited to support an organization that addresses today’s growing inequalities and the vast potential to unlock greater, more widely shared prosperity. Code the Dream’s training and apprenticeship model has proven highly effective, and this partnership represents a significant opportunity to scale that model to meet soaring demand.

The projected ROI for this grant is $125 of increased earnings for every dollar we invest.