My SXSW experience: from digital nurturing to women in tech
Date posted
25 April 2014
Reading time
10 Minutes
My SXSW experience: from digital nurturing to women in tech
A few weeks ago I attended SXSWedu and SXSWinteractive. Firstly, a big thanks to Kainos for giving me this opportunity to widen my networks for Women Who Code UK and meet people that would have never been within my reach in any other situation.
SXSW is known for being one of the biggest conferences in the world and being able to attend was amazing and slightly overwhelming. It broadcasts shiny new ways to bring technology to people alongside more focused sessions to satisfy an IT need you may have. Here in NI, there are lots of amazing events/organisations that aim to bring programming and IT careers to the next generation (such as Kainos CodeCamp, CoderDojo, BringITOn & 3DDojo) and SXSWedu emphasized just how important those initiatives are.
SXSWedu hosted Kainos' CTO Tom Gray. Tom was speaking about the current state of the UK education system, how it affects (or ceases to affect) young programming talent and the ways we've all been trying to provide a more stable space for young software engineering talent through means like those listed above.
NI and Ireland are well known for things like the construction of the Titantic, Guinness and the arts. We're not overly well known for our programming and coding efforts. However, Tom went on to let the audience know that we house some great software companies here and some, now worldwide startups, have all began here. With the Government Digital Service leading the digital transformation of government, it is obvious how important the issue of finding and nurturing the next generation of coding talent is. Without them, we won't be able to create the IT solutions our country needs. The Social Market foundation recently estimated a 44k per year shortfall in the number of STEM graduates in the UK. We need to inspire our future innovators.
Tom talked avidly of how there is no shortage of software talent, but rather a shortage of opportunities for said talent. "The kids are not the problem. They are the challenge, and we're not giving them the appreciation of what it is to be a software professional." Throughout SXSWedu, this point was constantly made. Are we doing enough? Why aren't we doing enough? How can we do more?
After Tom's session, Nik Abhraham of Codecademy took the stage. He highlighted that while 57% of Bachelor degrees are held by women, only 17% of computer science degrees are awarded to women. This is also an issue in the UK and Ireland, with organisations like WWC UK, GirlGeeks and BringItOn/BigAmbition all trying to combat it. There isn't enough to entice young girls to veer away from standard "safe" careers and dive into the world of tech. Statistics have shown that girls do primarily better in STEM than boys up until age 16 where they branch off to choose more Medicine/Law/Teaching focused A Levels. A study by the Department of Education showed that 62% of total higher education STEM enrolments are male and in the UK, a phenomenal 74% of computer science students are male.
SXSW is a great place to meet interesting people from all over the world. One interesting person SXSW boasted was Ido Schor, co founder of CodeMonkey. Ido, from Israel, is working to eradicate that same issue a lot of us are. CodeMonkey is an interactive web game which aims to teach young children the logic behind programming, with a view that when they are older, they will already have the basic skills needed for coding, thus making it less daunting/difficult. It follows a similar trait to math and spelling games that we give to our primary school students. Check it out.
In order to teach tech-related subjects, we need to know how to learn them ourselves. "Survival in the New Knowledge Economy" with LRNGO.com (a free information exchange network - look for people in your area that can help you learn skill X) and Frederico Pistono (writer of Robots Will Take Your Job and That's OK) focused primarily on this.
This session flowed like a group conversation with a lot of passionate people dipping in and out of the chat with their views. The common point made was that online education is all well and good (and yes, it is bountiful) but people want to learn with someone who can guide and give a helping hand. We all know how hard it is to sit down & fully focus on soaking up a new skill by yourself. But with an "information exchange", we are able to focus and hone our attention.
LRNGO.com founder David Brake made the point that "By the time you've learnt a topic and become versed in it, it's obsolete". In this industry, which transforms every day, it's impossible to keep up with trends if we don't bend to what is required of us.
This is why I believe we need all of the learning initiatives we have here in NI/Ireland. They are what will be our saving grace in the future. If we provide a place for kids to learn tech-related subjects & constantly maintain that learning space for adults through Bash, BelfastRuby, Women Who Code Belfast, Refresh, BelTech (and many more), then our next generation will be just what we need.
Forward thinking and completely aware of what they can do in this lucrative industry. Here's to them!
SXSW is known for being one of the biggest conferences in the world and being able to attend was amazing and slightly overwhelming. It broadcasts shiny new ways to bring technology to people alongside more focused sessions to satisfy an IT need you may have. Here in NI, there are lots of amazing events/organisations that aim to bring programming and IT careers to the next generation (such as Kainos CodeCamp, CoderDojo, BringITOn & 3DDojo) and SXSWedu emphasized just how important those initiatives are.
SXSWedu hosted Kainos' CTO Tom Gray. Tom was speaking about the current state of the UK education system, how it affects (or ceases to affect) young programming talent and the ways we've all been trying to provide a more stable space for young software engineering talent through means like those listed above.
NI and Ireland are well known for things like the construction of the Titantic, Guinness and the arts. We're not overly well known for our programming and coding efforts. However, Tom went on to let the audience know that we house some great software companies here and some, now worldwide startups, have all began here. With the Government Digital Service leading the digital transformation of government, it is obvious how important the issue of finding and nurturing the next generation of coding talent is. Without them, we won't be able to create the IT solutions our country needs. The Social Market foundation recently estimated a 44k per year shortfall in the number of STEM graduates in the UK. We need to inspire our future innovators.
Tom talked avidly of how there is no shortage of software talent, but rather a shortage of opportunities for said talent. "The kids are not the problem. They are the challenge, and we're not giving them the appreciation of what it is to be a software professional." Throughout SXSWedu, this point was constantly made. Are we doing enough? Why aren't we doing enough? How can we do more?
After Tom's session, Nik Abhraham of Codecademy took the stage. He highlighted that while 57% of Bachelor degrees are held by women, only 17% of computer science degrees are awarded to women. This is also an issue in the UK and Ireland, with organisations like WWC UK, GirlGeeks and BringItOn/BigAmbition all trying to combat it. There isn't enough to entice young girls to veer away from standard "safe" careers and dive into the world of tech. Statistics have shown that girls do primarily better in STEM than boys up until age 16 where they branch off to choose more Medicine/Law/Teaching focused A Levels. A study by the Department of Education showed that 62% of total higher education STEM enrolments are male and in the UK, a phenomenal 74% of computer science students are male.
SXSW is a great place to meet interesting people from all over the world. One interesting person SXSW boasted was Ido Schor, co founder of CodeMonkey. Ido, from Israel, is working to eradicate that same issue a lot of us are. CodeMonkey is an interactive web game which aims to teach young children the logic behind programming, with a view that when they are older, they will already have the basic skills needed for coding, thus making it less daunting/difficult. It follows a similar trait to math and spelling games that we give to our primary school students. Check it out.
In order to teach tech-related subjects, we need to know how to learn them ourselves. "Survival in the New Knowledge Economy" with LRNGO.com (a free information exchange network - look for people in your area that can help you learn skill X) and Frederico Pistono (writer of Robots Will Take Your Job and That's OK) focused primarily on this.
This session flowed like a group conversation with a lot of passionate people dipping in and out of the chat with their views. The common point made was that online education is all well and good (and yes, it is bountiful) but people want to learn with someone who can guide and give a helping hand. We all know how hard it is to sit down & fully focus on soaking up a new skill by yourself. But with an "information exchange", we are able to focus and hone our attention.
LRNGO.com founder David Brake made the point that "By the time you've learnt a topic and become versed in it, it's obsolete". In this industry, which transforms every day, it's impossible to keep up with trends if we don't bend to what is required of us.
This is why I believe we need all of the learning initiatives we have here in NI/Ireland. They are what will be our saving grace in the future. If we provide a place for kids to learn tech-related subjects & constantly maintain that learning space for adults through Bash, BelfastRuby, Women Who Code Belfast, Refresh, BelTech (and many more), then our next generation will be just what we need.
Forward thinking and completely aware of what they can do in this lucrative industry. Here's to them!