The software development industry faces a major gender diversity problem. According to a survey conducted in 2015, only 5.8 percent of developer positions are occupied by women1.
OpenRoad was thrilled to help narrow this gender gap by hosting a Ladies Learning Code workshop this week.Ladies Learning Code is a not-for-profit organization that helps women and youth become builders of technology in a hands-on, social, and collaborative way. A few of our own front-end web development experts—Daryl, James, and George—were eager to share their tips and tricks, volunteering as mentors during the two-part workshop, CSS for Beginners.
"It was a great experience to be able to give back to the development community. Learners left the workshop feeling inspired by the endless possibilities of modern web-smithing,” said Daryl.
The seminar was designed to give novice coders a deep dive into the fundamentals of CSS through two, 3-hour sessions. As the Ladies Learning Code instructor took attendees through lessons about syntax, rules, floats, and positioning, our mentors helped them every step of the way to build a personal webpage-resume.
"Ladies Learning Code is doing a great job at getting women and youth involved in an important industry," said George, a developer for OpenRoad's intranet software product, ThoughtFarmer, adding, "I think everyone can benefit from a basic knowledge of programming."