Girl Develop It Levels Field for Lady Coders
Fast-Growing New York Non-Profit Is Setting Up Shop in Durham
|
BY LAURA BAVERMAN •
@laurabaverman •
12.5.12
| |||||||||||||||||
Filed Under: NEWS: Startups
Two New York women were tired of being the only female coders in the workplace, tech meetups, in life in general. So they started Girl Develop It to teach other women to code. And then word spread to other cities, and more women began hosting classes in CSS, HTML, Wordpress and more.
Sydney, Austin, Detroit, Ottawa, Cincinnati.... and now Raleigh/Durham.
Raleigh native Rachael Hobbs is behind the new group, kicking off its first set of four classes January 9 at Relevance Inc. in Durham. Hobbs isn't necessarily a feminist, but the reality is that her efforts could be a key way to grow the pool of Triangle women working for startups and founding tech companies.
In cities where Girl Develop It chapters have formed, women meet at coffee shops on weekends to code together and share their learnings. They've passed beginner classes and moved on to startup-friendly courses on Ruby on Rails, Django and mobile app development.
"I'm really looking for input from people that would be interested in classes to see what they'd like to learn," Hobbs says. The key to Girl Develop It is a collaborative and open environment where no question is a dumb one.
Julia Elman of Chapel Hill's Caktus Group will teach the first class of 20, open to both men and women and focused on CSS and HTML. Four two-hour classes cost $80. Hobbs hopes to eventually offer scholarships.
To be successful in the Triangle, Hobbs has some needs: More instructors and teaching assistants for future classes, classroom space in Raleigh, and good venues to host social events. She also needs the startup community to spread the word widely.
Hobbs believes Girl Develop It will help further her career at a local environmental data management company. But mostly, she hopes to build new skills in others and give something back to her hometown.
Register for the January classes here.
Companies We Mentioned In This Post
Girl Develop It |  |
You Might Also Be Interested In
Live from Google: Windsor Circle Wins Google Demo DayHonored and humbled. Those are the first two words that Windsor Circle CEO Matt Williamson could think of when I asked his feelings about winning the first-ever Google For Entrepreneurs Demo Day and receiving a $100K investment from Steve Case.
Smashing Boxes Schools Durham in CodeNick Jordan spends as much time recruiting new employees as selling into clients of his fast-growing web development agency Smashing Boxes. The company has grown to 38 employees over the last four years, and its greatest need is capable coders.
Tobin Geatz will join your advisory board, sit as your CEO, sell your product at trade shows or serve as your CMO.
Did you know there are 17 venture funds and venture banks in this region, and 15 organizations providing support for entrepreneurs?
A year ago, Brian Dally had a hypothesis that he could transform the real estate lending business like he did the wireless phone industry as general manager of Republic Wireless.