Sorry boys but it’s time to Code Like a Girl!

Listen up ladies because this one’s for you! The Flagship Microsoft Store Sydney has announced today that it is partnering up with the wonderful team at Code Like a Girl to bring a series of free coding workshops to girls aged 6-15 years old starting from Monday July 9th to Sunday July 15th 2018. IT, game design and other such information communications technology (ICT) fields have long since been a male dominated zone, however it’s with programs such as Code Like a Girl that this is changing. Taking a look at recent industry research, in the last 2 years over 40,000 ICT jobs have been created in Australia which is a staggering amount and definitely reflects our growing games industry. Sadly when you look at the figures deeper only 13% of women are studying STEM in grades eleven and twelve, and just 1 out of 10 enrolments to IT based degrees are women. These shocking number mean that combined, women account for less than 24% of the current IT workforce.

This is where the partnership between Code Like a girl and The Microsoft Flagships store comes in. Code Like a Girl is an Australian organisation founded by Ally Watson and Vanessa Doake with the goal to re-imagine the future for girls and women in the technology industry. The workshops at flagship Microsoft Store Sydney will be conducted by instructors with practical experience in the field, giving girls the opportunity to get hands on with technology, learning an array of skills from how to build websites, create digital art and games and programs all using coding techniques.

Attendees are offered four different workshops, each teaching a specific technological skill, the workshops available include:

• Design and Build a Website: this workshop will cover how to create and edit your own website from start to finish including HTML coding and styling using CSS3
• Girls and Games: in this beginner coding tutorial participants will learn how to create their own personalised game from scratch
• Coding Up a Storm: in this workshop participants will mix playing with learning and use Lego Mindstorms to learn core computational logic and concept
• Creative Coding: this workshop will allow participants to draw and decorate their own digital art using data structures, selections and loops

Key details for the Code Like a Girl workshops are:

• When: Monday July 9^th to Sunday July 15^th at various times throughout each day
• Where: Flagship Microsoft Store Sydney (Pitt St Mall, 188 Pitt St, Sydney)
• Duration: the workshops run for two and a half hours
• Recommended age: varies per workshop type, approx. 6-15 years old
• Skill level: beginners no prior learning needed

These workshops are aimed at working to empower and inspire young girls to get involved in coding and encourage this skill for potential future careers in the IT industry. This is much needed as there is always a greater need for skilled female ICT specialists in this male dominated arena. For more information on this special partnership and other events running at the Microsoft Store in Sydney during July you can head on over to the Microsoft Store website located here or for other Code Like a Girl events and workshops in other states head over to the Code Like a Girl Events page here.

And remember boys, this one’s just for the girls out there!