Where the hell are all the non-white gig economy workers? Wait, what exactly is a gig worker?

​According to Wikipedia, a gig worker simply means independent contractors, online platform workers, or contract firm workers. In today's modern digital world, it's becoming increasingly common for people to work remotely or from home. (Even more so now that COVID-19 has forced a  WFH scenario for many companies and crippled the many parts of the traditional economy.)

There are a wide range of positions that fall into the category but some common examples of the modern 'gig' workers include Uber & Lyft drivers, selling products or services online, and freelance digital & tech work. These 'gigs', often referred to as zero hour contracts, have many benefits such as flexibility, freedom, and adaptability for those with a more demanding lifestyle. 

Today, we will be focusing on who participates, what kind of work is done, and the benefits/opportunities within the modern digital & tech gig economy as it pertains to POC & minorities. In this country, many socio economic topics share a similar tune when it comes to diversity - especially when there's a substantial profit to be made. The gig economy is no different when it comes to the clear discrepancies between white & non-white opportunities. 

WHO PARTICIPATES?

According to GigEconomyData.org, whites represent a staggering 81% of the workforce in the gig economy, compared to 10% Blacks, and 7% Asian. Over 20% or 56.7 million US citizens participate in the gig economy and 44% of gig workers report this is as their main source of income. (insert Tableau graph) 

So why aren't there more POC supplementing their income with 'gigs'? Our first clue lies within the under-representation of POC interested in STEM to begin with - in 2017 only 9% of college students graduating with a degree in computer science were Black & only 10% were Latino. While this explains the increasing gap in the socioeconomic makeup of the industry it doesn't explain why those who do possess the tech skills are being overlooked. 

It's been over 5 years since the tech giants Apple, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft first released diversity reports, revealing to the masses what was already known in the Black & Latino community, the companies' workforces were OVERWHELMINGLY white or Asian men. 

Majority of the diversity issues are founded in fundamentally inaccurate biases affiliated with POC. Those biases led to unfair hiring practices that have created a homogenous workforce that looks the same - white, nerdy, and male. Although, Blacks and Latinos may not come from tech rich backgrounds at lot of us have shown the capacity to learn and excel in highly technical roles. 

WHAT TYPE OF WORK IS DONE?

According to Entreprenerur.com these are the highest pay gig in today's open market;

1. Deep Learning $115/hour: Deep  Learning specialist are responsible for creating neural networks that are similar to the human brains in order to teach machines. With the rise of AI, these professionals are proficient in Tensorflow, Python, R, Java, Matlab, Perl and C++. 

2. Blockchain $87/hour: At this point everyone and their grandma has heard of Bitcoin. Blockchain is the technology that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are built on, Your main focus as a Blockchain specialist would be helping to build crypto exchanges and helping businesses set up cryptocurrency transactions for customer purchases. Blockchain freelancers should be experts in C++, Python and Solidity.

3. Robotics $77/hour: ROBOTS ARE COMING FOR OUR JOBS! While that may not be a fact just yet there are quite a few companies that implement robotics to increase the efficiency of their workflow. Robotics specialist are known to be responsible for building, designing, and maintaining mechanical elements and machinery. Technical skills in mechanical engineering software such as SolidWorks Professional, Photoview 360, Simplify3D and eDrawings is standard industry practice.

4. Ethical Hacking $66/hour: Every wanted to hack into enterprise level networks for fun? Well as an Ethical Hacker you'd get to do just that - penetration testers are the real mvps for companies when it comes to checking their systems for potential security vulnerabilities and protecting them from criminal hackers. Don't be surprised if you find a few Ethtical Hackers that used to play on the other side of the fence in their past lives.

5. Bitcoin $65/hour: Like we mentioned earlier, Bitcoin is currently the world's most traded cryptocurrency - with its extremely volatile market that has seen price swings from $900 to over $20K in a single year (2017). Bitcoin miners are tasked with building automated tools for trading and exchanges, developing market charts, automating sending and receiving of altcoins and setting up Bitcoin payments on apps and websites. Bitcoin specialist should have expertise in Python, Javascript (Node.JS), Ruby, PHP and other programming languages.

6. AWS Lambda $51/hour: As we get more and more familiar with the capabilities of the cloud, the skills needed become more clear. Unlike traditional on prem servers that run all the time - AWS Lambda only runs code when an event is triggered and therefore only pays for the resources it uses. This is driving more business towards the cloud because of the inherent costs savings. AWS freelancers who specialize in Lambda know how to write and load code and are proficient in Node.js, Python, Java and C#.

7. Virtual Reality $50/hour: There has been a huge push in the VR space to move conceptualizations into reality, which is perfect for those freelancers with backgrounds in 3D modeling, algorithm development, and the C's (C#, C and C++). 

8. React.js $40/hour: React is a Javascript library used for creating engaging user interfaces, that a widely used by front end software dev ops teams. The dope thing about React is that is provides developers with templates and tools that provide written codes that contain operations, functions, classes, and data structures so dev ops teams don't have to start from scratch. To get noticed as a React.js freelancer ou should have a background in software development and be fluent in the programming languages HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS.

9. Final Cut Pro $37/hour: Apple's Final Cut Pro software offers a bevy of tools that are being widely used in the production, entertainment, and advertising industries. Many of these companies rely heavily on outsourcing the more cumbersome task such as video editing, integrating background music, and motion techniques - just to name a few. If you enjoy editing videos this may be the gig for you.

10. Instagram Marketing $31/hour: Boasting over 1 billion active users most of us know what Instagram is but what most don't know is how lucrative learning the necessary marketing skills associated with the platform. More and more businesses are starting to use the platform to advertise. To be a freelance IG marketer you should have a basic understanding of the platform, algorithms, and social trends all while being able to analyze growth and performance metrics.

WHERE TO FIND GIG WORK

According to Millo.com some of the top gig work apps are Airbnb, Fiverr, TaskRabbit, and Roadie. These sites offer different types of gig work so research each accordingly. I've personally utilized the plethora of services offered on Fiverr a number of times for a range of projects from logo design to Facebook Ads. You'd be surprised to know, there are many SMB & Enterprises that outsource a good bit of projects to sites like Fiverr so be sure to create a profile if you wish to begin bidding for gigs. 

Most of us have the skills to be successful and earn significant income in the gig market - I encourage you to do more research on the topic and then apply your skills where you see fit.

"You can’t make decisions based on fear and the possibility of what might happen." 

-Michelle Obama

​#BeGreat #FocusedOnTheMission

-TC