Learn IT, Girl — my experience with a mentorship program for women (and why you should apply, too)
You are full of ideas. Ever since you were a little girl, you liked to learn new things and further develop your creativity — a true explorer! Now, you are a bit older and you narrowed down the broad spectrum of your interests. Maybe, programming (or computer science in general) is among them. Oh, and you like to meet new people and learn more about career paths in IT?
Well, good news! You are a lot like me!
What if I told you that there is an awesome mentorship program that could help you turn your cool idea into reality? A program which will allow you to work with a mentor, who is going to help you master a new programming language? In the end, you will have your own app, a new sense of accomplishment, and a great reason to be proud of yourself. Sounds cool, right?
Let me tell you more about Learn IT, Girl — an international mentorship program for women interested in programming.
How does my story with Learn IT, Girl begin?
I saw the invitation for LITG in an email from Anita Borg Systers mailing list. It immediately caught my attention. I spent some time brainstorming, and as soon as I was able to gather my thoughts, I started filling in the application. Now, let me tell you something: I was so inspired, that I skipped both lunch and dinner that day - and that happens very rarely! The application consisted of various questions, targeting one’s motivation and experience.
After some time, an email popped in my inbox — I was so happy to find out that I had been accepted as a scholar, and officially became a mentee in this program! Excited and filled with enthusiasm, I followed the steps provided in the email, for example: creating an account on the LITG platform, contacting my mentor, joining the LITG Facebook group and getting familiar with the rules.
After a few days into the program, I got to know my mentor Katarzyna Dziopa better (Hi, Kasia!) through our Hangouts meetings. We used Google Docs for jotting down ideas and creating some sort of documentation — a file that contained important information, plans and tasks for the project. The development process started and my mentor helped by providing great resources, guidance and even counselling whenever I was experiencing a development crisis. 😁 The next few weeks were filled with work: researching resources, reading though Android development books, loving and hating Android Studio… We used the LITG platform for setting tasks (and checking them as done), filling in evaluations aaaaand counting the badges. 😊
After a while, it was time to prepare the demo app along with the necessary documentation, and wait for the results of the evaluation process. I received an email that said our project passed the evaluation and shortly after that, both I and my mentor received certificates of achievement. The project, called EnDate, is now displayed within the list of Third Edition Projects on the official Learn IT, Girl website — take a look if you’d like to get inspired.
How is the LITG program organized?
This mentorship program lasts for 12 weeks and the platform works as a game. Goals for each week are outlined on this page, but together with your mentor, you will create specific tasks for developing your own project. There are also some tasks that you have to complete in order to gain a set of shiny badges on your profile — this is what makes the whole thing even more interesting! You can take a look at the badges here.
Each phase helps mentees learn new stuff, like mastering Git with Github, following programming tutorials and creating demo versions of their app. This also means that participants should be consistent with their activities, and they need to make sure that enough time is allocated for their project.
Why should YOU take part?
It will help you improve your skills.
Although it could be really helpful if you have already mastered some basic programming concepts, you shouldn’t be worried if this is your first encounter with programming. Everyone is a beginner at one point. 😉 For girls with a higher level of experience, it is recommended that they choose a new programming language.
Creating a product from scratch in only 12 weeks may sound really exhausting or even impossible, but you will learn so much in this process! This will show you how development works in the real world, where you have project deadlines, managers to report your progress to, and the whole process divided into smaller portions focused on developing a single feature.
After the program, you will be familiar with a new programming language, version control systems, CS concepts; you will have had dozens of meetings, maybe you’ll learn some new tips and tricks or gain a friend… Your time management may improve as well as your communication skills. All of this will allow you to expand your skill set, and help you grow both as a person and a programmer.
It will increase your confidence.
I have to admit — it feels really good when someone asks you whether you actually have some projects that you developed on your own, and you are able to proudly say: YES! And let’s not forget that awesome feeling of accomplishment that you feel every time you see that a new badge has appeared on your profile. 😉
There is that special kind of confidence you will start to notice. You will feel more motivated to tackle new projects or study harder because now you have proven that you can, in fact — do it. Having your own idea made into an app is also, something that may make your resume stand out. Which leads me to the next point…
It will give you something to show for.
If you want to pursue a career in the IT field, having previous experience is something that will help you immensely in getting a new job. When you apply for jobs, employers will often ask about side projects and previous work experience. Adding a certificate of achievement and a GitHub link to your project’s code will be a great first step for creating an amazing résumé. This is especially important for students, new graduates and people from different backgrounds who maybe didn’t have a chance to gain previous work experience, as it will show that you are proactive and like to learn.
It will spark even more ideas.
When you create something and realize that you enjoyed that process, chances are you’ll want to do more of that. You might get inspired and decide to upgrade your LITG project with new features, or you might get a new idea for a different app. Since you now have development experience, you will know where to start — and things can only get better from there.
How to apply to Learn IT, Girl — 4th edition
Head down to their official website, get familiar with what’s written on the home page, and when you scroll down, you should see two pink buttons — one of them leads to mentee applications and another one is for people who’d like to apply as mentors (if you want to help a girl learn to code and feel qualified enough, don’t hesitate to apply).
Some guidelines for applying:
- Be honest and stay true to yourself. Don’t apply just because you’d like to get a certificate — apply because you believe in your idea
- Try to provide important information, and filter out everything that is not really necessary — state what kind of experience you have, what are your goals and ideas; try to convince the team why you should be selected, but make sure you gave them enough data to work with
- Explain your idea thoroughly — try to show that you actually have a plan for development, no matter how loose it seems. Sometimes, an idea is not enough; you also have to be able to show that you would know how to approach the development process. Of course, no one expects you to have everything planned in advance, but a rough development timeline is nice to have
I hope this post was helpful to all of you who are may be interested in participating in this amazing program. And if you decide to apply — I wish you all the luck! 🤞
I’m writing another post about LITG, filled with tips and tricks on how to survive those 12 weeks — make sure to follow me on Medium! 👋
