We are no longer in the age of etiquette dinners and coming of age balls, but rather have entered a beautiful era of programming and engineering. This is an essential guide crafted to teach young women how to properly learn to code. Forget how to master the dinner table, learn to master the command line. This is an extensive list of resources, scholarships and inspiration to immerse oneself in and to fully embrace the role a young woman must take in the world, the world of STEAM of course.
Study the Terminology
Before going into the many resources that exist for young ladies today, it is important to comprehend a few basic definitions in the tech industry. We will start with the three different type of developers (or programmers) that exist.
Front End Developer [fruhnt / end / dih-vel-uh-per]
"The front end of a website is the part that users interact with. Everything that you see when you're navigating around the Internet, from fonts and colors to dropdown menus and sliders, is a combo of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript being controlled by your computer's browser." - Udacity
- HTML
Back End Developer [bak / end / dih-vel-uh-per]
"The back end of a website consists of a server, an application, and a database. A back-end developer builds and maintains the technology that powers those components which, together, enable the user-facing side of the website to even exist in the first place." - Udacity
Server side languages
- PHP
- MySQL
Full Stack Developer [foo l / stak / dih-vel-uh-per]
"Full stack developers work, like back-end devs, on the server side of web programming, but they can also fluently speak the front-end languages that control how content looks on a site's user-facing side. They're jacks-of-all-trades." - Udacity
Now that you understand the relations between these languages and skill sets, you can do some research on which area you would like to test out. There are tons of free online classes available.
Master a Free Online Course
- Codeacademy- all free lessons, great for beginners and learning new syntax. A community of 25 million learners around the world.
- Mozilla Developer Network- free resources, classes and communities to support you learning how to code.
- Udemy- free and paid classes to learn a variety of programming languages.
Apply for Scholarships and Grants
- The Coding Space- an after school program to teach kids how to code. Scholarships available.
- Iron Hack- Bootcamps in Miami, Barcelona, and Madrid. 1000 euro scholarship for women available.
- Full Stack Academy- 13 week program with 97% hiring rate. Offers an Ada Lovelace Scholarship which contributes1000 to tuition.
Try a Bootcamp
I can list them all, but honestly the Thinkful Database is the best resource I have found for searching through all the bootcamps around the world.
Participate in Meetups & Communities
- Ladies Storm Hackathons- amazing Facebook group with meetups around the world. Tons of women there are happy to provide resources and mentorship. One of the strongest communities I've seen.
- Women Who Code- incredibly strong network of women all around the world holding hackathons, meetups, and workshops.
Attend a Hackathon
She Hacks- a hackathon at Monarq to build something to make women's lives
#HackGirlsRights-a hackathon held in 5 cities around the world to help girls have more and better access to safe spaces
Geekettes- a hackathon in Berlin for women
TechLady Hackathon- DC hackathon for ladies.
Gracefully find Mentorship
WEST (Women Entering and Staying in Tech)- A mentorship program being jointly developed by Box, Facebook, and Pinterest.
GIT Mentor Program- a mentor/protégé program powered by Girls in Tech
Tech Women- an initiative of the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs
Glassbreakers- Mentorship program for modern women
Search for Inspiration
Ladies Storm Hackathons Medium- a compilation of blog posts written by amazing ladies in tech.
Wogrammer- like Humans of New York but with incredibly inspirational female developers showcased.
Photo credit: Wogrammer
- Women of Silicon Valley- stories and profiles of women working in companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter.
So that concludes the Young Woman's Etiquette Guide to Coding. Some final Do's and Don'ts to remember:
Do: Join communities, online classes, or mentors to get started. Do independent research to find what learning style works best for you.
Don't: Be overwhelmed by the massive amounts of resources listed. Start with one small step at a time, being an expert does not happen overnight. Take your time and remember practice makes perfect.
Nicole is the VP of Marketing & Recruiting at The Coding Space. The Coding Space is an after school program to teach middle and high schoolers how to code. To learn more about our program take a look here. Feel free to email Nicole at nicole@thecodingspace.com.