Don’t expect another “this is what it’s like to be a woman in tech” panel. No no—we have greater plans for you—because we know you have bigger dreams for yourself!

Turing School is a proud partner of Girl Develop It and NCWIT as a member of their Affinity Alliance. If you are a Girl Develop It or NCWIT member, please email trycoding@turing.edu to attend this workshop for free.

Please note: this event is only for individuals who identify as a gender other than cisgender male (genders which are underrepresented in the tech industry). Attendees may present their gender in any way they please, including expressions which fall outside traditionally femme norms. You are welcome here.

Workshop Overview

This special event will be led by one of Turing School’s student circles, the Joan Clarke Society, named after the woman who broke barriers and was the sole woman on the team that decrypted Nazi Germany’s secret communications during WWII.

Joan did it alone—but you don’t have to! Join us on Friday, February 11 and learn to code in a collaborative environment with other women and leaders in the tech industry.

Event Overview

• Introductions: Meet the alumni from Joan Clarke Society who will be supporting you and other women+ participating in the event.

• Try Coding Instruction: Spend a few hours learning how to code in a virtual workshop taught live, with support from Joan Clarke Society alumni/software developers. Leave this portion of the event with your own code project.

• Lunch Sessions: Choose from several lunch sessions (more information below) led by women leaders in the tech industry and ask them questions about their careers, challenges and opportunities in tech.

• Group Challenge: Choose a topic that matters to you, and build out your code project from the morning with other women who are passionate about the same issue. Your group will get coaching and support from a Joan Clarke Society alumni/software developer.

• Awards & Closing: Share your project with the full group, vote as a community on each project and discover the next steps you can take if you are interested in learning more about coding and software development.

Why You?

If you identify as a woman, genderqueer, or non-binary and are interested in a new career, challenge or coding—join us!

Maybe you have a friend who’s a software developer, maybe back in the day you enjoyed changing your Myspace page with HTML (I mean.. who didn’t?) and want to learn more, or maybe you are looking for a new career change and just don’t know where to start.

Regardless of your reason, come! Get your first introduction to coding, meet women leaders across the tech industry and meet some amazing women along the way—we know we are excited to meet you.

Why Now?

Software Development is a career in demand—offering high flexibility (say goodbye to that standard 9:00-5:00 job), portability (work from wherever you want—whether that's the office, your couch, or remotely in a new city every month) and the starting salary isn't too bad either! Turing School alumni earn a starting median salary of $77,000 in their first job out of the program.

We're not asking for you to enroll in our school today—but we are asking you to try coding out for yourself and see if it's a career you're excited about! ​

Lunch Sessions

During the event’s lunch break, you’ll choose from the sessions listed below, learn about the background of the speaker and have the opportunity to ask questions about their unique experience working in tech. Read more about our lunch session leaders below:

• Getting Your First Job In Tech: Tracey Monteiro is a Career Specialist at Turing School and supports students and alumni in finding their first job as software developers and tech adjacent roles. Tracey has over 5 years of career coaching, workshop design and delivery, leadership and team development experience. Before joining the Turing team, she worked at the Community College of Aurora, as a Career Advisor & Coach for the Strengthening Working Families Initiative. She supported students who were also parents pursuing careers in IT and Healthcare. She has also been successful at providing a range of services including one-on-one coaching, career exploration, writing and resume development. Tracey's passion is to provide practical solutions and techniques that help individuals achieve their personal and professional objectives and she views technology as a superpower that can positively impact world and social issues. Outside of her work, she enjoys dancing, listening to music, yoga and Zumba, and listening to podcasts.

• A Career As A Software Developer: Before joining Turing, Jamison Ordway was a full stack software engineer at User Interviews, whose mission is to help teams discover and embrace user insights. In the role prior to that they focused on Back-End development, and have a strong background in Ruby on Rails and JavaScript. Jamison chose coding as a career because they want to influence the ways tech shapes our society. Their experience as a music instructor also helps with teaching code. Finding creative ways to demonstrate technical concepts is one of their focus areas. Outside of work, Jamison enjoys playing music, gardening, and playing both video and tabletop games.

• Lead In Tech: Nancy Felix is an experienced Information technology leader with a demonstrated history of working in the hospital & health care industry. She has strong information technology professional skills in IT Strategy, Software Development for all platforms, System Deployment including CI/CD, DevOps, QA automation and most importantly people leadership. Nancy has worked in a variety of companies spanning a 15+ career in tech and is currently working at Amazon as a senior leader in their Amazon Devices department.

• Balancing a Family & a Career In Tech: Sally MacNichols is a a software engineer at Stitch Fix based just outside of Nashville, TN with her husband and three kids. Her background is in Client and Vendor Relations, but she decided to transition to tech back in 2015. While attending the Turing School of Software & Design, she had to balance both student and family life. She loves interior design, DIY home projects and a good psychological thriller book.

FAQ

Don't see the answer you need below? Questions? Contact trycoding@turing.edu 

1. How will I connect to the virtual session?

You will need a computer for this class that can connect to the internet and operate Zoom. We recommend that you download Zoom now to ensure it is compatible with your computer. A specific Zoom link will be sent to attendees upon registration.

2. What equipment should I have for this online class?

A computer that can connect to the internet via a web browser. We recommend using headphones to minimize distractions and ensure you can access the information. It will also be beneficial to find a quiet working space where you will be able to focus during the duration of the course.

3. I want to attend but I can't afford it. Are there any scholarships available?

We are offering scholarships on a limited basis for students with financial need. If you are a member of one of our partners, you are also welcome to receive a discount for this workshop. Please contact trycoding@turing.edu for more information.

4. Are kids welcome?

This is a course designed for professional-level adults and is not designed for kids. We ask that individuals under age 17 do not register to attend.

5. I’ve already practiced some code as a hobby or through CodeAcademy —will I still benefit from this course?

This course is designed for people who are brand new to code and have never tried it before. In particular, we will be giving instruction on HTML, CSS and JavaScript with the intention that our audience has never learned or spent time with those programming languages before. If you do have experience with those languages, please know that you are welcome, but some parts may be a review.

6. I’ve already taken a Try Coding Workshop with Turing School —can I just come to the later portion of the event?

We’re hoping to build a community environment where women+ can collaborate from the beginning of the day. We’re asking for all participants to attend the full day. If you’ve already taken a Try Coding Workshop with Turing School, you are absolutely welcome to attend! The curriculum will be updated and you will likely learn a few new things, but please do know that some parts may be a review.

7. What is the refund policy?

If for any reason you can’t make it to the event, tickets are refundable up to 24 hours before. If the event has passed then we are happy to transfer your ticket to any upcoming Try Coding.

*Cancellation of events is dependent on a variety of factors including registrations, inclement weather, and pressing needs that come up. If we do cancel your Try Coding workshop, you will be notified more than 24 hours in advance, credited back your registration payment, and sent the schedule of other events. During the workshop, participants are asked to follow instructor directions and conduct themselves respectfully in all