Hello My name is Jamil Ramsey and I am the Blackguywhocodes. My motivation for starting Blackguywhocodes is simple, I was tired of complaining to my wife about the lack of POC in the many industry events I attend. Whether it be a large conference, local networking event, or meet-up, the scarcity of diverse faces was alarming. But importantly this is not another venue to talk about how the white man is running the world. Our lack of participation is about interest. The Black youth is simply not that interested in participating. Many don’t see the value proposition for learning to program. And for those that are interested knowing where to start can be a challenge. There are a lot of historical and cultural reasons for this, but using that as an excuse and not trying to change isn’t an option for me. So with this I plan on making the case to my community that Black people can and do code. And that more of us should also be participating. I will explore this from a social and technical perspective. The world has changed and the future of our community will depend on our ability to wrangle 0′s and 1′s.

Thanks,

Jamil holds a Ph.D. in Technology from Capitol Technology University, a M.S. in Computer Science from Bowie State University, B.A. in Art from Clark Atlanta University, and a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Maryland Global Campus.

Jamil Currently lives in Atlanta, GA with His Wife Kiki Ramsey and two children.