Building and Running a Diversity-Focused Pre-Internship Program for SRE

Explore the development and implementation of a diversity-focused pre-internship program for Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) in this insightful conference talk by Andrew Ryan from Meta. Gain valuable insights into the challenges of improving diversity in SRE, including lack of career path awareness, inconsistent education, and limited interview skills. Discover the program's structure, which combines practical experience with open-source technologies and teamwork. Learn about the collaboration with Major League Hacking, the program's impact on participants, and areas for improvement. Understand the potential for scaling such initiatives and how you can contribute to fostering diversity in the SRE field. Delve into statistics, participant feedback, and strategies for enhancing interview preparation and follow-up support for aspiring SRE professionals.

Syllabus

Introduction
What is SRE
Diversity at Meta
How to Improve Diversity
Not Known as a Career Path
Not Taught Consistently
Lack of Interview Skills
Lack of Access
How does it work
The best leverage point
What would such a program look like
How could we combine it with a practical program
What we wanted
February 2021
The Meta Team
Major League Hacking
Program Structure
Open Source Stack
Teamwork
Statistics
What SRE was
Are SRE fellows getting jobs
What needed improvement
Feedback from the fellows
More interview practice
Trouble spots
Followup support
Opportunities to scale
How to help
Thank you
Quotes
Open Collaboration
Why SRE
Job role description