So Google want to teach millions of American girls how to code because their workforce is 70% male. But while you might not want to work at Google (and why don’t you? They get free lunch. Do you realise this? FREE. And nap pods. But anyway), coding is fast becoming the skill you’ll need to know in order to get hired. Or continue to get hired, considering how important this internet thing has become. Who knew it’d catch on so fast?!
Alright, but when you look at code it makes you sweat, feel out of your depth, and want eat a cheese sandwich out of sheer nervousness, right? While that may be a reaction particularly (read: only) specific to me, coding has this weird stigma as being difficult, mathsy and boring. Presumably, only 17% of the tech workforce is female because we're attracted to more creative, less boring jobs. Or what we perceive to be less boring.
No, I’m not going to bang on about how easy coding is because we’re not at school – I’ll let Karen Lee, a 21-year-old junior web developer at Voucher Codes Pro do it instead: ‘Don’t think of it as really difficult. Yeah, it’s loads of letters and numbers, and when you see a big file with loads of things it does look confusing, but when you learn in steps it’s actually quite easy,’ she explains, reassuringly.
Anne-Marie Imafidon from The Stemettes, a company dedicated to getting girls into science, tech, engineering and maths jobs, agrees: ‘What I like about it is the creativity. I like being able to sit down, put things together and see something I’ve created. Whatever I can imagine, I can code up and make it happen.’
Nothing more satisfying than telling your mate you just made a new app that reminds you to take your pill. Or buy tampons. Or something non-female related because we’re not all walking wombs.
Gone is the stereotype of the skinny, pale, teen boy making Angelfire websites about Pokemon in his bedroom or hacking into the Pentagon: coding isn’t just for geeks. Every industry from fashion to journalism to advertising to law involves, somewhere, a web developer – how do you think those lawyers advertise their services? By pigeon? So you need to know the basics if you’re going to get ahead.
‘It sets you apart, definitely. There are lots of businesses looking more and more to coders, and a really basic understanding gives you the capacity to take on a project, manage things and work with developers,’ says Harriet Wright from coding specialists Decoded, who also agrees that coding is pretty much everywhere – not just in the gaming or web development sectors.
‘I did a degree in drama, and I believe in creative pursuits. I really see code as a platform and a paintbrush for how people can be creative, and it’s already fast becoming a part of all industries. It’s starting to become a necessary skill.’
So how do you dip your toe into the HTML-encoded world without panicking at words like HTML-encoded? Well, firstly...
Decide to create something
Do you remember when you had to learn French vocab in huge long lists that made you zone out, but when you actually went to France it all came together much faster? I didn’t because I never went to France, but my posh mates certainly came back from summers in the Riviera way more literate in the language than they had been from repeating phrases after our French teacher, who smelled of egg and called me Etienne (French for Steven. My name is Stevie. I’m a girl).
Anyway, it’s the same with coding – there needs to be a point to the whole thing. ‘Wordpress and Tumblr are the modern equivalents of when people used to code MySpace profiles so snowflakes appeared over Christmas, and that sort of thing, so that’s one way to ease yourself in,’ says Anne-Marie.
‘Don’t just code for coding’s sake; trying to build simple websites or blogs makes it easier to put into a context. Just play around. Build something for your grandma.’
When asked what she’d build for said grandma, Anne-Marie responded: ‘Like, an app to remind her to put her dentures in and take them out. Er, I’m not that close to my grandma.’ For those with dentured Grans, you can have that one for free.
Check out an online tutorial
There are loads. And they'’e free. Code Academy, GoThinkBig and O2’s Decoded tool or even YouTube to name a few. ‘Just Google “Learn To Code” and there’s loads of different ones,’ says Karen. ‘YouTube tutorials are great, and you can tell which ones will be better depending on the amount of views it has. I actually still sometimes use YouTube if there’s something I’m not certain about.’
Anne-Marie also suggests Dash, Hour Of Codeand Code Avengersas good starting points. Basically, these are interactive step-by-step guides that introduce you to the elements of coding slowly but surely, and ensure you don’t panic and have to make a cheese sandwich at the sight of some complex script.
Go to a Hackathon
It can be both mysterious and terrifying to witness a Hackathon for those not versed in Javascript, but there are loads for beginners and Anne-Marie is dead certain it’s one of the best ways to learn. But WTF is a Hackathon? People running 27 miles with iPads?
‘The best way to describe a hackathon is like how people get together with different musical instruments and jam. It’s that, but with laptops,’ she explains. ‘You go and there are loads of projects to get involved with, and people who”ll help you out. From a mobile app to creating a digital product to opening up a government data source, to building things to be used in the NHS, it’s better to learn as you go.’
To find out where these Hackathons are going on, just Google the word Hackathons. Simple.
**Do a quickfire course **
If you want to learn with people, but aren’t quite up for throwing yourself into the Hackathon deep end just yet (although Anne-Marie assures me they’re super-welcoming), you could opt for a crash course for beginners. Like Decoded, where Harriet works, who do Code In A Day sessions.
‘Code In A day gives you a platform to understand how coders put together the script. When you come to us you might know nothing, but then by the end of the day you‘ve created an app that involves Javascript, HTML and CSS.’
This doesn’t come cheap at £750, but it’s certainly something to consider if you’ve got some disposable cash to spare or happen to be The Queen. There are loads of other crash courses and day-long events for less, though, so keep an eye out!
Follow Stevie on Twitter @5tevieM
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.