By Terence Chea
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (AP) --Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wants to turn more American high school students into well-paid techies — and even hire some of them to work at his social-media company.
Zuckerberg told students Thursday at Redwood City's Sequoia High School that understanding technology and computers "is going to be really critical to having a lot of options and doing what you want."
The Facebook founder said the jobs of the future will be very different from today's jobs — and young people can use that to their advantage.
"If you start with the assumption that everything in the future is going to be different than it is now, then it's not true that anyone else knows any more than you guys do about what's going to work in the future," Zuckerberg said.
Facebook announced it is donating 50 laptops and creating a class to teach students how to create their own mobile apps for smartphones at Sequoia High, a short drive from Facebook's Menlo Park headquarters.
Zuckerberg's appearance is part of Facebook's campaign to encourage more young people, especially girls, to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math — so-called STEM fields.
"What we're really trying to do is to create the same types of opportunities for the next Mark Zuckerberg," said Tim Campos, Facebook's chief information officer.
Silicon Valley companies have recently come under criticism for workforces that are mostly young, male, white and Asian.
Facebook hopes to attract young techies like Rosie Valencia, a Sequoia High junior who interned at Facebook this summer and interviewed Zuckerberg on stage Thursday.
"I really want more girls to be able to code because when I started none of my friends even knew what I was doing," Valencia told the audience.
Jim Wunderman, CEO of the Bay Area Council, a business advocacy group, said Facebook and other tech firms are trying to expand the pipeline of local tech talent.
"The more they can find qualified, talented people, the more successful they'll be in developing new products, new ideas and new approaches," Wunderman said.
Avid completes acquisition of Wolftech
Avid®, known for software solutions for professional media production, has completed the acquisition of Wolftech Broadcast Solutions, a leader in cloud-based multiplatform news planning, production and publishing solutions.
The acquisition enables Avid to combine its digital-first, end-to-end media solution with Wolftech’s expertise in story-centric workflow management. News organizations will be able to increase efficiency and accelerate story delivery through enhanced remote collaboration and multiplatform amplification.
Avid CEO Wellford Dillard stated, “Wolftech is unquestionably on the leading edge of where the industry is going, and this acquisition demonstrates Avid’s commitment to transform news, sports, and live production workflows. We are delighted to welcome Wolftech into the Avid family.”
Wolftech CEO Arne Berven added, “We were focused on finding a partner that could accelerate the adoption of our platform globally. We explored a number of possibilities, but when we talked to Avid, we knew it was the right match.”
The closing of the acquisition follows Avid’s announcement on October 7 that the company had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Wolftech.
With this acquisition, Avid deepens the integration between the two toolsets while continuing to embrace an open approach in partnering with a wide range of media production tools and newsroom systems. Existing Wolftech customers will benefit from Avid’s global scale for customer support and professional services.
Ian Axton, head of production operations for ITV News, said, “As a customer of both Avid and Wolftech we’re excited about the benefits this acquisition will bring to our users and our business. Wolftech has transformed... Read More