A consensus is growing that young people start in early adolescence to think concretely about their futures and how coding/programming can prepare them for their chosen technology careers. And learning to code and programme has been an increasingly frequent topic of conversation in professional circles and popular media.
On the 7th of November, 2020, this received renewed attention with CodeQuest’s online Programming Webinar for all beginners who desired to become successful in building a Software career and pursuing it at any cost. The webinar provided participants with an adventurous experience that would help them scale through their careers as software engineers.
Fayokemi Adeyina, Bassem Hassan, Dika Okwa, Ikechukwu Njoku, Tosin Felixson, and Daniel Bamidele were among the panel of industry experts who spoke at the session. The facilitators inspired participants to invest in their future and goals of being great nerds by using their enthusiasm, tools, and technical expertise. Each participant was also handed an E-book encapsulating the information delivered during the event.
In light of the persistent under-representation of women in coding and computer science jobs, this workshop was important for young people of all genders. This was particularly important as exposure to STEM-related workshops has been shown to have an impact on the types of technology-inclined careers young people envision for themselves. Offering this workshop in software programming was an obvious way for industry experts to provide this exposure.
During this workshop, Fayokemi Adeyina and the other facilitators demonstrated how novice programmers or young people with no prior programming experience were exposed to coding. These small exposures are expected to lead to large impacts over the long run. Ultimately, creating opportunities for programming can help provide the needed support for young people in the twenty-first century.