Frequently Asked Questions About Techtonica

Techtonica partners with tech companies to provide software engineering training with need-based, sliding-scale, subsidized tuition and stipend scholarships with supplied laptops, job placement and/or job search support to women and non-binary adults seeking economic empowerment.

We offer underserved, diverse populations an opportunity to be involved in a long-term, need-based, sliding-scale, subsidized tuition and stipend scholarships for a full-time software engineering training program that prepares and places them in the software engineering field without having to worry about financial instability. The main differences between us and other programs are:

• Our participants are women and non-binary adults seeking economic empowerment, preventing more displacement and empowering the people who really need tech skills
• 88% of our participants so far have been people of color, 21% have a disability, 21% are parents , 10% identify outside the gender binary, and 1% are veterans
• Our program offers software engineering training with need-based, sliding-scale, subsidized tuition and stipend scholarships for participants
• We provide stipend scholarships to help our participants with living and childcare costs and lessen the pricing of tuition where eligible
• We are a nonprofit, so donations are tax-deductible
• We provide MacBooks to those who need them
• Our program is six months long instead of just three​
• Our program usually ends with a paid or stipended placement (not guaranteed) and professional connections in the industry
• We expose participants to a variety of roles in the tech industry, not solely the role of software engineer—our goal is to find great fits for our participants and help them support themselves and their families
• We encourage participants to be leaders in the community
• We organize intro coding workshops with community organizations to reach people most in need of our services
• Our program is more age-inclusive—it's not just for young adults
• We provide ongoing support to our graduates
• Partner companies are often involved in criteria, curriculum, and mentoring
• Our curriculum is open-source
• We provide diversity and inclusion training to the teams that our graduates will be placed onto

Genderqueer and non-binary are terms that describe people who do not identify as men or women. “Femme” refers to people’s appearance. A more traditionally-feminine appearance is considered femme. We are trans-inclusive. We serve and accept cis and trans women, as well as people with non-binary gender identities.

We are seeking participants who can show consistent responsibility, resilience, commitment, and interest, among other criteria that our partner companies work out with us. See our full-time program page for more information.

See if you're eligible on our full-time program page and fill out the interest or application form (usually open around April and October each year).

Our ideal advocate sponsor companies:

• Have at least 100 employees
• Have engineering teams that care about diversity and inclusion and it shows
• Have a plan to support junior talent long-term
• Would like to sponsor at least two so our graduates can support one another
• Employ matched graduates as FTEs with benefits, not just contractors
• Care more about ability to learn than which specific tech stack people know

They should be able to:

• Get involved with the cohort through pairing, Q&As, etc.,
• Provide weekly check-ins with managers throughout placement
• Provide weekly pairing with mentors throughout placement
• Pay at least $30/hour

Low incomes are incomes less than the amount specified in your location and situation on the MIT Living Wage Calculator in annual household income.

Adults, ages 18 and up

The program consists of five to six months of full-time training, Monday through Friday, followed by six months of placement or job search support.

The program started in San Francisco (on Ramaytush Ohlone land) but has been remote since March 2020.

The curriculum covers mostly web development (full-stack JavaScript), but we also touch on other skills useful in tech, such as project management, UI/UX design, and data analysis. Feel free to check out and contribute to our open-source curriculum.

We believe in empowering underrepresented folks, rather than placing an additional burden on them.

You can find our Mission, Code of Conduct, and Feedback Framework here.

Being underrepresented and without connections in the tech industry makes it very difficult to find a job — most bootcamp graduates require six months to a year to secure a job after graduation. We want to help match companies working to increase diversity and underestimated people seeking empowering employment.

Due to the many layoffs facing software engineers, Techtonica started the Seeker Program for Techtonica graduates looking for jobs in 2023. The goal is for each participant (a “Seeker”) to secure a software en gineering job as soon as possible. Seekers work together with some structure, accountability, support, reviewing, learning, practice, and stipends to make the job search process a little easier.

See our sponsorships page.

Advocate-level sponsors can get involved with the training and curriculum, so they get to know participants over the span of the six months. Around the fifth month, companies and participants interview and rate each other and we do our best to align you so both sides are happy.

Implicit bias, privilege, allyship, empathy, inclusion vs. diversity, apologizing, tools for inclusive hiring, why policies are important, giving actionable feedback, anti-racism, etc.

Yes, because our fiscal sponsor Social Good Fund has 501(c)(3) status.

Since April 28, 2016, Techtonica has been fiscally sponsored through Social Good Fund. Fiscal sponsorship is when a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization—the “fiscal sponsor”—takes on a project like Techtonica, thus sharing legal and tax-exempt status. We give them a percentage of our donations and they manage our employment, donations, payroll, and taxes so we can focus on our mission. They offer the same services to over 50 organizations, so their tax documents reflect the information for all of those organizations combined.

Programs—43.76%

Stipends—33.85%

Partnership Development—11.86%

Services & Fiscal Fees—6.5%

Operations—4.05%

2017 Impact Report

2018 Impact Report

2019 Impact Report

2020 Impact Report

2021 Impact Report

2022 Impact Report

2023 Impact Report

Thank you! You can donate once or regularly here. Since our fiscal sponsor is Social Good Fund (nonprofit EIN 46-1323531), all donations will be sent to them first before being distributed to us. Please send us a message when you donate so that we know to inform Social Good and they can place your donation into our account.

• Make donations.
• Sign up to volunteer your skills to the cause.
• Spread the word via Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Mastodon (Hachyderm), Medium, and YouTube.

Our founder Michelle Glauser liked the idea of Techtonica being a "tonic" or "solution" for tech and a technical solution for underestimated people in need. She also likes the "moving and shaking" that the name implies and the connection to the San Francisco Bay Area, where Techtonica began. The A at the end just fits, you know?

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