In the new GameChangers Accelerator, these 5 learners are building apps and adding AI skills

A few dozen Philadelphians with different backgrounds and goals have been gathering twice a week for the past few months, both virtually and in person, all with the same goal: Advance their careers by learning about artificial intelligence and gamification.

When I walked into the coworking and event space P4 Hub in Germantown last Tuesday, I was immediately greeted by founder Sulaiman Rahman, who excitedly showed me the more than 50 people logged onto that night’s GameChangers Accelerator class. Another 10 were learning IRL, seated across six tables and following along on their laptops. The instructors were standing behind a podium at the front of the room running through a presentation about UX and user flow that was projected on a screen.

In the back, a TV screen showed all the Zoom participants following along, too. Rahman later explained that the P4 Hub’s tech system was set up to make sure both virtual and in-person participants had a good experience. In the spirit of hybrid learning, in-person participants were given a microphone to ask their questions, and virtual participants were heard through the room’s sound system.

At the class’ halfway break, the people sitting near me shared that they don’t always come in person, but they do feel it’s a good opportunity to interact with their classmates.

GameChangers Accelerator class at the P4 Hub. (Technical.ly/Sarah Huffman)

GameChangers Accelerator is a free program that teaches Black and brown Philadelphians about artificial intelligence and game design. This is the program’s first cohort, and participants just completed their 18th session out of a 24 sessions total. Tuesday sessions are focused on theory-based concepts, and Saturday sessions are hands-on labs based on what the students learn in class. The curriculum covers AI and gamification, project management, marketing, UI/UX design and no-code programming.

“The end goal is for people to make no-coded gamified applications using AI so that then they understand how to take AI into their daily lives and also into, let’s say, more technical pursuits in order to amplify their outcomes,” Vince Quarles, lead instructor for the GameChangers Accelerator and CEO of DVNC, told Technical.ly.

This reporter chatted with five participants about what they are learning and what they want to get out of the accelerator:

Building an app to help the community

Shaquana Watson-Harkness and Diedra Hicks. (Technical.ly/Sarah Huffman)

Shaquana Watson-Harkness is a money confidence coach and had the idea for an app that would help Black professional women save money more consistently and reach their savings goals.

Watson-Harkness had used ChatGPT before participating in the program, but she now understands the tool better and can apply it to her own app.

“I hope to have a minimal viable product of my app that I’ll be able to test out with my community and eventually be able to scale it by getting other users to use it,” she said. “But [it] also impacts and empowers women of color to save more money. Because we make great money, but we just don’t have the financial literacy education on how to do it.”

Staying ahead of the professional curve

Ashley Coby. (Technical.ly/Sarah Huffman)

Ashley Coby works in sales and marketing, and is thinking ahead about how he can make his career more stable, and make himself more marketable through technology skills. He sees how AI tools such as ChatGPT could eliminate roles.

“I just want to be ahead of that,” Coby said. “[I’d] way rather be the person implementing AI in the department. I don’t want to be the victim, I want to be a part of the direction that we’re going.”

Professional development

Lucress Irizarry joined the program because she wanted to learn more about AI and app development. She works in business operations consulting and has taken a lot of coaching programs and professional development courses in the past, she said, but this one has been the most helpful for building her skills.

“I expect to develop my app so that I can help leaders to manage their stress better into practice, mental health and wellness,” Irizarry said. “So that is, that’s my biggest goal and I’m definitely going to do it with the information that I’ve learned here in this program.”

Applying the program to everyday work

Quishaun Murden works with students in an after-school program and noticed that many of his students are interested in app development and game design. He chose to take this class to learn how to build an app and educate himself about the things his students care about.

So far, Murden said, he appreciates all the different tools and sources the program has shared to help participants with the project management process. He hopes the knowledge he gains from the accelerator will be helpful to communicate results and other information in his day job.

Using the tech skills to help entrepreneurs

Charise N. Wilson signed up for the program because she was interested in learning more about how AI and gamification could be applied to her business, Divas Cleaning Services.

Before this class, Wilson thought app development required a coding background and tech education. She said she was surprised to learn how many apps are built without any coding.

Once she finishes the program, Wilson wants to help other entrepreneurs in her industry and share what she learned.

“I’m going to pivot to digital content because I no longer do service, like labor, but I want to help other small businesses do what I do — like if they want to pivot and create digital,” Wilson said.

This editorial article is a part of Resilient Tech Careers Month of Technical.ly’s editorial calendar.