How BUiLT unites Black IT pros and builds equity

Growing up as one of the only Black students in his schools, Peter Beasley felt accepted by his peers and didn’t experience a sense of being different as he set his own course for advancement. But as he entered college to study electrical engineering and later launched a career in IT, that began to change.

“There’s a picture my son found of me in the sixth grade in San Antonio. I’m the only Black kid. How did [I] not see it then?” Beasley says. “In class, in the places my family lived, I was looking at all of us and I thought we were all ‘kumbaya,’ you know. And then in college and my corporate career, things started closing in on me. Ceilings started showing up.”

Beasley’s father was in the US Air Force, and so as a youth, Beasley moved worldwide. For him, fitting in and advancing had always come easy.

“But as I aged, had project successes, earned budget and decision-making authority, and gained more confidence, power, etc., I recognized discrimination based on me being Black was happening to me and the fight for racial equity was and remains real,” he says of his time working his way up to IT director roles. “Behaviors to exclude me would happen in corporate [workplaces] and even in nonprofits where I volunteered, and I wasn’t prepared for them coming.”

“Ultimately, I found that corporate America was not working for me anymore. So, I started my own tech company,” Beasley says.

Soon after founding Netwatch Solutions as CTO, Beasley realized he would face even more barriers when acquiring funding. He was often asked offensive questions by venture partners, who would attribute his customer success to being a minority-owned business, with one VC going as far as to ask Beasley whether his grandparents had been slaves.

After starting his software company, Beasley volunteered in the nonprofit space, working with several organizations, serving on the board of directors. Through that work, Beasley recognized a growing need for organizations that bring together Black technology professionals to build community and advancement opportunities. So after closing Netwatch Solutions during the pandemic, he decided to cofound a new nonprofit, Blacks United in Leading Technology (BUiLT) International, which has since grown to include chapters across America, as well as in Canada and the UK.

Connecting and networking

Although companies have become more intentional about diversity and inclusion since Beasley launched his career, in the IT ranks, much remains unchanged. Beasley says he is “blown away” by how often he talks to people in their 20s in the IT industry who say they are the only Black person at their jobs — something he says he faced 40 years ago.

“Still, in many ways, Black people are the only one on their team, their division, their company, or at their level of leadership. People being alone, singled out, and excluded based on race still happens way too much,” he says.

For Black tech workers who feel alone on their teams or in their organizations, joining a professional organization like BUiLT can help expand their networks to include people they can relate to, and who have shared experiences. Moreover, there can be cultural differences in perceptions or understanding of professional networking, Beasley says. And with such low representation at the leadership level, Black tech professionals aren’t often given the same chances to network and connect with leaders in the industry, missing out on the opportunity to form those professional relationships.

And for Black tech pros unfamiliar with the unspoken rules of the corporate workplace because they may be the first in their family to work a corporate job, BUiLT gives the chance to network and connect with other Black tech professionals who can offer mentorship, sponsorship, and open new opportunities.

Byron Alexander Purdy, vice president of technology at JP Morgan Chase, joined BUiLT through a friend at Chase. For Purdy, the “promise of forging deeper connections within the Black tech community” was a big draw of joining BUiLT, he says.

“BUiLT has been a catalyst for my growth in the tech industry, offering leadership opportunities and outreach that transcend my immediate company and geographical boundaries,” Purdy says. “Being recognized as the BUiLT Member of the Year in 2022 brought me immense esteem and accolades, showcasing the platform’s recognition of impactful contributions.”

Since joining BUiLT in 2021, Purdy has joined in on regular networking sessions, and even secured a job as an adjunct professor at University of Texas at Dallas through networking at BUiLT. Purdy has also had the chance to host events and run a Tech Spotlight event with BUiLT’s North Texas sponsor, American Airlines. Being a certified Professional Scrum Master himself, Purdy has also used his leadership position to offer Scrum training to other BUiLT members.

Purdy says that BUiLT offers immense leadership and career development opportunities, and the chance to have a “profound impact” on people’s lives by introducing them to technology career paths, with a focus on getting into tech, advancing in tech, and startups and entrepreneurship.

Training and certifications

In addition to networking opportunities, members of BUiLT also gain access to training, bootcamps, and popular IT certifications, often at a discounted rate or for free. The goal is to ensure members have access to upskilling and reskilling resources so they can grow and advance their tech careers.

Training and certifications offered through BUiLT typically involve several weeks of online, self-paced training, along with weekly cohort study sessions.

For example, this month there will be a four-week (ISC)2 cybersecurity certification course covering security principles, business continuity, disaster recovery, incident response concepts, access control concepts, network security, and security operations. Those who complete the course, and pass the exam at the end, will earn their (ISC)2 Certified in Cybersecurity designation, alongside a cohort of other BUiLT members, whom they can connect and study with along the way.

Sponsorship and collaborations on hiring and retention

BUiLT is also open to company sponsorships. Through this program companies can choose to sponsor full chapters of BUiLT or individual events. Some of BUiLT’s sponsors and partners have included American Airlines, Target, Sezzle, IT Senior Management Forum, and (ISC)2. Sponsors also gain access to a talent pipeline through BUiLT, and Beasley says he’s had companies express interest in hiring specific members of the organization that they’ve met through sponsored events.

BUiLT also works with corporate sponsors to identify retention issues they may have with Black IT workers. It’s one thing to recruit Black tech pros, but it’s another thing to foster an equitable environment where they feel comfortable coming to work each day.

“Retention is a niche that some of our sponsors rely on us for. Sadly, it seems like many companies out there talk the talk, and they’ll throw money at ‘DEI,’ but they don’t actually hire or promote Black tech professionals, or not that many,” Beasley says. “Employers want to at least maintain the diversity that they have and don’t want to lose ground. So employers find value in partnering with BUiLT for advancement programs and inclusion opportunities to increase retention of their Black tech professionals.”

These companies work with BuiLT to create custom programs to educate employees on DEI topics, a move that can benefit the internal culture, while also signaling to their Black employees that they’re cognizant of progress that needs to be made. They will also meet directly with senior leadership or executives in the organization who may not “get it,” to bring them up to speed on the importance and benefits of embracing DEI.

“BUiLT gets asked to help when DEI teams and recruiters are frustrated in providing qualified, diverse candidates to hiring managers, but the company’s actual hiring practices don’t match the tone from the top to be more inclusive. We know how to bridge that gap,” says Beasley.

In 2021, a diversity recruiting program manager for Amazon Tech Ops in Nashville reached out to BUiLT, with the goal of meeting recruiting objectives for diversity. BUiLT assembled a team of six senior tech leaders from BUiLT — five of whom were Black — and customized a program consisting of workshops, a panel event, and group exercises for the Amazon executives. At this event, the BUiLT team worked with 17 senior tech leaders — 16 men and one woman — to help them better understand how to increase representation in the company. The workshop helped the senior leadership identify areas of improvement – for example, one senior leader who attended the workshop had the realization that they did not have even a third-level LinkedIn connection to any of the Black executives on the BUiLT team.

“If you don’t have any connection to Black people, you may have trouble seeing, hearing, hiring, and working with them. And guess what, Black people may not want to work with you either,” says Beasley.

The organization hoped to align better with their own DEI goals as well, which included retaining employees across demographics, doubling the number of US Black employees at director and VP levels, and increasing the hiring of Black employees and Black software development engineers. The reality, however, is that BUiLT can only bring the content to organizations; it’s up organizations to continue the commitment to DEI.

Building equity through growth

As an organization, BUiLT has grown significantly in just three and a half years. Beasley hopes to continue this growth, increasing the number of BUiLT chapters, bringing other professional organizations into the fold, and expanding corporate sponsorships as well. BUiLT has continued to expand event offerings, with a recognition Gala this past January, where sponsors and partners are recognized for their contributions.

BUiLT also offers Black Tech Symposium events, which are regional conferences held throughout the year to highlight Black professionals who are leading innovation in the tech industry. These events also highlight other nonprofit organizations, social-justice groups, and ally groups effecting change in the industry. These conferences also have education, connection, career advancement, and recruitment opportunities for members.

While the goal of BUiLT is to function as an organization focused on uplifting and championing Black tech professionals, Beasley also intends to collaborate with other BIPOC-focused organizations, as well as organizations for women and LGBTQ+, as he believes such efforts are an important path to equity. By bringing everyone in tech together, such collaborations can help create more inclusive and diverse spaces in an industry widely lacking them.