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JAI CAMPBELL: Hello.
Hello, everyone.
We're just about to start.
So my name is Jai Campbell, and I'm a site reliability engineer
for a company called Wipro.
And I help our clients move their workloads
into Google Cloud platform.
So I'm super happy today to be here in Munich.
And I'm going to be sharing some of my experiences
with diversity and inclusion in technology.
So a little about me.
I'm a London-based software engineer.
I'm founder of a meetup called London SRE,
and I'm co-organizer for GDG London.
I'm also a GDE, Google Developer Expert, specializing in cloud.
I've worked in technology for 20 years.
And then outside of technology, I
love spending my personal life with my daughter
and also playing games in sport.
And the image of me there is at Google Next
2019 in San Francisco.
So the topic for today is my journey
into software engineering, my experience
with diversity and inclusion in technology,
and then opportunities to make a positive change.
So let's start with my journey into software engineering--
being born.
So my mother is English and Welsh,
and my father is Jamaican.
My first name is of Indian origin,
and my surname comes from Scotland.
Jamaica was a British colony, if you don't know,
and I have a long history with the United Kingdom.
So I was born in 1980, and I grew up in a small town.
It's called Leeds, in the north of England.
It's very multicultural, but I encountered a lot of racism
when I was growing up.
And this is where my journey really started.
Game consoles, we've got a few good ones outside, right?
My game console of choice was the Nintendo Entertainment
System and another piece of hardware called the Games
Genie.
And then through these devices, I
gained a peek into game design, software engineering,
and then, essentially, the inner working of games.
And then playing games as a young child,
I never thought I'd be working in the tech industry today.
So if you fast-forward to the present day,
for the majority of my adult life, I've lived
and I've worked in London.
And it's a familiar story in that
I've moved to a large city for more opportunities in life.
And when you live in a city of any size,
it's not uncommon to have a friend or work with someone
that speaks a different language,
they're a different ethnicity, or they're a different gender.
And as the world becomes smaller,
this will only increase due to increased travel.
And then we have social media apps such as Instagram,
Facebook, and such.
And the picture to the left is from The World Reimagined
project.
It's Black History Month in the UK at the current time.
And this is a UK art project, and it
aims to educate how we understand the transatlantic
trade and enslaved Africans.
So we're going to move into the main part of my session,
and we're going to walk through some of my experiences
that stand out with respect to diversity and inclusion.
And I hope that will inspire you to think about D&I when
you're building teams and when you're writing code.
So we're going to start here.
It's a familiar graphic that I'm sure we've
seen in one shape or another.
And words have been said to shape
our perception of reality.
The words that we choose, they all
have different meanings depending
on the context and the languages that we speak.
So I've chosen three words from the selection above that
stand out to me, and they're powerful tools when we're
talking about these topics.
So we have "diversity," so including or involving people
from a range of different social and ethnic backgrounds,
different genders, different religions, et cetera.
Then we have "belonging," so the feeling of being comfortable.
And that's in a particular situation
with a particular group of people
and then feeling that you're a full member of the group.
And then we have "inclusion," so including
somebody or the feeling of being included.
As I work in DevOps and SRE, breaking down
silos and collaboration is key, but you
need the leadership spine to really succeed and make
it feel like it's all of us.
So this being said, there's two main buckets for diversity.
We have the business case and the social justice case.
On the business case, businesses are being more active
in the conversation.
They're working harder to improve opportunities
for underrepresented groups.
And they're all providing more internal training
to address these.
And they're also tackling the tough subjects of racism.
And then on the social justice case--
and this is partly due to the increased awareness
through groups like Black Lives Matter--
we've seen an increase in programs
and volunteer-based groups, and they're
shining a light on the ways that diversity can affect us
all in our communities, in our jobs, and in our teams.
There's also more people like me,
and we're talking about our experiences
to provide insights.
And that's in the aims to provide solutions and tackle
underrepresentation across the board.
Both of these buckets are required
to challenge the misconceptions, and it's
by working together on different aspects of the problem.
So let's have a look at the business influence
on diversity and inclusion, and we'll start here.
On average, we spend a third of our lives at work.
And I used to think I spent a third of my life waiting
on downloads, right?
It's true.
But it's a thought-provoking statistic.
And in my opinion, the workplace is one of the best places
to start tackling this problem, diversity and inclusion.
And then secondly, customers come from a diverse user base.
So businesses, they're going to attract
more customers, more users, if they have a varied workforce.
We live in a world with a global economy.
We have sales platforms, such as eBay, Amazon.
So it's easy for an individual or any size company
to sell their products worldwide.
And then another thing, reports have also
shown that having a diverse workforce
leads to better productivity.
So it's a win-win situation for everyone.
So let's talk about my first job in technology.
So I worked in tech in education for 10 years,
and that was across a variety of schools.
Community schools, academies, free schools, pay schools,
you name it.
I worked in loads.
But a substantial amount of these
were in areas of the city with large immigrant communities
and of low wealth.
It was during this time I started
to see the disparity in access to technology
across the capital, meaning London.
The UK is great in that it has a free education system,
but this comes at a cost.
And depending on the boroughs that the schools were in,
some schools had really good IT equipment,
and some had really bad.
For the teachers, it was hard to teach on.
For the users, essentially the pupils,
it was difficult and frustrating to learn on.
And that's why for us, as IT consultants,
it was hard to keep the systems in good working order.
So I'm going to draw your attention to this slide, which
is discussing fuel poverty.
And I'm going to show you how this ties into education.
So the different areas are the different boroughs in London.
The lighter colors shows the lowest proportion
of fuel poverty, and then the darker areas,
that shows the highest proportion of fuel poverty.
So I worked in more than 50 schools across these boroughs.
And I raise the point of fuel poverty
because this shows the differences in people's
financial situation and their social class,
their socioeconomic status.
And what you'll find is that people in the most
deprived neighborhoods, they tend
to be disadvantaged across multiple aspects
of their lives.
And if you were to search for the richest
cities in the world, London usually comes up in the top 10.
So this graphic here shows you the disparity
between wealth distribution.
If you're a family or parents trying to support your children
and you're struggling to pay for food and energy,
it's going to be hard for you to buy suitable equipment
for your children.
And that brings us here.
So as I was working in schools across the boroughs
that we just saw, Google was the first technology company
that I encountered that was offering
free enterprise-level software for free for the masses.
This was by providing schools free access
to Google Apps, which is now Google Apps for Education.
In the present day, this may seem really trivial.
But this was 10 years ago, and it was an enabler
for so many young people.
And it offered them many opportunities--
electronic communications, a powerful suite
of office applications, and an email address for life.
So at a similar time, our schools
have been supplied with iPads that
reduce rates for the pupils.
So the teachers were generally keen on this.
It was easier for the young pupils
to launch an app from an application
without having to learn how to master a keyboard and mouse.
So it was really good to get them into tech at a young age.
So why were these two programs important for diversity
and inclusion?
Equal opportunities.
And we'll start here, number one.
It enabled people, essentially the young people,
the young pupils, equal access to technology,
and it provided them with good opportunities to learn.
And then the second point, schools
are a great place to start, as children do not always
have access to computers at home, believe it or not.
Since these two programs were launched,
they've gone from strength to strength,
and it really shows that it was a good investment.
So we have Chromebooks now used by over 30 million
students and educators worldwide.
And then in the UK there's a phrase
called "one iPad per pupil."
And in around 7% of primary schools and secondary schools,
iPads are used daily.
So these programs are really going from strength
to strength, and they're enabling young people
to get into tech and be the developers of the future.
So whilst working in education, I learned a great deal
about local cultures.
And you can do the same.
Maybe not in schools, but in the companies and the teams
and the communities that you are a part of.
Spend a little time getting to know someone,
or speak to someone that you might not otherwise
have spoken to before.
During the breaks today, why not speak to somebody new
at Google Next?
So my first experience working for an organization that
actively celebrates diversity and inclusion
was an art center on the River Thames.
I was brought in as an infrastructure engineer,
and we were helping lift and shift-- well,
do a bit of modernization as well--
but move their infrastructure into cloud.
It's the fourth-most visited attraction in the UK.
And it has more than 4 million visitors.
It has 13,500 and 250 teachers take part
in learning activities across the year.
I volunteered my time, and I was working with the education
team.
And we were upskilling young people and adults
in performing arts, and this was via creative workshops.
We taught them editorial skills, photography,
and visual effects.
And then lastly, 40% of the events are free.
And this addresses some of the economic
and the social factors that can impede young people
from having access to arts and the technology that
surrounds it.
It's very expensive working in performing arts
with some of the software and hardware,
and we were providing access to people to get really engaged
and start off.
So top 10%-- a really great statistic.
So prior to the epidemic, the Southbank Centre's
representation of workforce was from people
with proclaimed disabilities, different races,
different genders, people of all ages,
and this put the Southbank Centre
in the top 10% of institutions with representation
from the following groups.
It was really great to be a part of,
and all the staff was really happy to be there.
And the visitors really embraced that as well.
So stepping into the corporate world.
So when I moved away from education, for me personally,
it was a scary prospect.
The business sector is far more fast-paced.
There's different expectations, and the professional landscape
in offices is generally less diverse
when it comes to seeing people like me.
And I really felt that when I was working in engineering.
And what I mean is, it instantly felt less multicultural.
Also from working in schools where the majority of staff
are women, it was an instant shock
to the system to now see walking around the office
that the majority of staff were now men.
Unlike school staffrooms as well,
there was no cakes and treats at lunchtime,
and who doesn't like a good cake, right?
So this slide here, this takes us back
to the business bucket for inclusion.
So Reboot is a network of senior professionals.
And they work together to maintain a dialogue
on race relations and equality in the UK workplace.
They have a particular focus on the financial services.
It's important to remember with reports like this
that they exist across all industries in the UK.
But this one highlights a few key things.
So in this report, some of the topics that were covered
were careers and progression, discrimination
at the workplace, recruitment, representation, pay,
and ethnic minority self-censorship.
So I'd like you to have a look at the key below.
It shows people from different ethnic groups
and some of the questions that they were asked.
Some of the questions included, do you
feel that you're able to be yourself at work?
And do you feel you need to change aspects of your behavior
in order to fit in?
I'd like you to have a look at the table
and just spend a few moments to have
a look at one of the questions.
If you were asked in your team, in your company,
what would your answer be?
You don't need to say it, but just think, how would you
respond to a survey like this?
So now we're going to move on to opportunities
to make a positive change.
We've looked at some of the ways that companies are investing
in education and how they're looking internally
to address some of the problems and concerns.
Now we're going to have a look at some
of the cool initiatives that exist here in the Google
ecosystem, and they enable and they
encourage us to make a change in the technology
sector and beyond.
So we start with Women Techmakers.
This is a great program.
This provides visibility, a community,
and resources for women that are working in technology.
It addresses some of the challenges
that women face at work.
And some of them are representation
of women, women bosses, the gender pay
gap, sexual harassment, and pregnancy discrimination.
It's a really great program.
It has over a thousand ambassadors
and over 81,000 members.
It's a really great initiative.
If you haven't joined one of the sessions,
I highly recommend that you do.
They're really insightful.
And what I've seen in my experience
is that some of the ambassadors actually
run these sessions at the companies that they work in,
and it really makes a good impact.
We also have one of my favorites, Google Developer
Groups, GDG.
So they're based on three great pillars--
connect, learn, and grow.
And Google Developer Groups are passionate in their community,
and they're dedicated to helping others learn and grow.
This GDG is all over the world, and they host events
of various types on a wide range of various technical topics.
I find them really good because they're locally based,
and they address the needs of the immediate community.
You can join one.
If there's one in your town, have a look and sign up.
If there isn't one, you can always start one.
It only takes one or two developers,
and you can create one where you live.
If you're based in Munich, you'll
be happy to know there's one right here,
and they've got a few events coming up soon,
so show your support.
We also have Google Developer Experts, GDEs.
And they are based on the same three pillars.
They're tech enthusiasts from around the world,
and they're skilled in Google technologies,
actively sharing their knowledge through workshops,
talks like this, and creating online content.
There's also a program called the Road to GDE.
And this is geared towards developers from historically
underrepresented groups.
And the aim of that program is to support them on their path
to hopefully becoming a GDE, and it's really great.
We also have Building for Everyone.
So these are new events and resources,
and these have the goal of educating developers
to implement accessibility-based practices into their products
and raise knowledge about accessibility inclusion
by accessibility guidelines and tools.
So diversity and inclusion, it means everyone,
and everyone needs to feel valued.
A large number of the people in the world
have disabilities, some that they know about,
some that they don't know about.
And some people have disabilities
that they're afraid to share for various reasons.
As developers, when we're creating cool apps
or creating cool services, we want everybody
to be able to use and enjoy them.
And these events address just that.
So I'm approaching my end of my session.
It's important to know that this is an ongoing conversation.
The groups that I've mentioned, they all
have really good merit individually,
but it's collectively that we're going
to make the biggest impact.
And that's through collaboration between individuals,
the different communities that we've just been discussing.
And then we can start to address some of the root causes,
and we can create solutions so that everybody feels included.
There's a short break now.
The next session will start at 2:00 both here
and the ballroom.
The session here is Track 1, Check Your Security Posture.
And then the session in the ballroom
is Track 2, Building a Serverless Event-Driven Web
App in Under 10 Minutes.
Thank you for joining me, and I'll be outside
if you'd like to have a chat.
Thank you.
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