Vancouver’s tech sector gives back
Coding camps help bridge the digital divide for inner city youth
Ryan Holmes got his first computer by winning a coding contest.
Some 30 years, several startups and the fast- growing social media company HootSuite later, Holmes is hoping to inspire other youth to pursue a path in coding and computer science and bridge the digital divide that sees children living in poverty unable to access the tools they need to achieve digital literacy.
The foundation he cofounded, the Next Big Thing, which focuses on education and resources for youth innovations, technical skills and entrepreneurship, has launched coding camps for kids in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
“It’s something we’re excited about,” Holmes said of the educational initiative. “The goal is to help kids on the Downtown Eastside get connected to these coding camps so they can get at least a taste of what it’s like.
“The last coding camp we saw some kids build out amazing applications — little games, little projects — they were so creative and so interested.”
Holmes, who founded HootSuite in 2008, said it’s important to help young people develop a passion for technology, something that began for him when he was still a young student.
“My first computer I won in a programming contest …. and that fed my passion of learning how to program, playing with computers,” he said.
Encouraging young people to pursue education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics ( STEM) is a competitive imperative in today’s global economy, but for many children whose families can barely afford to put food on the table, or not even afford that, the digital divide looms large. Holmes said companies have a role to play in helping young people in their community.
“The digital divide is a scary thing,” he said. “I hate to think about people being on the wrong side of the fence there and I think it’s important for companies like ours to think about how we can help every kid have a chance and get connected and be part of this,” he said.
There’s a payback as well for employees of HootSuite who volunteer to help out at the coding camps — and that’s measured in the joy it brings the youth.
“These are people who are working on really cool enterprise- level applications and I think some of the beauty of this is seeing when they help a kid and seeing the kid’s eyes light up and seeing those kids write their first ‘ hello world’ program,” Holmes said.
“It’s that amazing idea that they can actually build programs and make the computer do things.
Tech leaders in Vancouver are helping to raise money for the coding camps, participating in # Tech4GoodYVR, an auction that runs to Dec 16.
Prizes in the auction include time with the tech leaders for lunch, dinner or in the case of Vision Critical founder Andrew Reid, a chance to go snowmobiling with him in Whistler. For information on the auction, check online at hootsuite. com/ about/ hootgiving/ tech4goodyvr
The Code Camps, which are run in conjunction with Vancouver’s Lighthouse Labs, are free for participants.