BUILDING THE FUTURE
GIRLS WHO CODE
THE EDUCATION ORGANIZATION IS BREAKING DOWN THE TECH SECTOR’S GENDER DIVIDE.
GIRLS WHO CODE HAS WORKED WITH more than 500,000 individuals in the decade since its inception in 2012, ensuring that women and nonbinary people recognize that their contributions to the tech sector are vital. Now, the organization is introducing new programs to meet the needs of students entering the workforce.
Girls Who Code alumni earn computer science degrees at seven times the national average. Yet navigating the job-interview process has proved challenging. In response, the organization launched a Technical Interview Prep program and a Leadership Academy last year, with plans to run both programs on a school-year cycle.
The Technical Interview Prep program has served 462 students as of August, while the four-month Leadership Academy has provided mentoring and networking opportunities for 100 students, who mainly came from underrepresented groups.
As it equips former students with careerbuilding tools, Girls Who Code is also engaging current students with an effort meant to ensure that they see themselves reflected in the technology they use— particularly video games. “Many of our students are one of the only or a handful of women or nonbinary students in their CS classes,” says chief program officer Daniel Voloch. Women and nonbinary characters are also less common, and when they are represented, they often fit a certain mold: skinny, feminine, and white.
To help bring videogame characters more in line with the real demographics of players, the company launched Girls Who Code Girls last December to teach students character design, encourage them to build more representative avatars, and even submit their creations to gaming companies. Since the program began, participants have spent more than 1,300 hours building custom avatars.
Now, the organization is developing a curriculum based on the intersection of coding and AI. Rather than fearing the advance of artificial intelligence, Girls Who Code wants to equip its students with the necessary skills they might need to optimize its use as a tool. —RB