Monday Q&A: Howard Sueing of Google’s ‘HowardWest’program
Software engineer Howard Sueing grew up on food stamps in Section 8 housing. Now, he’s teaching in Google’s new program for students from historically black colleges.
MOUNTAIN VIEW — Howard Sueing has found a place in an industry that’s largely closed off to people like him. A black employee at Google, raised on food stamps in Section 8 housing, he’s a relative rarity in a company and a sector where African-Americans make up a very small percentage of the workforce.
And now he’s doing his best, as a software engineer and instructor in Google’s new “Howard West” computer science program for students from historically black colleges, to make his company more diverse and inclusive to people of color.
Howard West takes its name — and for now its students — from Washington, D.C.’s historically black Howard University. The 12-week program puts students through courses in software engineering, algorithms, machine learning and mobile app development. The initiative was unveiled earlier this month in a two-story building near Google’s headquarters complex in Mountain View.
Each class is co-taught by a Google employee and a Howard University computer science professor. Students receive course credits toward graduation from Howard. Google plans to involve other historically black colleges in the future, and expand the student cohort beyond the current number of 26.
Sueing sat down with this newspaper at Howard West to discuss the program and his work. His comments have been edited for length and clarity.
Diversity and inclusion need to be made more of a core component. … It shouldn’t be an afterthought.
Q Google is 2 percent black overall and in leadership roles, only 1 percent in tech jobs — what causes these low diversity rates? A This is an industry challenge. If you look at (Google’s) actions, if you look at our diversity programs, if you look at the fact that we were the first company to release our numbers in the first place ... we’re definitely one of the leading companies in taking charge in solving this problem. The industry, in Silicon Valley and the Bay Area, it’s kind of blown up quickly, and it’s done so, I’d say, without necessarily the input or feedback from folks like myself. It’s created an environment and processes and systems that sometimes are a challenge for people like me to navigate. Q To what degree, if any, is racism a factor in the low number of black people in tech? A What I’ve found from my personal experience is not necessarily overt racism but more ... unconscious bias. You have a group of individuals who are not necessarily used to maybe thinking about working with or considering the perspectives of a minority group. The recruiting strategies and practices that are developed can sometimes negatively impact the minority group.
It’s taken me a long time to learn that, because in many areas of this country overt racism is the cause for some of the challenges that I have and some of the opportunities that I’ve been denied. There’s always this mental stress that folks like myself have to deal with where we’re trying to figure out, “OK, if something happens to us is it because of overt racism? Is it because of unconscious bias? Is it because maybe I didn’t actually deserve the opportunity and I need to work harder?” Q What challenges did you face, because of your race, while coming up in your education and career in tech? A I think of times (when) there’s not necessarily a motivation of the majority demographic to learn about me or to understand me or my background. There’s an aggressive need and burden put on me to then learn more about them and be able to integrate myself in their world, and to take on things that are of their culture. Trying to do that while simultaneously also being excellent in your role and in your job, it kind of sets many people up for failure.
There’s this thing called a black tax: This phrase is essentially the notion of a black- or brown-skinned person coming into a corporate environment and in addition to needing to perform strongly in their core roles, having the tax of needing to also support that company’s diversity and inclusion initiatives, or mentor people, or work with others like them to help them get to the same space. That’s something that many people like myself enjoy doing and are passionate about. But it ... gives us even a lower amount of resources to work with as we’re competing against some of our peers who are not black. Q What role does Howard West have in improving Google’s diversity? A The goal of Howard West is not only to improve Google’s diversity and empower these students but also just to do our part in chiseling at the problem that the industry as a whole has. We’re totally OK if these students come to Howard West, they do a great job, they learn a lot, and then they go to a competitor. At the end of the day we had an opportunity to be involved in that student’s life, and to empower them and support them as they grow academically and professionally. We also hope that they fall in love with our campus and our Google culture, and so therefore are able to more easily see themselves in an environment like Google, and develop a goal of potentially working at Google if that’s what they want. Q To what extent is Howard West a recruitment instrument — will a significant number of residency graduates end up working at Google? A We would love to hire each and every one of them. More than a recruitment initiative this is us having a long-term perspective, understanding that there may not be immediate tangible “wins.” This is a tough problem, it takes time. The primary goal would be to teach, to empower and to provide the students an opportunity to immerse themselves in the Bay Area, in Google, in the technology industry in general. Q What else can be done to get more black people into tech jobs? A Diversity and inclusion need to be made more of a core component of the companies that are in the technology industries: their mission statements, their processes, how they get things done. It shouldn’t be an afterthought.