For the fourth year, the Canadian organization Ladies Learning Code organized a national learn to code day. This event was held in 29 cities this Saturday, September 24. In some cities, there were even several groups. In Montreal, there was a French training at Cossette and an English one at Shopify.
By voluntary contributions, all women wishing could register for the workshop and learn how to create a game in HTML and CSS. I enrolled in the workshop – but as a mentor, of course!
It had been several weeks since I stood on the lookout for new workshops organized by Ladies Learning Code because I wanted to get involved in this organization. When I saw this event advertised, I immediately registered!
The project: an interactive fiction
When I learned that the project was creating a game, I wondered what kind of game we were able to achieve with HTML and CSS! Well, it was an interactive fiction! You may have played that sort of game: “go to page 10 if you want to open the door or on page 15 if you go back home!”
I helped my apprentices create their index.html page and other ones that they would need to build their history. I taught them how to add images, links, hover effects on links…
Mentor for two law students
All day – from 10 am to 4 pm – I helped two law students to create their HTML page and write CSS. I realized that teaching someone could sometimes pose an additional challenge: how to help without giving the answer? How to formulate our response so that she could question herself and successfully find the answer on her own? I’m the kind of person to always take control of the mouse when someone asks me a question, so it was funny to refrain myself. 🙂
I loved my day. My two “students” have learned very quickly how coding works! Frankly, they very impressed me. They immediately understood that our job is to make Google searches. After 10 minutes, they already knew what to write and which words to use a search engine to find the CSS selector they needed.
In conclusion
I will continue to participate in the workshops organized by Ladies Learning Code, for sure! A lot of people told me to mentor allows us to grow and go further by transmitting our knowledge – it is true.
It was nice to work my old basic knowledge of HTML / CSS. Starting “from scratch” was a little different to what I do on a daily basis and brought some more challenges for my memory – but not that much, anyway!
I should mention that I have met extraordinary mentors who will help me acquire new knowledge – I’m glad I met them, and I wish that we keep in touch!
Social media for #llcCodeDay
Now, let’s celebrate! The CN Tower is lit up for #llcCodeDay and the 1,000+ women and men who learned code today! 💜 pic.twitter.com/rWlGSouxuw
— Melissa Sariffodeen (@melsariffodeen) 25 septembre 2016
The CN Tower was lit in purple for the occasion – I find it simply amazing. What a great recognition for women in tech in Canada!
Mentoring for National Learn To Code Day with @learningcode in #Montreal! 💪
Une photo publiée par Marie-Philippe (@girlknowstech) le
