A Facebook apology on its privacy issue
Facebook’s chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, apologized Tuesday for not protecting Houstonians’ information.
She was in town to discuss digital skills and the workforce, but the fourday event comes as a privacy scandal has some users contemplating their life without the social media giant.
“We know there are many important things we need to address, and we are taking the steps to address them,” Sandberg told the crowd. “We are looking very comprehensively for any other possible misuses of data. We are finding them, and we are going to fix them and we are going to tell you about them.”
She was speaking at the Facebook Community Boost event. Houston is the second city to get the program’s free workshops, business training and networking. Classes range from the basics, such as creating a Facebook page and learning about Facebook ads, to more in-depth topics on growing internationally or
raising money.
Some of the courses will touch on privacy. There’s also a booth where business owners can ask questions about handling data privacy. But the event’s main focus is bridging the gap between digital skills that Houstonians know are important but don’t feel comfortable using.
Facebook surveyed Houstonians and found that 90 percent of small-business managers believe digital advertising is important for growing their business, yet only 20 percent of managers rate themselves as excellent in this area.
Furthermore, 93 percent of individuals looking for work identified digital skills as important, but only 12 percent rate themselves as excellent in this department.
To address the latter, Facebook is paying for 25 Houstonians to attend a 15-week coding boot camp. Flatiron School is opening a Houston location, and the Facebook cohort will be the first class of students to learn software engineering, mostly Web development.
“We are here to work hard to fulfill every commitment we have to serving you, from keeping your information safe to making sure you know how to use Facebook to connect, share, grow jobs and grow your community,” Sandberg said. “This is a journey, and we know we are still at the very beginning. We have a lot of work to do, and we are honored to support the work of this incredible, incredible city.”
The Houston Area Urban League is ensuring the coding boot camp has a diverse class of students.
The number of jobs requiring coding skills increased within the past three years, and it’s part of a larger trend where technology is infiltrating a host of industries, said Eric Goodie, director of programs including workforce development and occupational skills training at the Houston Area Urban League.
Around eight or 10 years ago, for instance, he said construction-related jobs began requesting people with technical aptitude, such as using laser surveying instruments. Electricians needed to learn about fiber-optic cables, and so on.
He said a host of Houstonarea industries will have a need for coding: petrochemical, transportation, warehousing, logistics, aerospace and health care, to name a few.
“The reality is that every company is becoming a tech company,” said Adam Enbar, co-founder and CEO of Flatiron School. “Every industry has tech a part of it.”
Flatiron School was acquired by WeWork in October. Its coding boot camp in Houston will be in the downtown WeWork location.