Computer programming jobs are growing at two times the national average, and by 2020 there will be 1.4 million computing jobs. However, by that same five year time period, there will only be 400,000 computer science students. At that rate, there will be 1 million more jobs than students by 2020. This is a concerning statistic that not only impacts our students’ futures, but also our company and our global economy.
Addressing this discrepancy begins in our classrooms, and with only 10% of U.S. schools teaching computer science, there is plenty of room for improvement.
Symantec’s goal is to excite, engage and educate students in STEM, with an emphasis on computer science and cybersecurity. One of the primary ways Symantec has a positive impact on local communities is through our volunteer efforts. We believe that the communities where Symantec maintains offices should be stronger and more vibrant because of our presence and that our employees are best positioned to understand the needs of their communities.
Symantec recently launched the Take 5 Volunteer Challenge, a campaign that encourages employees to volunteer 5 hours in FY16. Volunteers also increase their impacts through logging time and donating funds through our Dollars for Doers program.
Our CTO saw this as an opportunity to contribute to a non-profit that is directly addressing the skills gap by exciting students about computer science. Recently launched, the CTO Challenge has a goal to involve at least 80% of department employees to volunteer with Code.org in FY16.
Code.org, founded in 2013, is dedicated to increasing participation in computer science by making it available in more schools. The nonprofit also focuses on growing participation from underrepresented groups, such as women and students of color. You may remember Code.org’s Hour of Code event that Symantec sponsored last year during Computer Science Education Week in December. This global initiative reaches millions of students in over 180 countries.
Code.org and Skype in the Classroom have partnered to create a new program that allows Symantec employees to guest lecture in classrooms across the world from their home or office! The 20-30 minute speaking engagements allow tech professionals to teach children about their job, career path and education all via Skype. As part of the CTO Challenge, the volunteers commit to visiting four (or more) classrooms over the course of the next school year.
All Symantec employees are eligible to participate in this program. To apply, go to https://www.skypeintheclassroom.org/apply.
Symantec employees, Lily de los Rios and Darren Shou, pledge to volunteer in the CTO Challenge!
Community Relations partnered with the Mountain View and Culver City Cutting Edge events to get the word out about this great opportunity. We were thrilled that 64 people signed up in Mountain View and 69 people signed up in Culver City. Symantec is committed to building bright prospects for our students and future talented workforce!
Check out this video to learn more about this new Code.org program:
Lily De Los Rios is Symantec's VP, Engineering