Who’s responsible for creating a pipeline for diverse tech talent?

In New York City, much of that work is being done by Dev Bootcamp, and the immersive web development program does not take that responsibility lightly.

“As a local bootcamp here in New York, it’s our belief that coding bootcamps play a role in the diversification of the tech industry,” said Dev Bootcamp’s community marketing manager, Rob Kleiman. “As institutions that encourage both hands-on learning for students and the community’s need to embrace non-traditional talent, bootcamps are inherently more inclusive and full of people with diverse backgrounds than traditional computer science programs.”

That’s why, last week, Dev Bootcamp hosted the second event in its Culture + Code series. The series aims to build a culture where productive conversations around diversity and inclusion are encouraged and lead to real action.

Here are five key takeaways on how to foster diversity and inclusion in tech from the event’s panelists:

1. Melanie Elturk (CEO, Haute Hijab)

“The way that I see diversity within our company or any company is really the culture of that company – basically, how you do things. Not necessarily just checking off boxes of the different people that you have on your team, but also making sure that you really are cultivating an environment that allows everyone to feel safe to express their opinion and creativity, and bring all of their ideas to the table. In our community, we have so many Muslims who feel as though they need to hide their identity in the workplace. By doing that, we never really truly understand who we are. And, as a result, we have horrific things like what happened this past weekend in Virginia where, a 17-year-old was murdered brutally. So if we can’t allow these spaces to be truly diverse and open to fully express who they are, their identities and bring their full selves to the table, then it’s all really in vain.”

2. John Pavley (SVP of Engineering, Viacom)

“Diversity is summed up in the idea of the cross-functional, multi-disciplinary team. At Apple, we brought together a diverse group of folks from many different backgrounds, perspectives, and disciplines. That’s how you get really great products like the Macintosh and iPhones. They don’t just happen because one person dreams them up. And at Viacom, it’s important because we have to empathize with our audience. When you watch TV or download an app, I bet you can kind of tell if it was meant for you. By having the same people designing, creating and programming it as our audience, we can guarantee we can identify and build something our audience will value.”

3. Swati Vauthrin (Director of Engineering, BuzzFeed)

“Diversity is the coming together of different thoughts, which not only influences the content we create at BuzzFeed, but even the products and engineering that we do. We feel at BuzzFeed that diversity is actually a competitive advantage for us. It’s reflected in the type of content we produce and the type of audience we have, as well. We value it because it helps us at the end of the day.”

4. Jeremy Browning (Product Manager, Prolific Interactive)

“At Prolific, diversity specifically is inclusive, comprehensive and, most importantly, measurable. For us, because we’re building products in partnership with the brands we work with, it’s tremendously important that we are comprehensive in the scope that we consider when we’re talking to customers, doing research, etc. We try to employ the full breadth of voices that are relevant to that brand. And sometimes brands themselves aren’t even aware of the multitude of voices or communities that engage with them and purchase their products. So we consider it necessary for us to bring in those voices and make sure that they impact how we approach our strategy and design. In order to be competitive, it’s imperative that we build apps that are accessible and feel familiar to a wide set of people.”

5. Mali M. (Partner & Creative Director, Pixod, Partner at The Bklyn Combine)

“We’re hearing a lot about the economic value and the big-business reason to diversity. It’s ironic because it’s that same type of thinking that has led to the very problem. Should there be a more moral, ethical, and cultural agenda and an actual reason as human beings that we want to be in a diverse landscape?”

The industry has a long way to go. These perspective are just the tip of the iceberg – productive and actionable conversations help everyone move in the right direction.

Watch the complete discussion about diversity and inclusion in the tech industry.

This article is sponsored by Dev Bootcamp and was reviewed before publication.