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Coding – the language used to create computer programs – is a skill most of us consider beyond our reach. But tech guru Kathryn Parsons is pushing to make digital literacy go mainstream, especially among women.
Tech guru Kathryn Parsons is pushing to make digital literacy go mainstream, especially among women.
“IT’S PRETTY MUCH BEEN ENCODED IN LINES OF CODE WRITTEN BY MEN. SO I WANT WOMEN TO BE A PART OF IT”
Let’s start with the basics. Could you learn how to code in a day? Could you learn how to code at all? It’s a question that sparked off a career and business for Kathryn Parsons – a multilingual Cambridge graduate with a successful stint in digital advertising.
She co-founded Decoded in January 2011, in London. The company now has offshoots internationally and offers pop-up sessions – Decoded staff have travelled to 65 cities to teach technology, or what they call “digital enlightenment”. Its students have included heads of major corporations and governments, as well as the likes of Lily Cole and the Duke of York.
Don’t be intimidated, or maybe, do: Parsons is considered internationally as one of the most influential people in technology today. When I suggest her potential for being intimidating, what with her alma mater and long list of achievements, she laughs long and hard: “I hope people don’t think I am an intimidating person! That would be really hilarious!”
The impact of Parsons and Decoded is felt widely across the international technology industry: Parsons speaks at conferences, introducing people to digital learning and campaigning for coding to be added to the school curriculum, a feat achieved in Britain in 2014, making it the second country after Estonia to take the lead. As the poster woman for the technology industry, she’s the friendly face who has meetings at 10 Downing Street to discuss innovation and economic growth, as well as being tapped by Amanda Wakeley to star in an upcoming fashion campaign.
Parsons’s automated out-of-office response states: “I am away from my email, decoding some digital dark arts.” This is her dry British humour at play, since Decoded’s purpose is to demystify these supposed dark arts. “When you think of the world of coding, you think of hoodies, boys, hackers; it’s very dark. But in fact, it’s one of the most democratic tools that ever existed – it’s a leveller,” says Parsons, who is helping change the image of coding.
Her excitement has, in part, inspired Vogue Codes, an upcoming summit of keynote speakers, workshops and discussions that focuses on women in technology. It’s no secret that within the technology industry women are far less represented than men, and so Vogue Codes will be about empowering women to become creators of their own digital futures and to ensure progressive roles for females in a rapidly changing landscape. Parsons is a powerful voice in encouraging women to embrace the technology sphere. “The world has been changed by technology. Every single product we use is impacting our behaviour, our lives, and it’s pretty much predominantly been encoded in lines of code written by men. So I want women to be a part of it.”
Decoded’s stated aim is to “simplify and accelerate that learning experience”, as Parsons puts it – to decode the code. “We should be living in this amazing utopia where anyone can create anything, but somehow it’s ended up being in the hands of the one per cent, and I think there are lots of reasons for that. One of the easiest things is to take away that fear, the mystery, the jargon and make it a place that feels accessible for anyone.”
On how she got the idea for Decoded, she recalls approaching CEOs of technology companies and asking if they knew how to code, or if they knew what an API was (application programming interface, in case you were wondering). “I’d assume that it was quite stupid to ask that, but then they would quietly say: ‘I just don’t have a clue, I don’t understand anything that the developers say, but I’m running this business.’”
An interest in coding and teaching people how to code then turned into “a hobby that became an obsession that took over my life that then became a business. I’m passionate about learning, and learning new things,” she says. She was further spurred on when she spoke to coders, many of whom scoffed at the idea of being able to teach coding at all, let alone in a day. As a woman in the technology field with a very non-tech background, she challenged conventional notions of what could and could not be done. “There’s a sense of not being allowed to – a lack of permission since you’re not a coder, and maybe being a woman – so for me it was like a red rag to the bull. I was like: ‘I can do this and I think everyone is going to want to learn this.’”
Her career trajectory is surprising, given her background in classical studies and languages. Or perhaps not … She once suggested that coding is just like another language with its own set of rules and protocols, and so it drew her in, just like her passion for classics. “Some of our staff are statisticians with
“UNTIL I DISCOVERED TECHNOLOGY, I DIDN’T KNOW WHAT I WANTED”
PhDs, some have studied nanotechnology … I sometimes feel a bit apologetic for studying classics!” jokes Parsons, who is one of those maddening people who are clever, hardworking, genuine and just plain nice.
She is fluent in Japanese (“obsessed”) and French – she studied both languages at school – as well as Latin, which she started at the age of nine: “You either love Latin, or you hate it.”
Her Latin studies continued into university at Cambridge, where she pursued classical studies, and also picked up ancient Greek. She started learning Japanese at the age of 14, demonstrating the kind of self-motivation and discipline that would humble most adults.
“I remember seeing this girl reading manga comics like Dragon Ball and Sailor Moon, and wanting to read them, so I bought all the comics and started teaching myself.” She also attended London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, enrolling in night classes held after high school, a young teen at odds in a classroom full of adults, most of whom were preparing to relocate to Japan.
Her approach to studying coding is akin to how she learns languages: a thorough immersion into the digital world leading to a deeper appreciation of its creativity and unlimited potential.
The month prior, Parsons had undertaken a 17-hour hike of the Atlas mountains in Morocco, her first long-haul hike and her way of unplugging. Next on her list is Mauna Kea in Hawaii and Japan’s Mount Fuji – “Putting those years of Japanese to good use!” Revelling in challenges, she enjoys proving people wrong; like the coders who told her she wouldn’t be able to teach coding in a day. With Decoded’s impressive stats – having taught 100,000 people and counting – it’s safe to say that’s no longer a point of contention. When I remark on her tenacity, she laughs warmly, commenting: “Absolutely, it’s very dangerous!
A recent revisit to her childhood home reminded her how she started. There was her old bookshelf filled with Japanese manga, thesauruses and dictionaries (she loved to memorise words), language and business books. “But until I discovered technology, I didn’t know what I wanted, but I knew that I wanted to start a business.” It’s become more than just a career and a business though: it’s a movement. And it’s one that Vogue is excited to be a part of.