Opening a Gateway for Girls to Enter the Computer Field. Slide Show Closing a gender gap: a computer science immersion program aimed at girls WHEN Julia Geist was asked to draw a picture of a computer scientist last year, the 16-year-old sketched a businessman wearing glasses and a tie. Looking around at her classmates’ drawings, she saw similar depictions of men.
Now, Ms. Geist said, “I see a computer scientist could be anyone” — including herself. Her new perspective is a victory for Girls Who Code. Girls Who Code is among the recent crop of programs intended to close the gender gap in tech by intervening early, when young women are deciding what they want to study. The paucity of women in the tech industry has been well documented. A variety of advocacy and networking groups have tried to address the problem by coaching women on building start-ups, raising venture capital and climbing the management ranks at big companies. Even so, the number of women entering technology has been declining. So the industry is trying a new approach. Ms. Ms. Codecademy, Hacker School: Why everyone should learn to code. Coding is the hottest skill on the job market, the modern-day language of creativity, and a powerful force in the economy.
And now it’s making its way into Congress, high school classrooms, and even the newsroom. A group of leading thinkers in technology gathered at New America NYC on March 28 to discuss the value of programming skills in the 21st century. Moderator Marvin Ammori, a Bernard L. Schwartz fellow at the New America Foundation, was joined by Zach Sims, CEO of Codecademy; Martha Girdler, engineer at Etsy; Nicholas Bergson-Shilcock, co-founder of Hacker School; and Julia Angwin, senior technology editor for the Wall Street Journal. We’ve grown so accustomed to technology that we hardly ever question how the machines and applications we use operate. All too often, we draw the distorted distinction between math- and science-minded individuals and the seemingly more “creative types.” Those who code often find the process enjoyable, even exhilarating.
Raspberry Pi | An ARM GNU/Linux box for $25. Take a byte! Computer Coding - It's Not Just for Boys. What most schools don't teach.