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Techtonica: Bridging the Tech Gap

Partner today to help #BridgeTheTechGap!

Techtonica offers software engineering training, living and childcare stipends, laptops, and community support to women and non-binary adults seeking economic empowerment, then places graduates with partner companies or supports them during their job search.

By partnering with Techtonica, you're empowering the people most underrepresented in tech and most in need. You’ll also save time and money on recruiting, build diversity in tech, expand your network, gain new perspectives, make better products, receive a tax exemption, and join other distinguished supporters.

Make a positive social impact while fulfilling your diverse technical talent needs.

Sponsor benefits chart

We have a rigorous application process that includes pre-reqs and study groups, two application forms, JavaScript workshops, presentations, code challenges, pairing, and interviews with staff and board members. Our acceptance rate is 7%. The characteristics we both seek in applicants and seek to strengthen in participants are resilience, autonomy, commitment, positivity & adaptability, collaboration, curiosity, and logic.

Developed by industry professionals, our six-month, sponsor-approved, open-source training covers full-stack JavaScript using hands-on projects. Participants build several projects, including a final project that is demoed during interviews and the graduation celebration.

Our participants spend the last weeks of training preparing to join the companies they've been matched with.

88% of our graduates so far are BIPOC, 21% have a disability, 21% are parents, 10% identify outside the gender binary, and 1% are veterans.

The best talent can’t be confined to gender, race, status, or age—let’s bring the best talent to the best of tech.

Techtonica Demographics:

Join our hiring partners!

Techtonica Consulting

Techtonica Consulting, an extension of Techtonica's mission, will offer an alternative real-world software engineering experience to its graduates. These graduates, who have completed extensive training and come from diverse backgrounds, will have the opportunity to work on real software projects while being supervised by senior software engineers. Techtonica Consulting is dedicated to serving a broad spectrum of industries, from large Fortune 100 companies to small businesses and entrepreneurs, providing tailored tech solutions to meet their unique needs.

techtonica participant with a volunteer discussing code

How It Works

  1. Initial Contact and Needs Assessment:
    • Companies interested in working with Techtonica Consulting reach out
    • Techtonica Consulting technical team schedules an initial meeting with the company to understand their specific software development needs, project scope, and goals.
  2. Project Proposal:
    • Customized Proposal: Based on the needs assessment, Techtonica Consulting creates a customized project proposal that includes project objectives, timeline, cost estimates, and the number of Techtonica graduates required for the project.
    • Agreement: Once both parties agree on the proposal, a formal agreement is signed outlining the project details, roles, responsibilities, and confidentiality terms.
  3. Team Formation:
    • Selection of Graduates: Techtonica Consulting selects graduates from its pool of trained and diverse software engineering talents whose skills align with the project requirements.
    • Supervision: Senior software engineers, often from Techtonica Consulting, are assigned as mentors and supervisors for the graduates throughout the project.
  4. Project Execution:
    • Development Phase: The Techtonica Consulting team, consisting of graduates and mentors, starts working on the project according to the agreed-upon timeline and milestones.
    • Regular Updates: Regular communication and progress updates are provided to the company to ensure alignment with their goals.
  5. Quality Assurance and Testing:
    • Quality Control: The project undergoes rigorous quality assurance and testing processes to ensure it meets industry standards and the company's expectations.
    • Feedback Loop: Companies provide feedback on the project's development, which is used to refine and adjust the work as needed.
  6. Project Delivery:
    • Completion: Once the project is completed successfully, Techtonica Consulting delivers the final product to the company.
    • Documentation: All project documentation, source code, and intellectual property are handed over to the company.
  7. Post-Project Support:
    • Transition: Techtonica Consulting ensures a smooth transition of the project to the company's internal teams, if applicable.
    • Ongoing Support: Techtonica Consulting may provide post-project support and maintenance services as agreed upon in the initial contract.
  8. Evaluation and Future Collaboration:
    • Feedback Session: After project completion, a feedback session is held with the company to evaluate the performance of graduates and the overall project.
    • Discussion on Future Collaboration: Techtonica Consulting discusses potential future collaborations, whether for additional projects or other opportunities.
  9. Billing and Payment:
    • Billing Cycle: Billing is done based on the terms agreed upon in the contract, which may be milestone-based or monthly.
    • Payment: Your company makes payments to Social Good as per the payment schedule.
  10. Continuous Improvement:
    • Feedback Incorporation: Techtonica Consulting continuously improves its processes and the training provided to graduates based on feedback from both companies and graduates.
    • Expanding Talent Pool: Techtonica Consulting strives to expand its pool of graduates to cater to a broader range of industry needs.

At Techtonica Consulting, we meticulously follow these steps to foster seamless collaborations with your company or project. We provide invaluable real-world software engineering solutions, all while offering our graduates a hands-on learning experience and mentorship within a professional environment.

techtonica participants in zoom video call squares

How Hiring Works

Partner & Announce

Sign our Advocate Agreement, pay the partnership fee, and formulate an announcement.

2018 cohort
2018 volunteering at Atlassian

Connect and Strategize

Meet Techtonica participants via pairing, company Q&As, or guest talks.

Determine employee’s position (software engineer, support engineer, technical program manager, QA, sales engineer, or other "tech plus/adjacent" roles), team, duties, and pay (at least $33/hour). See this doc for some of our past placement job descriptions.

Meet Your New Hire & Prepare

Mutually rate and match. Collaborate on details like start date and how to best prepare before officially joining.

Attend the inclusion workshop.

2018 volunteer with participant
2018 Atlassian volunteering

Employ

Employ your graduate (who will have regular check-ins with Techtonica) for at least 1,000 hours as an intern, contractor, or FTE — it’s up to you.

Even with hiring freezes in 2021 and 2022, 87% of our grads stayed with placement companies beyond the initial six months! Here are some testimonials:

"I'm being very serious when I say that I'd be happy to take literally any of them. I've never experienced that before from folks so new to the work." -Shane Duff, Senior Front End Engineer at Pantheon

“Everyone is super happy with the program and the quality of the {participants}. It was beyond what most were expecting.” —Jerome Despret, Director of Engineering at Pantheon

“Mentoring [our Techtonica grad] at Meraki has been incredibly rewarding, as I see her grow into a stronger and stronger engineer every week.” —Alexandra Savramis, Software Engineer at Cisco Meraki

“You could honestly match us with any one of them and it would be great.” —Jill Berardini, Software Engineer at Rally Health

“[Our Techtonica graduate] is beloved.” —Rachel Glickman, Director of Inclusion, Diversity, and Employee Relations at Rally Health

“We were very impressed by the level of foresight that went into the curriculum design.” —Michael Kyle, Director of Talent at Redbubble

To share a job posting on an inclusive team with Techtonica graduates who have 0-5 years of experience, please click here.

All content © Techtonica, a fiscally-sponsored project of SocialGood (Nonprofit EIN: 46-1323531)