Of everyone doing this work, 20.3% are women and 6.1% are Hispanic. Multiply those and you get the Latina share: 1.24%, about 27,911 people in a country of 340 million.
That last figure is an estimate. BLS publishes the share of women and the share Hispanic for this occupation but not the intersection, so we multiply them and say so. It is the same arithmetic used everywhere else on this campaign, and where the real intersectional count exists we will use it instead.
What kind of job this is
Among the highest-paid occupations that do not require a graduate degree.
How people actually get in
BLS describes the usual route as: apprenticeship, bootcamp, CS associate degree, self-taught with portfolio. Read that carefully, because it is frequently not what a school brochure implies, and in some of these occupations it does not involve a four-year degree at all.
27,911 is not a pipeline problem at the bottom. It is a number small enough that most people in this country have never met one, which is exactly how it stays small — you do not aim at a job you have never seen a person like you hold.
The rest of this package is the part that is actionable: seven funded routes in, and what the economy looks like in your own county.
Seven ways in, and every one of them is funded
Nobody takes all seven. The question is which one fits the money, time and family you actually have — so they are laid out plainly rather than ranked.
Registered apprenticeship
You are paid from the first day and the classroom hours are part of the job, not extra to it.
Community college
The cheapest accredited route, and the one most likely to have a campus within driving distance.
Industry certificate
Months rather than years, and in some occupations it outweighs a degree.
WIOA-funded training
Federal money that pays for the training itself, and most people eligible for it have never heard of it.
Moving up from inside
The most common route of all, and the least talked about.
Military route
Training, a clearance, and the GI Bill afterward.
Self-taught with a portfolio
No permission required, and the hardest one to do alone.
By state
Training money, apprenticeships and community colleges are administered state by state and delivered county by county. Find yours.