{"id":8336,"date":"2022-12-06T07:30:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-06T12:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/?p=8336"},"modified":"2023-09-18T16:16:39","modified_gmt":"2023-09-18T20:16:39","slug":"building-trust-in-tech-a-qa-with-jaira-romero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/building-trust-in-tech-a-qa-with-jaira-romero\/","title":{"rendered":"Building Trust in Tech: A Q&A with Jaira Romero"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In a world where more than 75% of jobs are landed through networking, the value of community for one\u2019s career growth cannot be overstated. Check out this interview with Jaira Romero, co-founder of RemoteWoman<\/a> and RemotePOC<\/a>, two online communities focused on helping women and professionals of color get hired at trusted and inclusive companies. Learn everything you need to know about landing a job in the tech industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

—<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s your professional background? How\u2019d you get into the tech industry?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I was born and raised in Los Angeles and I\u2019m a first-generation American. My parents are from El Salvador. I started my career in sports TV; I even won an Emmy for producing a web series for the NFL. In 2012, I moved to New York City and switched industries as the tech industry was exploding at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My professional background is in sports, television, and tech, which are all industries dominated by men. I wanted to make the field more inclusive for people like me. Launching RemoteWoman and RemotePOC was my first experience as an entrepreneur, which was both exciting and scary. In the beginning, it was really difficult to put myself out there; I was afraid of failure. I hope I can inspire women to move past the fear and start their own businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What inspired you to start RemoteWoman and RemotePOC?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n


I was looking for a remote job in 2018 and ran into three main issues: first, most of the roles that were advertised were skewed towards men; second, most companies weren\u2019t remote-friendly and third, the job boards I found had no vetting process\u2014many of the jobs posted were scams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


I was actually almost scammed myself. I had found a position on one of the most widely-used remote job boards and it was an awful experience. I went through hours and hours of remote interviews for what seemed like my dream remote job only to find out that they were phishing for my personal information to scam me. Luckily, I was able to spot the scam before it was too late. But this isn\u2019t the case for so many others that have been taken advantage of when they\u2019re in a vulnerable position looking for a new job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


I created RemoteWoman and RemotePOC to create trusted communities for women and professionals of color to improve on the giant gender and racial gap in the workforce. Through our vetting process and community, we\u2019re bringing trust to the remote job search.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n


What tips would you share for someone interested in a starting tech career? What about someone from an underrepresented background?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n


I\u2019m happy to share tips from our communities. First, I recommend looking into fellowships and paid internships that allow you to gain experience at the beginning of your tech career. You\u2019ll be well-positioned to land a role if you can network and connect with seasoned folks in the tech space<\/a>. There are a ton of amazing online communities, Meetup is a great place to look, where you can find mentors that can guide you on the skills you may need to learn and which roles would be the best fit. Lastly, you can find classes on Coursera, Udemy, General Assembly, Code Academy, Skillshare, and more that will improve your skills before applying for roles in the tech industry<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


For those from an underrepresented background, I definitely recommend joining our RemotePOC community. There\u2019s a strong network of men and women of color from a variety of skills and backgrounds. And they\u2019re willing to help!
For people who are already in tech, but are looking to grow their skills, what would you advise?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re already in tech and looking to grow your skills, the best place to start is at your current company. Find someone you admire and see if they could recommend classes, tools, or resources that are helpful in that role. They may even want to bring you into some of their day-to-day work and give you real-world experience\u2014the best option in my opinion. If you\u2019re struggling to connect internally, it may be a good idea to look for advisors or mentors on LinkedIn and ask if they\u2019re open to providing some guidance. Don\u2019t be afraid of rejection. I\u2019m positive if you message ten people, you\u2019ll get a couple of helpful responses!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do you think networking has changed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Networking has moved almost 100% online during the COVID-19 pandemic. This left a lot of people feeling alone & without support. However, a lot of communities, events, talks & more moved online and they are now more accessible than ever. From there, you can send private messages and develop connections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remote work has meant spending a lot of time alone at home, meaning more people are open to meeting up in person for a quick coffee or drink. If you\u2019re vaccinated and follow the COVID-19 safety protocols during surges, meetings like this are amazing opportunities to build connections in person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

—<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re looking to follow Jaira\u2019s advice and leverage community to advance your career, learn more about RemoteWoman<\/a>, RemotePOC<\/a>, and search for career groups and events on Meetup.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jaira Romero founded two online communities to help women and people of color find remote tech positions. Hear Jaira\u2019s advice for advancing your career in this Q&A with Meetup.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":8398,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBuilding Trust in Tech: A Q&A with Jaira Romero - Meetup Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Jaira Romero founded two online communities to help women and people of color find remote tech positions at trusted, inclusive organizations. Hear Jaira\u2019s advice for advancing your career in this Q&A with Meetup\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/building-trust-in-tech-a-qa-with-jaira-romero\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Building Trust in Tech: A Q&A with Jaira Romero - Meetup Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jaira Romero founded two online communities to help women and people of color find remote tech positions at trusted, inclusive organizations. Hear Jaira\u2019s advice for advancing your career in this Q&A with Meetup\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/building-trust-in-tech-a-qa-with-jaira-romero\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Meetup Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-12-06T12:30:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-09-18T20:16:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Jaira_Romero-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1095\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Meetup Team\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Meetup Team\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/building-trust-in-tech-a-qa-with-jaira-romero\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/building-trust-in-tech-a-qa-with-jaira-romero\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Meetup Team\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c0db661585f6f7c458bb56961918a914\"},\"headline\":\"Building Trust in Tech: A Q&A with Jaira Romero\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-06T12:30:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-18T20:16:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/building-trust-in-tech-a-qa-with-jaira-romero\/\"},\"wordCount\":888,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Stories\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/building-trust-in-tech-a-qa-with-jaira-romero\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/building-trust-in-tech-a-qa-with-jaira-romero\/\",\"name\":\"Building Trust in Tech: A Q&A with Jaira Romero - Meetup Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-06T12:30:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-18T20:16:39+00:00\",\"description\":\"Jaira Romero founded two online communities to help women and people of color find remote tech positions at trusted, inclusive organizations. Hear Jaira\u2019s advice for advancing your career in this Q&A with Meetup\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/building-trust-in-tech-a-qa-with-jaira-romero\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/building-trust-in-tech-a-qa-with-jaira-romero\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/building-trust-in-tech-a-qa-with-jaira-romero\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Building Trust in Tech: A Q&A with Jaira Romero\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Meetup Blog\",\"description\":\"Community Matters\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Meetup\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/meetup-logo-swarm.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/meetup-logo-swarm.png\",\"width\":130,\"height\":124,\"caption\":\"Meetup\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c0db661585f6f7c458bb56961918a914\",\"name\":\"Meetup Team\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9aba46ee9b739a3dabdad003540a60bc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9aba46ee9b739a3dabdad003540a60bc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Meetup Team\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Building Trust in Tech: A Q&A with Jaira Romero - Meetup Blog","description":"Jaira Romero founded two online communities to help women and people of color find remote tech positions at trusted, inclusive organizations. Hear Jaira\u2019s advice for advancing your career in this Q&A with Meetup","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/building-trust-in-tech-a-qa-with-jaira-romero\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Building Trust in Tech: A Q&A with Jaira Romero - Meetup Blog","og_description":"Jaira Romero founded two online communities to help women and people of color find remote tech positions at trusted, inclusive organizations. Hear Jaira\u2019s advice for advancing your career in this Q&A with Meetup","og_url":"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/building-trust-in-tech-a-qa-with-jaira-romero\/","og_site_name":"Meetup Blog","article_published_time":"2022-12-06T12:30:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-09-18T20:16:39+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1095,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Jaira_Romero-1.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Meetup Team","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Meetup Team","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/building-trust-in-tech-a-qa-with-jaira-romero\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/building-trust-in-tech-a-qa-with-jaira-romero\/"},"author":{"name":"Meetup Team","@id":"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c0db661585f6f7c458bb56961918a914"},"headline":"Building Trust in Tech: A Q&A with Jaira Romero","datePublished":"2022-12-06T12:30:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-09-18T20:16:39+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/building-trust-in-tech-a-qa-with-jaira-romero\/"},"wordCount":888,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Stories"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/building-trust-in-tech-a-qa-with-jaira-romero\/","url":"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/building-trust-in-tech-a-qa-with-jaira-romero\/","name":"Building Trust in Tech: A Q&A with Jaira Romero - Meetup Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-12-06T12:30:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-09-18T20:16:39+00:00","description":"Jaira Romero founded two online communities to help women and people of color find remote tech positions at trusted, inclusive organizations. Hear Jaira\u2019s advice for advancing your career in this Q&A with Meetup","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/building-trust-in-tech-a-qa-with-jaira-romero\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/building-trust-in-tech-a-qa-with-jaira-romero\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/building-trust-in-tech-a-qa-with-jaira-romero\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Building Trust in Tech: A Q&A with Jaira Romero"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/","name":"Meetup Blog","description":"Community Matters","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Meetup","url":"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/meetup-logo-swarm.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/meetup-logo-swarm.png","width":130,"height":124,"caption":"Meetup"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c0db661585f6f7c458bb56961918a914","name":"Meetup Team","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9aba46ee9b739a3dabdad003540a60bc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9aba46ee9b739a3dabdad003540a60bc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Meetup Team"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8336"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8336"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8336\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17611,"href":"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8336\/revisions\/17611"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}