Looking back at RailsGirls London 2017
Through the eyes of a coach
When was the last time you’ve been in a tech event where the majority of participants was women? I hear you say never? For us that event took place just a week ago with 200 female participants under the same roof, armed with the same purpose; learn what this Ruby on Rails is about and take a step closer to programming.
If this doesn’t ring any bells, we are talking about RailsGirls; a global, non-profit volunteer community. Their goal is loud and clear:
“Our aim is to give tools and a community for women to understand technology and to build their ideas.”
Who wants to be part of this?
“I ✋”, I hear you say. And so did we.
Half the tech team from Honeycomb volunteered to be coaches at RailsGirls London. We are lucky that the main organiser of RailsGirls London, Maria Khait, has been part of our team for the last year. Our CTO, Chris Young, couldn’t resist sponsoring and we put our smiles on — alongside our beautiful yellow t-shirts — and headed to the event on Friday afternoon. To be honest, I could barely keep myself still on my chair that day.
Friday: The warm up
On Friday evening, Deliveroo opened its doors to welcome students and coaches. Everyone’s goal was to get to know each other, set up our machines for Saturday, enjoy the provided food and drinks, move to the DJ’s tunes, and pose in the irresistible photobooth which — I must say — we particularly appreciated.
If that doesn’t sound compelling for a Friday night, then what does? 🤷 🤓
Saturday: Work hard, play hard
Picture this; An office with 200 smiley women on a Saturday morning. This is not your typical Saturday. After some energy food and miraculous coffee, we all split into teams. The ratio is phenomenal; one coach has 1 to 2 students. We are all making sure that everyone has the attention they need and each group moves on their own pace and in the direction they are most interested in. Different personalities and teaching styles, same passion for knowledge. The experience is unique for each of us.
By lunch time, participants have a better understanding of the various parts of a website and have experimented with the ruby language. To keep the excitement levels high, we all gather to hear the stories from previous participants and coaches. A previous participant built her own website and is now running her business; Another one explains how RailsGirls was the beginning of her tech career: She now works as a software engineer. About 10% of women attendees become developers after attending RailsGirls London as a kick off point. The change is real and it’s happening right here in this room.
Afternoon sessions increase at intensity and fun. There’s nothing more rewarding than looking at faces that light up from getting it. The realisation that we can do and build anything with code is profound. By the end of the day, we all feel a bit brain-fried, secretly powerful and ready for a drink or two. 🙌
Over drinks, one of the attendees asks me; “Why do you do this? I’m sure you had other options for your weekend”. At that moment I smiled and said “Why not? It’s fun”. < me thinks more > It’s not just about the fun though. It’s about opening doors to the ones who didn’t see the doors open before.
At Honeycomb we crave for diversity and inclusion; Almost a third of our tech team identifies as female. One third of our tech team joined us after completing a web development bootcamp and started their tech career with us. Almost half of the team didn’t follow the typical tech path to be the software engineers they are today. We understand that being smart yet humble, hungry to learn and grow, and keen to share what you know is the three-ingredient recipe for succeeding as an engineer. We are building our team based on these values and we try to live and lead our lives accordingly.
RailsGirls was a hell of an event this year. We made friends, had long discussions, and shared laughters. I can’t wait to see the new paths these women will create for themselves. Above all, I feel lucky to work with a bunch of weirdos who I call colleagues and friends; some incredible humans with a deep desire to grow and help others grow with them. This is the environment we all deserve to be in.
