This Saturday, more than 1500 Canadians will have a unique opportunity to learn computer programming from the experts.
For six hours on Sept. 24, not-for-profit organization Ladies Learning Code will be running its fourth annual National Ladies Learn to Code Day, a series of live, in-person workshops in 24 cities across the country.
Sponsored by Shopify, the hands-on, beginner-friendly courses will teach participants basic HTML and CSS programming skills by helping them build an interactive story, quiz or game.
To support such a wide range of projects, Ladies Learning Code has enlisted more than 350 volunteer experts to serve as mentors – a ratio of four students to every teacher – making the workshops an ideal learning environment even for beginners who have never so much as posted a blog before.
In a Sept. 20 statement, Shopify founder and CEO Tobi Lütke said his company was “excited” to be supporting National Learn to Code Day.
Calling computer programming “today’s superpower,” he also praised the efforts of Ladies Learning Code to ensure women and young people have equal access, noting that the software of the future will be developed by individuals from a variety of diverse backgrounds.
Since its founding in 2011, Ladies Learning Code has held more than 900 workshops and events, and reached over 45,000 novice programmers across the country, according to the organization, which has a stated goal of not only helping Canadian women and youth become more digitally proficient, but teaching them how to use technology to make their messages, causes, or ideas stand out from the pack.
The registration fee for National Ladies Learn to Code Day workshops is voluntary, and men accompanied by a female friend, colleague, or partner are welcome to attend as well, Ladies Learning Code cofounder and CEO Melissa Sariffodeen told ITBusiness.ca in an email.
Groups that are interested in participating but don’t have a workshop near them are invited to request one through the organization’s website, she said.