WASHINGTON
Calling computers fun, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates has urged minority college students to consider careers in computer science.
Wrapping up a three-day tour of college campuses with a stop at predominantly Black Howard University, Gates said computer software writers will be in greater demand than ever in the next decade.
Even so, the number of college graduates seeking software jobs is declining — a trend Gates said his tour is designed to help reverse.
“These are jobs that pay great,” Gates said last week. “These are fun jobs, and so you’d think right now we’d be having more people applying in them than ever.”
“But in fact,” he added, “somehow we haven’t got the word out. We haven’t made it clear the steps to get the right skills to get these jobs.”
Those statistics apply to all races, Gates said, but are particularly true among Blacks and other minorities, among whom only a tiny percentage of college graduates pursue computer careers.
