We are a busy bunch at Code First Girls! From podcasts, to blog posts, events, projects, and video content, there’s loads to help you learn more about tech, women in tech, and how you may create your own career pathway. Our latest highlights are below, but loads more when you scroll down or clickity-click on the links!
Listen up to the latest episode of our podcast.
This episode is a bit different, as we are welcoming not one, but TWO guests on the podcast! We are joined by two brilliant speakers, coaches, and educators; Lily and Alex. Lily is a bonafide West End star, and Alex is the legendary confidence coach that has supported our CFGdegree candidates through their interviews with tech companies.
Despite their backgrounds and successes, both still struggle with impostor syndrome from time to time and take a minute to share their techniques and tips for working through those dark moments.
This conversation is so fun and so encouraging! Lily has a brilliant tip about a way to focus on the positive moments, so take a big note on that one.
A conversation with Pip Jamieson, CEO and Founder of The Dots.
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of The Dots Pip Jamieson joins Anna for an in-depth conversation on her journey of starting a successful female-owned and lead tech business.
She reveals how and why she chose the name “The Dots” as well as what it’s like running a business whilst being “Delightfully Dyslexic”.
A conversation with Suzanne Janse Van Rensburg, COO at Bank of America.
Suzanne Janse Van Rensburg joins Anna for an in-depth conversation about how she has built a diversity-friendly workplace as COO at Bank of America.
A conversation with Orla Dunne, a Partner at Goldman Sachs.
Orla Dunne was recently called “the most important Goldman Sachs partner you’ve never heard of”. After this conversation, it’ll be clear why.
Orla is a passionate advocate for technology education, diversity, and inclusivity in all its forms, and her insights on the future of work and new ways to share learnings from lockdown across society are sure to inspire you. Listen to the episode below or on any podcast provider.
While we’re pretty sure that artificial intelligence isn’t going to lead to a Terminator-style apocalypse, a lot of people have a lot of questions. What is AI? What is machine learning? What’s the difference between them, and can you use the terms interchangeably? To answer these questions and give some insight on how industry is building and applying these systems we are joined by Manisha Mistry, Portfolio Director Digital Culture and Collaboration at R2 Data Labs, a part of Rolls-Royce.
Manisha’s book recommendations are: Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado-Perez, Pattern Recognition And Machine Learning by Christopher Bishop, Speech And Language Processing by Daniel Jurafsky and James H. Martin (FYI Stanford University has published a free pdf of the latest draft).
With good reason, inclusion and diversity have been on top of mind for many of us through 2020. Anna sits down with Lauren von Stackelberg, Global Head of Inclusion and Diversity at Expedia Group for an incisive conversation on the definition of D&I, ways that companies can be held to account for their public pledges, and how to interrogate hiring managers before deciding to take a job.
Lauren’s book recommendations are: Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado-Perez, So You Want to Talk About Race and Mediocre by Ijeoma Oluo and You’re Not Listening: What You’re Missing & Why it Matters by Kate Murphy. We can confirm that since recording, Lauren has crushed her reading goal for 2020.
No matter how many times you hear it, it’s still worth hearing: There is no ‘one path’ to a career in technology. In this episode, Anna is joined by Carol Johnson, IT Director at Telegraph Media Group and founder of Women In Tech Not Just Code. This episode covers Carol’s journey from a junior administrative role to leading the IT infrastructure at one of the UK’s largest media institutions.
The conversation also covers the technical and commercial challenges of running the tech side of a modern media business and the growth of demand for inclusion and diversity in business. Carol’s organisation, Women In Tech Not Just Code is a network is for women who work in technology beyond STEM and coding, for those in a technical job or a job in a technology company.
Open your fave notes app, this episode is packed with brilliant stuff. Rhona Moodly, HR Director for EMEA at Experian sat down with Anna to share her career and life journey. With a career spanning three continents, Rhona shares an insightful blend of stories and learned wisdom that we can all take something away from.
Almost everyone accepts the importance of mentoring, but so few of us actually have a mentoring relationship. How do you find a mentor? What does that relationship look like? And what does the outcome of mentoring lead to? Selina Pavan, a long-time friend of Code First Girls and senior tech leader at Bank of America joins us to share her own story and her personal passion for mentoring.
Below are some of our activities over the past year or so. Make sure to check out our YouTube channel for more content.
We have a load of projects from our classes and hackathons that you can explore plus content from past events.
We’ll also be posting here for access to upcoming hackathons and events.
Two-days of content & a special event, with loads of exciting items including our Awards Ceremony on Day Two and our first CFGdegree Graduation!
Our partner, Beazley, announced a new Hackathon challenge at Code Fest 2021. The Hack Your Carbon Footprint centred around a challenge you to build a product, app, or website that will empower employers and their employees or freelancers to slash their carbon footprint.
We joined our new partners, the software powerhouse HubSpot, for a wonderful lunchtime launch event with dozens of HubSpotters and a few members of the CFG team!
We partnered with the Financial Conduct Authority to have our CFG members take part in the Global Women’s Economic Empowerment Techsprint.
If you didn’t attend, check out our summary of our Code Fest 2020 event with links to loads of content from each day – a great way to get an intro into different tech topics.
TUI leveraged our program to hire Junior Software Developers from a cohort with 75% career switchers and 100% non-computer science backgrounds.
Commerce Tools used our programme to hire entry-level tech talent for Junior Software Engineering and Junior Site Reliability Engineering roles.
Rolls-Royce exceeded hiring targets by 150%, bringing in software engineers, data ops managers, and scrum managers, with 83% from underrepresented ethnicities and 50% first-generation university attendees.
Unilever leveraged our pipeline to place CFGdegree graduates in roles like Solutions Factory DevOps Specialist and Solutions Factory ML Ops Specialist.
The Economist’s program supported tech pipelines with 78% oversubscription, drawing a cohort of 84% beginner-level women, 69% from underrepresented ethnicities, and 44% career switchers.
Morgan Stanley used our program to hire entry-level software engineers from a cohort with 99% underrepresented ethnicities and 85% career-focused participants.
Goldman Sachs used our oversubscribed program to hire in Poland and the UK, drawing from a cohort with 63% career switchers and 44% first-generation university attendees.
Credit Suisse enhanced its employer brand and hiring pipeline by training a cohort that was 81% new to tech, 63% from underrepresented ethnicities, and 61% career switchers.
Skyscanner’s pipeline achieved a 4% year-over-year increase in women in tech roles, with 62% beginner-level participants and 85% career switchers.
Capgemini’s pilot program closed Germany’s talent gap, placing 80+ graduates globally and generating job-ready candidates for junior infrastructure admin roles.
Booking.com used our program to hire junior software engineers from a cohort with 94% underrepresented ethnicities and 50% career switchers.
