Industry Fluency Standards

Introduction

Industry Fluency is one of the 3 pillars of Pursuit focusing on familiarizing fellows with the Tech Industry. Fellows will learn about product development, venture capital, and other entrepreneurial concepts from industry experts. Fellows will also expand their network through Site Visits, Tech Talks, and workshops led by engineers and experts across the industry.

Topic 1 - Mastery of Key Industry Topics/Trends

Careers Overview

Objectives

• Understand various possible career paths in technology (software development and beyond)
• Gain exposure to various industries powered by software developers
• Understand potential areas of focus (in terms of learning/skills development) for each career path

NYC Tech Ecosystem

Objectives

• Understand how and when NYC became a tech hub and what contributed to its growth
• Understand the key industries and players within the NYC tech ecosystem
• Understand how NYC stacks up against other tech hubs (Sillicon Alley vs. Sillicon Valley)

Startups

Objectives

• Understand the startup lifecycle, including how they are formed, launched, and scaled
• Understand what a VC is and how funding works, along with key players
• Understand the purpose of incubators and accelators, along with key players in the space

IP, copyright, patents

Objectives

• Understand Intellectual Property law as it relates to software/technology (i.e. buckets of IP; what types of work do they protect)
• Understand property-related documents that developers typically sign when they take a tech job

Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Machine Learning

Objectives

• Understand what AI & machine learning are and what problems they seek to solve/improve
• Understand key industries that are being shaped/transformed by or are leading the way in terms of innovation in AI & Machine Learning
• Understand how their roles as software developers will be affected by the proliferation of these
technologies (i.e. creating better technologies, building tools more responsive to users)

Augmented Reality (AR) & Virtual Reality (VR)

Objectives

• Understand what AR &VR are and their recent proliferation
• Understand key industries that are being shaped/transformed by or are leading the way in terms of innovation in AI & Machine Learning
• Understand the role that software developers play in the build out of AR & VR applications

Blockchain

Objectives

• Understand what Blockchain is and what problems/issues the technology seeks to solve/improve
• Understand key industries that are being shaped/transformed by or are leading the way in terms of innovation in Blockchain technologies (key players)
• Understand the capacity for software developers to contribute to the buildout of blockchain software/technologies (i.e. open source projects & contributions)

## Topic 2 - Demonstrated Passion for Technology

N/A

Objectives

• Demonstrate ability to describe software development and projects as it relates to problem being solved, personal interests, and connection to everyday issues/problems, passions, or trends

## Topic 3 - Development of Social Capital

Networking

Objectives

• Understand what networking is and why it's important
• Practice how to introduce/present oneself in person and online via social media
• Understand how to follow up with new connections to build a network
• Understand how to leverage external events such as meetups as networking events

Digital Presence

Objectives

• Establish digital presence as part of developer portfolio (LinkedIn, Github, etc.)
• Understand best practices for digital presence and ensure materials are clear, consistent, up-to-date

Mentorship

Objectives

• Be able to identify a potential mentor during Access Code (work on skills, job search) and understand the importance of mentorship while on the job
• Be able to navigate social support services and value of advocacy/self-advocacy.
• Understand how to leverage sponsor relationship.
• Be able to identify appropriate and helpful other resources as a developer (meetups, study groups, hackathons, code challenges, online developer groups, etc.)