The first step in IT format Django Girls
October 21 at the SoftServe office in Kharkiv ran a master class from the “European Code Week” in Django Girls format. The event was attended by girls who never engaged in programming.
The organizers were Kharkiv IT Cluster, Raccoon Gang and SuHaRi portal. The event was part of the Meet and Code initiative, which is being implemented by the Gurt Resource Center in cooperation with the organizations TechSoup Europe and Haus des Stiftens gGmbH with the financing of SAP.
The master class gathered in one place people with completely different kinds of activities who decided to discover something new or to make an already conscious first step in IT.
Django Girls Kharkiv #7 attracted women to the world of technology and showed them that programming is within the power of everyone, if there is a purpose and desire to work.
During the master class, the girls received advice from coaches who helped them understand the world of code. And at the end of the day, each of the participants already had their own small web-project.
We talked with the participants and coaches of the master class and found out what, in their opinion, the importance of such an event and what motivated them to take part in the master class.
Sofia Mikhailova, Kharkiv
At the moment I’m studying at V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University to the astronomer. On DjangoGirls I turned out to be interested in programming, and if in the future I do not go to science, I would like to be in IT, namely, to develop in the direction of FrontEnd, so DjangoGirls is in my interests. I believe that such events bring huge benefits to people, because they are educational: IT is not difficult, and it’s still possible to “enter IT”. If a person is really interested in this and is ready to make every effort to study the interesting industry, he or she will be successful. And specifically this event is pleasant to me because there is an accessible explanation in the form of a tutorial, and also a trainer who understands this and who are ready to help in your first, and for someone not the first, project in the form of a blog.
Anna Pilipenko, Kharkiv
Today I was here on the tip of my friend, who works as a marketer in a company that sponsors DjangoGirls. I have nothing to do with IT, my profession is a wedding decorator. But still IT is one of the most demanded areas of activity, and in Ukraine – almost the only industry where you can really earn good money by honest work. In fact, many of my friends works in IT, and I decided that it’s time to stop being a complete layman in this business. The genus of my activity at the moment is not going to change, but who knows what will happen next. I am very glad that any person, even without preparation, like me, can come to such an event and wonderful coaches will explain everything, they will show and tell. Even if it is difficult to speak the same language, they try to explain everything, you can see their interest in getting everything understood. It’s very cool that people with completely different kinds of activities can come and discover something new. I would like to see such events take place more often.
Lyuba Kuybida, Kharkiv
I live in Kharkiv, work as a freelancer, began to make website layout and all my way in this business started with the DjangoGirls benefit, which, unfortunately, I did not go through. Therefore, when I saw the announcement, I realized that I do not have enough knowledge, but there is a desire – and here I am. I’m very interested in being in this atmosphere, and, undoubtedly, attracts the idea of integrating women and girls more actively in IT. The concept of non-formal education is, in its own way, delicious. In our patriarchal society, like the Ukrainian, girls are raised from an early age primarily as a nature, focused on the family, and not on a career. But we are completely different. The desire of the girl, regardless of age and education, towards self-development – it’s very cool.
This is the first time I attended such an event and I really liked it: I thought we would have one or more coaches for all participants. But we were divided into groups, and we have on the one hand an individual coach, and on the other a person who does not interfere in what you do, but only give some advice and answers questions – it is very useful and stimulating.
This event is free, and it’s a little worrisome for the participants, and suddenly it’s a trap or it’s not worth your effort, but I’m here, and everything is very cool. For coaches, everything takes place on a volunteer basis, thanks, of course, to democratic initiatives. They know how they are spending their time on and helping each other. In addition, there is a prospect that the next few years the participants of this year or the last years can also train others and come here already as a coach.
Nadezhda Kolodezhnaya, Kharkiv
At the moment I’m studying at the sixth year in KhPI, a computer programmer by training, but I previously worked in another field. This is my first time at such an event, but I came here thanks to my boyfriend, he’s a programmer and that’s why he got me here. It’s interesting enough for beginners, it’s a new experience and the program is designed so that a person who has never encountered Django before can easily explore it. I believe that such events are very useful, since they give an opportunity to those who have no other opportunity to learn something new, to improve and develop themselves.
Anastasia Mazur, Zaporozhye, Coach
I’m a developer, I work with Python, I often write on Django, I really like this framework. I had a great desire to get to this event, because it is really cool: DjangoGirls allows beginners to try themselves in programming and those who are more experienced, to test themselves as a mentor, that is, this is a mutually beneficial exchange of information. Also I am very sympathetic to this organization, I’ve heard about it for a long time, more precisely, as soon as I got into the world of “pythons”. People who are here are very different: there are people who did not try themselves at all in programming and vice versa – all are super people. I am proud of my team, it is very pleasant to interact with it, helping them is a pleasure, I perceive their successes as my own, I am happy that they succeed.
We have an IT Cluster in Zaporozhye and I was a volunteer, but I always looked at the speakers, coaches, and realized that my small goal was to participate in such organizations, events as much as possible, learn something new to improve my skills of communication, because in the future I want to become a Team Lead. Such events are important for one simple reason: it help to understand yourself in one or another industry. Many newcomers give up on the first steps when they try something themselves, because they do not know where to ask for advice. They have something that does not work, no one supports, and they just do not go any further, although this can be a matter of all life. Such events, workshops are very useful for beginners, they help to overcome this bad stage when you do not know what to do. Also, these people experience less stress, because they do it all alone. It is very important that Ukraine has many more conferences and various events of this kind. I really like to travel to other cities, and there are incredibly many like-minded people who will happily come, wherever they are. There is a large number of cities, and even more programmers, we need to unite and globalize this movement.
Andrey Kartava, Kharkiv, Coach
I am a Full Stack Developer. On dou.ua saw such an event as DjangoGirls, and really wanted to get here as a coach this is a great opportunity to try your hand. It is interesting to train someone, share my knowledge and experience, which I received during my personal education and work. It is worth noting that the volunteer event is very cool, because there are many people who want to study, and if there is demand there is a supply. Do not underestimate the girls because they are few in IT, but there are quite interesting personalities, they really surprise, they clearly show potential. In the future, I will take part in similar events with pleasure, as they provide an excellent opportunity to grow not only as a developer (for if you want to teach someone, you should be perfectly versed in your business), but also help to make new acquaintances with completely different and interesting people.
Vitaly Sypchenko, Kharkiv, Coach
I graduated from Kharkiv Road University three years ago: it turned out that building roads was not a very fun activity, so I found myself in programming. I saw an announcement on the Internet portal that the event would take place, and I thought, why not help and not try myself as a coach. I’m participating for the second time, and it’s really cool to be here. I do not have stereotypes about girls and programming. In this sphere there are no restrictions, everything here is decided by experience and serious attitude to the case. It’s very cool that such events exist, and it’s a pity, when I started to study, I could not get into this “get-together”. I could understand in just one day how web development, the Internet and modern technologies work. Such organizations give a lot of motivation to grow and develop. I am sure that the girls who came here today will leave with such knowledge that will give an excellent impetus to starting a career in IT.