Abstract
Computing career opportunities are increasing across all sectors of the U.S. economy, yet there remains a serious shortage of college graduates to fill these jobs. This problem has fueled a nationwide effort to expand and diversify the computing career pipeline. Guided by social cognitive career theory (SCCT), this study used logistic regression to examine college students’ interest in a computing career and how that changes over time. Drawing from a multi-institutional, longitudinal sample of introductory computing course students, this study extends prior literature by examining a broad group of potential computing career aspirants (i.e., computing and non-computing majors). Results indicate that, two years after the introductory course, 53.5% of students indicated an interest in a computing career. Notably, this interest changed significantly over time, and our findings indicate that students in this sample were more likely to leave the computing career pipeline than to be recruited to it. Positive predictors of computing career interest include initial computing career interest, family support, and time spent in computing-related student groups. Additional positive predictors such as sense of belonging in computing and computing self-efficacy underscore the importance of psychosocial attributes in shaping this career interest. Beyond individual characteristics, this study reveals key areas where faculty and institutions can better address elements of the college experience to bolster students’ interest and confidence in pursuing computing careers. Implications for theory, research, and practice are discussed.
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Notes
In this work, we use the term “racially minoritized students in computing” to acknowledge that minoritization is a socially constructed process (see Benitez, 2010). We also use the acronym BLIM to include students who identify as Black or African American; Hispanic or Latinx; Indigenous (Native American; Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander); Arab, Middle Eastern, or Persian; or students who identify with two or more minoritized racial identities.
Two well-known national conferences that aim to attract women and racially minoritized students include the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing and the Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing.
In this work, we refer to “computing” as a field and discipline. Within computing, we aggregate computer science, computer information systems, computer engineering, information technology, and interdisciplinary computing majors (e.g., data science) to better understand the field, though we recognize that there are subfield differences.
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Funding
The data used in this study was provided by the UCLA BRAID Research Project, whose collection of these data was supported by AnitaB.org and the National Science Foundation (#1525737). Research time was also funded by the Computing Research Association and the National Science Foundation (#2030859).
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KLG: conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, data curation, writing-original draft, writing—review & editing, supervision, project administration. LJS: writing—review & editing, funding acquisition, conceptualization, supervision. AMW: conceptualization, data curation, writing-original draft, writing—review & editing. SS: writing-original draft, writing—review & editing.
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The authors, Kari L. George, Linda J. Sax, Annie M. Wofford, and Sarayu Sundar, declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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George, K.L., Sax, L.J., Wofford, A.M. et al. The Tech Trajectory: Examining the Role of College Environments in Shaping Students’ Interest in Computing Careers. Res High Educ 63, 871–898 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-021-09671-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-021-09671-7