Kainos Targets Female Students with First of Four New CodeShows

Date posted
8 July 2014
Reading time
5 Minutes

Kainos Targets Female Students with First of Four New CodeShows

60 girls attended the free one-day event in Bristol, the first of four planned CodeShows over the remainder of 2014, to get a taste of what it's like to work in a real-life software development environment Digital solutions company Kainos has announced the successful completion of a unique CodeShow event aimed at female students. The free one-day coding course, hosted in Bristol on June 30th at the Bristol City Academy, was the first of four planned CodeShows that Kainos will run over the next year. Similar events will be held in London in December and at the CultureTECH festival in Northern Ireland. The Kainos CodeShows, aimed at year 11-14 students (aged 16-18) of STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), are designed to inspire the next-generation of IT talent, by giving young people early access to a real-world software development environment. The CodeShow is a compressed, single-day version of the now highly popular Kainos CodeCamp, which is a more intensive course in software development during the summer break, also offered free of charge. The one-day events are run by former CodeCampers and trainee software developers from Kainos. The Bristol one-day event drew 60 pupils who attended practical sessions and lectures on topics including careers in IT and iOS (Apple platform) development. The June CodeShow was targeted at female pupils, reflecting Kainos's drive to encourage more women to consider a future in software development. The event, delivered in partnership with Bristol City Academy and supported by West of England Local Enterprise Partnership, was the first of its kind to be offered by Kainos in Bristol. Commenting on the opportunity for local students, Marina Traversari, Project Executive at the Local Enterprise Partnership, said, 'It is great to see a local employer investing in closing the skills gaps in coding in the West of England. Kainos has shown initiative by working with a local school with the objectives of addressing this skills shortage and opening up experiences to the coding world. This is exactly the type of model we would support from other employers.' Davey McGlade, the founder of Kainos CodeCamp and organiser of the Bristol event, who is also a software architect at Kainos, added, 'The CodeShow perfectly complements our very popular and successful CodeCamps and AppCamps, extending the opportunity to those who couldn't get a place or didn't have enough time free to attend the longer events. We were particularly keen to target female students this time too, as one of Kainos's aims to encourage more women to consider a career in IT. 'We were delighted to be able to work with Bristol City Academy to help nurture the next generation of IT talent. As with all of Kainos's Digital Academy initiatives, the Kainos CodeCamp and Kainos CodeShows aim to bridge the gap between ICT taught in schools and real-life software development.' Kainos will host a longer CodeCamp in Belfast at the end of July.