Hosting a Girls Coding Day
Over the years, I have learned that representation totally matters. It is important to provide people with an example of opportunities available to them in a format that they can relate to. In the case of students, showing them someone that looks like them doing out of this world things is a big part of unveiling the opportunities that exist.
At South Bend Code School, we have made a point of architecting solutions to problems of representation in STEM related fields, and I can tell you first hand that it isn’t always easy to do.
As we have grown over the years and gained the experience of teaching more classes in more geographic areas, we have seen first hand scenarios where women don’t feel welcome in technology. We do our best to reach out, extend a friendly hand, and invite more young women into our program, but it can still be an uphill battle.
My cofounder, Alex Liggins, tells a story about how in one of our classes for younger students, she posed the question to the class, “Who do you think invented computer programming, a man or a woman?” The entire class speculated that it was created by a man. When Alex announced to the class that Ada Lovelace, a woman, is known as the first computer programmer, students were shocked.
Alex went on to ask students why the thought that the first computer programmer was a man, and they gave a myriad of answers. The two that she cites the most are:
“I’ve never seen a girl coding in the movies or on TV.”
“My mom doesn’t touch technology at our house. My dad does all that stuff.”
“I know Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and my dad, but I can’t think of a famous woman in technology.”
Like I said, it’s an uphill battle.
This is why we are hosting a coding event that is geared toward women.
Code: Girl is something that our team came up with as a way to provide a safe environment for women of all ages to come and see some cool things that are going on in tech. No experience required.
If you live near South Bend, IN and have a daughter, niece, sister, mother, grandmother, friend, or other relative at home who hasn’t seen women code before, or you are a woman who is interested in learning a little bit more about tech, please come check out Code: Girl.
*Note: Code: Girl is a free event.
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Alex Sejdinaj is a cofounder of South Bend Code School, GiveGrove, and Code Works. He loves building cool stuff that helps people.
