As a female interested in computer science, it was easy for me to get overwhelmed. My father constantly encouraged me with tech articles and new coding books, but when I went to my computer science class and saw the boys miles ahead of me, I was afraid I wasn’t good enough.
I felt like an imposter. Now, I’ve finished my first year of college and I realized that these struggles do not discriminate. I just never had a community to reach out to and see a majority of people who went through the same experiences as me. Because of this, I wanted to put together a list of resources that other people can use and get out of their imposter syndrome.
While women may be dominating the professional workforce (56%) and social media platforms (55%), we still only make up 28% of software jobs. Those numbers may be slowly increasing, but it’s not fast enough. A large cause of this lack of diversity in software jobs is due to the limited exposure to tech world from a young age. We need communities and resources where young women can feel like they can tackle on Computer Science if they want to.
Built By Girls
A community for female-identifying or nonbinary people who want to enter the workforce hitting the ground running. They have internship boards, events, and a slack!
I’ve used the slack to get to know other girls, work on start ups, and attend hackathons with supportive people. With the seemingly endless channels, there’s a resource for everything and if there isn’t a channel for what you need, create one! I added three!
They also have a WAVE program which connects girls from ages 13–21 to advisors in fields that they are interested in.
My current advisor is an impressively intelligent woman who’s been coding since she was young and now works with artifical intelligence and implicit bias. Though I’ve just had my first meeting with her, she has such a bright and altruistic personality where I can tell I’ll learn a lot.
Girls Who Code
A community for girls who code. This organization actually promotes clubs that you can start in your own schools. If you’re in high school and you’re looking to make a change, create a Girls Who Code club and start sharing your passion with others. There’s 2 week programs for girls ages 13–18 or 7 week programs for 10th and 11th grade girls where you can get more into coding!
If you’re in college and still want to join, consider creating a College Loop and your own campus.
Kode With Klossy
A 2 week free summer boot camp where scholars have a chance to learn either web or mobile development while creating a community of openness and accomplishment.
I am a 2019 Instructor’s Assistant for Kode With Klossy which means that I, along with another IA and two instructors, have the privilege of showing girls what they can create with just a computer and some knowledge.
It’s a great opportunity that often has girls coming back year after year for the community. If you’re unable to be a scholar, but still have the skills and passion to help foster this community, consider applying to be an IA.
Black Girls Code
A community where young black girls can get further into coding. I was an instructor for a week-long program where YWCA partnered with Black Girls Code to give the campers an experience to coding. As a staff member, it was still a supportive community to work with.
They have events all year long where you can either attend or volunteer! If you’re a young black girl interested in coding, definitely check it out. If not, volunteer and join the community!
Learn to Code with Me
A blog that is run by someone who diverged from their original career path to pursue coding. I first found her through her podcast which is on most major streaming services. In her podcast, she interviews different people in tech that range from founders in successful startups and people who have freshly graduated from bootcamp.
The best part of Laurence Bradford’s content is that she not only discusses coding, but the soft skills that are necessary to thrive in such a community. To get a well rounded account of how to not only code, but build a brand in coding, check her out.
Rewriting the Code
A community for college women in computing majors, i.e. engineering, computer science, mathematics, etc.
There is a yearlong membership that is free and allows college women to get connected in their community. There is also a fellowship where applications come out once a year. They get the same benefits of membership + exclusive networking privileges, mentoring, and more.
Girlboss
A community that has a lot of resources for women working to succeed. They focus a lot of entrepreneurship and building your own brand. Although Girlboss isn’t intended for coding, there is a great community that allows young women to share their entrepreneurial spirit whether that is launching a tech innovation or not.
They also biannually give out $15,000 grants for new business ideas by women. For more information about grants, click here.
Newbie Coder Warehouse
A facebook community for people new to coding. This is great when you have job questions or coding questions and need a little support from other people who are new.
This is great, especially for learning other resources and discussing different online courses you may both be taking.
Udemy
A great online learning resource. They have a lot of highly rated ~50 hour courses that go on sale for roughly $10. The courses I’m taking right now are iOS Development and Web Development.
This online course gives you the opportunity to invest your time into further your passion. These courses oftentimes come with a supportive community that are learning side by side with you. Always wait for a sale though. There’s rarely an occasion where you’ll have to pay the full $200 price — wait until it’s $15 or less.
Grace Hopper Conference
A conference that celebrates WoC in technology. A lot of colleges will give out stipends to cover the costs of the conference. This year, for people who can’t attend in person, there is a virtual conference!
Out in Tech
A nonprofit for LGBTQ+ members in tech. Though not specifically branded for females, 58% of the LGBTQ+ community is female.
Out in Tech is an organization that works to create a safe community for anyone to thrive in tech with their hard work and knowledge. They have mentorship programs and a slack where they post job listings and meetup.
Just though Out in Tech alone, I received a week long code with Black Girls Code and a full scholarship to Devcon 5 (a blockchain and cryptocurrency conference). Both opportunities are valued over $1000!
Tech Ladies
A community that helps connect females in technology with companies that create a diversified and supporting environment. They have job postings, a newsletter, and webinars.
Chingu
Chingu is an organization made to get you out of the “tutorial purgatory.” Say that you’ve done all the studying you could, but now you’re stuck. What projects can you work on? What’s the point of this project? Chingu is created to build a developer team that has a similar tech expertise to create a project together which not only teaches you coding skills, but soft skills.
Lean In
An organization that is built on lifting up women in circle. This allows you to join or create a “circle” — community — near you that works on building accountability. Not only is it a great support, but it creates an opportunity to continue on with projects and feel more of an urgency to get it done.
With all of this said, I am still relatively new to this community and have yet to uncover all of the great resources that are out there. If you have an resource that you’d like to share, please comment them below so others can learn as well! Thank you for reading.
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