By Aswad Walker
The presence of Black people in tech jobs has increased between 2005 and 2025, but they remain substantially underrepresented in the industry. This stagnation in increasing the number of Black professionals in tech is blamed on multiple factors, including a lack of access to computer science education and retention problems within companies.
And according to Black techies, the political policies and climate of 2025 have only made things worse.
Impact of 2025 Politics
Idaho Edokpayi, who works in Denver as a Solution Architect, showed a level of caution in his response that spoke volumes about the current political climate.
“I have to be careful what I say just because of the climate, the environment, whatever,” said Edokpayi. “But it’s not been great. I mean, if I were speaking for myself, I might speak differently.”
George Gourdine, a senior sales leader in cloud technology based in the DC area, was a bit more forthcoming.
“The political climate, I haven’t seen a disruption quite like this,” said Gourdine. “People say it’s AI, but I think it’s AI and the political environment that we’re in. It’s as disruptive as it was in 2008, although we’re not currently facing a huge recession, so they say. But it feels like that.
“I haven’t seen a job market quite this bad where there are more people than there are jobs.”
Black people in tech looking to hire new talent co-sign Gourdine’s assessment.
Take Tim Hamner, a Los Angeles-based IT director for a marketing firm, for instance. Hamner says the current political climate makes it harder to find better talent, not because the talent is not available, but because of the sheer number of people looking for work.
“As we’re seeing with the jobs report, [tech] isn’t the only industry that this happens to. It’s just going on worldwide,” said Hamner. “Amazon just laid off 30,000 people. That’s 30,000 qualified people who are going to be out there, I don’t want to say mucking up a lot of the job searches, but competition is getting greater.”
Hamner says this new reality causes him to pay extra attention to who he’s trying to hire and bring on to his team.
Similarly, Glennda Bivens, an Iowa-born, California Bay Area-raised Houston transplant, views the impact of 2025 political policies from her position as an entrepreneur.
Bivens owns Engagement Angel LLC, a firm that provides business strategies for creatives. So, she is looking for employment in the form of additional contracts for her business while simultaneously seeking to hire new talent.
“As someone who has actively been on the job market, it has been really hard finding opportunities that align with my skill sets,” said Bivens. “A number of places have had to withdraw a number of positions due to funding constraints, particularly connected to policies, and just kind of the way things are right now, the lack of stability.”
Bivens spoke of the impact of 2025 political realities on friends of hers, some of whom are in tech, and some who are not.
“I also have really close friends who work within the federal government who are currently not being paid,” shared Bivens. “We are really leaning on one another to make sure that we have our basic needs met, whether it be paying our mortgages, our bills, making sure everyone is eating, but then also tapping into the emotional and spiritual welfare and wellness of one another.
“I think there is a more silent part of this experience politically that it can chip away at the soul and the uniqueness of individuals.”
Bivens asserts that right now, in particular, Black techies and others must hold fast to the aspects of “our heritage, our lineage, our community,” etc., that have historically kept us connected.
“Right now, it seems as though there’s a bigger divide and a fracture, not from us, but being imposed upon us,” added Bivens. “So being really creative and thinking about how we can continue to build one another up and stay connected is important, because we are not one another’s enemy.”
By the Numbers
Despite being 11.6% of the total U.S. workforce, Black workers were only 7.4% of the high-tech workforce in 2022, showing they are underrepresented. The number of Black people in high-tech roles increased between 2005 and 2022, but their share of the overall high-tech workforce remained stagnant at around 7.4% according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
Additionally, Black workers are significantly underrepresented in high-tech management positions, comprising only 5.7% of high-tech managers in 2022.
Our Relationship With Tech
These dismal employment numbers fly in the face of Black people’s relationship with and use of technology.
Members of Gen Z are the most technologically proficient of any other generation before them, according to a June 2025 report by Limely. Gen Zers are the youngest members of the current workforce. They were born between 1997 and 2012, making them between 13 and 28 years old.
Surprisingly, Millennials, the largest sector of today’s U.S. workforce (36-42%, per the U.S. Department of Labor), have a more positive view of how technology is affecting their lives than any other generation. Nielsen reports that more than 74% of Millennials believe that new technology makes their lives easier, and 54% believe that it helps them stay closer to their friends and family.
While there is no single racial group that uses and purchases the most technology products overall, Black and Hispanic consumers are more likely to rely on smartphones for internet access and e-commerce. Black Enterprise reports that Black people in the U.S. are particularly active, showing high levels of smartphone ownership, social media usage, and gaming, and are often considered early adopters who influence technology trends.
Desire to Work in Tech Fields
The desire to increase Black people’s involvement in tech as workforce members and tech entrepreneurs is growing exponentially by the day.
AfroTech 2025, the recent five-day conference held in Houston, was expected to attract over 40,000 attendees from around the world. Included in that number were over 200 tech companies said to be actively seeking talent, C-Suite tech company members, Black leadership in national security, and Black college students looking to jumpstart their desired careers in tech.
Moving Forward
The Denver-based solution architect, Edokpayi, believes that to achieve success moving forward, wherever Black techies are on their professional journey, they need to “play offense.”
“If you’re of the attitude, ‘I have something and I don’t want them to take that from me,’ that makes it hard,” said Edokpayi. “You have to be out there looking for new opportunities, trying to get ahead.
“And honestly, I’m out here trying to create things for me and other people like me.”
