Join us at OPS Code Day
A few months ago, we organized a small, impromptu Code Day at the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development (MAESD). The success of that little event led us to a second, bigger Code Day, and yet another hosted the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. Thanks to those events, we’re seeing more civil servants create digital solutions, which helps create a better and more efficient government for Ontarians.
To build better digital services, it will take all of us, in all parts of our organization. Come out and see how we can work together at OPS Code Day on August 10th, organized in partnership with Cabinet’s Policy Innovation Hub and the Ontario Digital Service.
What is Code Day?
Code Day is a chance for civil servants to step outside their normal workflow to focus on analytical, digital or technical projects with a community of like-minded colleagues. Participants spend a full-day working on their projects or learning new methods. Through independent or group work, they get to know a broad community of experts to learn from and collaborate with — even after Code Day.
So far, we’ve had civil servants attend from the Ontario Public Service, the Government of Canada, and the City of Toronto. Code Days have spawned new projects, new open data sets, and greater automation to improve efficiency.
Code Day was amazing! It allowed me to work across-regions and units on better understanding data integrity, options for data visualization, and learning new skills to improve the way I do my work. It was a really productive day, not just from the stand-point of my project (regarding validating workload distribution decisions) but also because I found a community of practice (a real one!) that supported each other. I can’t wait until the next one, when I’m sure I’ll get so much deeper into my Tableau visualization (and maybe explore some other options)! — Kimberley Bethke, Regional Program Advisor, Toronto
Code Day is a chance to do the type of important, digital work that is hard to prioritize among urgent, short-term needs. It is also for policy and business experts, who can find colleagues to help them improve outcomes for Ontarians through leaner, digital solutions.
“In my office, I work primarily on analysis projects by myself, so it was helpful to be around a large community of people working on similar projects and software… Code day was 100% worth waking up to catch a 6:30am train.” — Evan Henry, Program Analyst, London, ON
Register for OPS Code Day on August 10th
Are you a civil servant working in Ontario? Do you work with civil servants on digital or analytical projects?
Come to Code Day to meet other like-minded, digital-first peers, help build our analytical and digital communities, and maybe even start a big, collaborative project.
For those of you outside the public service, we’ll be sharing more about Code Day — what we started, what we built, what we learned, and where we’re going next — in a couple of weeks.
For those of you in the public service: learn more about OPS Code Day and register here. We look forward to meeting you!
