I am really proud to announce that, in partnership with Boca Code, MediaOps has awarded a scholarship for the Fall 2021 term to the Software Engineering Career Course, a 10-week rigorous and fast-paced coding boot camp from Boca Code. Alina Maliuk, a first-generation immigrant from Ukraine, is the recipient.
The Engineer the Change scholarship was initiated by MediaOps to help foster diversity in the local tech industry and empower individuals from underserved communities to develop the skills needed to succeed in IT. Boca Code offers comprehensive training in software development to enable course attendees to develop these skills.
Need for Diversity in STEM fields
Research shows a staggering lack of diversity in STEM fields, most noticeably within computer and engineering positions. The tech industry is predominantly white and male, which appalls me (yes, even though I am a white male), and I wanted to do something to encourage more diversity across our industry. Gender and race inequity are glaring workforce disparities that require both recognition and responsibility from those at the highest levels in the tech world to create a more diversified and equitable workforce.
Two Full Scholarships Awarded Annually
MediaOps sponsors two $10,000 scholarships each year to enable students to enroll in Boca Code’s flagship Software Engineering Career Course. The full-time, 10-week intensive course combines theory and hands-on, project-based learning to prepare students for a career in software engineering. As part of their coursework, students take on development projects for local businesses, providing the students immediate, hands-on experience with real projects.
The Engineer the Change scholarships combine two goals that are core to the MediaOps team and me. The first is doing our part to make South Florida a world-class hub for the tech industry. The second is providing opportunities for individuals from disadvantaged communities to acquire the skills they need for a successful career in tech. My hope is that we also serve as an inspiration to other local companies to fund similar programs in support of these worthy goals.
About Our Winner, Alina Maliuk
Alina hails from Ukraine, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in management. After college, she married and had her first son. During her maternity leave in 2012, her family emigrated to New York. Being first-generation immigrants, they had to start their life here in the United States from scratch. For the first few years, Alina and her husband worked in entry-level jobs. In 2018, now a mother of two, Alina took several online classes in web development and rediscovered her love of learning—particularly software development. Now a resident of Boca Raton, Alina found Boca Code and attended a workshop in web development.
Alina was energized by that workshop, which furthered the continuing education she had already begun. Through that initial course, the Boca Code team inspired her to go even further. She is ready to move on to her next career, which she wants to be in software engineering. Thanks to the Engineer the Change scholarship, she will now have an opportunity to accelerate her tech career. At the same time, she is demonstrating to other female immigrants in Florida that if you can dream it and work hard to achieve it, you can make it happen.
Alan Shimel
CEO, MediaOps
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