MOOCS - coding for beginners

MOOCS - coding for beginners

MOOCS
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MOOCS
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LEARN NEW TECH SKILLS

The CFG Massive Open Online Courses come in two forms – MOOC Sprints and MOOC Challenges. Together, our MOOCs make the perfect coding courses for beginners or those with some tech know-how!

In just 4 lessons, you’ll learn a new tech skill and get certified with our MOOC Sprints, designed to give beginners a good foundational knowledge across key tech topics including languages, problem-solving and career confidence. 

Following our Sprints, our MOOC Challenges allow you to test your knowledge and skills with a challenge, project or task with real-life examples and problem-solving.

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FREE ONLINE COURSES

Our MOOCs are 100% free and will introduce you to in-demand tech concepts and languages and other key skills.

Ran by our fantastic instructors and often co-hosted by our partner companies – our massive open online courses are available to all women across the globe!

INFO SPOT: MOOC SPRINTS & CHALLENGES

INFO SPOT: MOOC
SPRINTS &
CHALLENGES

Much like any tech role, you’ll get involved in sprints to build and ship new tech features and products. We thought the term ‘sprint’ was a fitting name for a our MOOC powerhouse learning which run  across 4 sessions focused on a key topic where you will walk away with new skills and knowledge.

Not only that, after completing a MOOC Sprint, you will have the opportunity to test your knowledge further by taking part in a MOOC Challenge linked to your Sprint topic.

Our MOOC Sprints are open to all CFG members globally and are 100% free for all participants.

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MOOC Sprints are run over 4 lessons, each being 1-hour sessions going into the detail of a key topic area. 

At the end of the 4 lessons, you’ll walk away with a deeper knowledge of a key topic and have the opportunity to test your knowledge with our MOOC Challenge – which will follow after each Sprint!

There will be a range of topics from introductions to languages, problem-solving, career pathways and more!

Each MOOC Sprint will include a session quiz a shiny certificate if completed before the deadline.

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What we love most about our new MOOC Sprints is that they are great for all CFG members – from beginners to those further along their tech journey.

Tech is an ever-evolving area, and building your knowledge base is sure to continue throughout your career. MOOC Sprints are great for those starting and wanting to learn more about a topic, or for those who have done our class or CFGdegree and want to gain additional knowledge and skills in a topic area.

AND, our MOOCs are available for all CFG members globally!

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We know that sometimes life gets in the way of a good MOOC session, so we offer a range of MOOCs with many being self-paced to learn in your own time!

This means you can watch and learn around your own schedule, in whatever time zone, accessing the video sessions and associated content to complete each MOOC Sprint. 

PLUS, when you complete the MOOC Sprint, you will receive a certificate to recognise your achievement. 

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We’re unleashing some mini hackathon vibes with our MOOC Challenges. Our MOOC Challenges will allow members to test their knowledge in a key topic area with a project or challenge to complete.

Much like a hackathon, there will be a kick-off event, time to develop your response, and a final presentation session – with this all happening over four weeks.

Challenges and projects are a great way to not only test your knowledge but also for building a portfolio and adding to your CV!

Our MOOC Challenges are open to all CFG members globally and are 100% free for all participants. If you would love to take up the challenge but don’t think you have the skillset for it, check out our related Sprints first to get yourself challenge ready!

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Each MOOC Challenge will begin with a kick-off event where the challenge statement and project will be presented. 

Usually, these will be presented by our partner companies who may be seeking solutions to real-life tech challenges and looking for tech talent to show them the way! 

Our MOOC Challenges are open to all CFG members globally!

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It is always good to challenge yourself and put new skills (or old ones!) to the test!

Our MOOC Challenges are designed to follow our MOOC Sprint topics so that those who have participated in the Sprints can then test what they have just learnt.

These challenges are open to all participants, however, our linked Sprints are here to give you all the tools and skill sets to complete.

From the kick-off date, you will have four weeks to submit your response.

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Finally, after all of your hard work, you get the opportunity to showcase your work to our partners who are your judges. Showcase all you have learned and worked on with a final presentation where one of our lucky challengers will be awarded the winner. 

The final session will take place after around four weeks of free time to complete the challenge. 

We are incredibly excited to have our partner companies involved and to see your solutions presented to the challenge.

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Problem-solving is a key skill to have in tech and being able to showcase that you have participated in MOOC Challenges will be a great booster to any CV and portfolio.

Each member that takes part and completes the MOOC Challenge will receive a certificate to confirm participation.

You’ll also have a great project to add to your portfolio and be able to add this to your GitHub, website or other pages showcasing your work!

EXCLUSIVE FESTIVE MOOCS! 🎄

Unlock a new skill this December with our flexible festive MOOCs! Kicking off on Thursday, December 5th at 6 PM, our fully self-paced Festive MOOCs offer you the freedom to learn on your terms. Gain instant access to all four lessons and quizzes—giving you the flexibility to learn at your own pace. Whether you prefer to dive in and get certified in a single day or take your time throughout the festive season, the choice is yours!

Sign up today and earn your certification before Sunday, January 5th, 2025.

Learn more about how Festive MOOCs work.

SELF-PACED LEARNING OVER CHRISTMAS
Free and open to all CFG Members​
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INTRO TO JAVASCRIPT

LESSONS RELEASED: 5TH DECEMBER @ 6PM

Upskill in JavaScript for 2025! This popular and dynamic programming language is used for web development, in web applications, game development, and loads more. It allows you to implement dynamic features on web pages that cannot be done with only HTML and CSS. Learn initial key concepts and understand more about coding how it can work across tech and businesses.

Complete before Sunday, 5th January 2025 to get certified! 🏆

Session 1: Hello World 

  • Overview of JS
  • Strings & Output
  • Constants & Debugging
  • Joining Strings

Session 2: Unleashing Variables and Numbers 

  • Data Types
  • Numbers & Input
  • Variables with let
  • Comparison Operators

Session 3: Making Decisions 

  • Conditional statement 
  • Logical Operators
  • Functions
  • Data types: Undefined and Null

Session 4: Working with Data 

  • Arrays 
  • Arrays: Push and Pop 
  • Objects 
  • Loops: For 
  • Loops: While
SELF-PACED LEARNING OVER CHRISTMAS
Free and open to all CFG Members​
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CAREER DEVELOPMENT

LESSONS RELEASED: 5TH DECEMBER @ 6PM

Empower yourself to navigate and thrive professionally in 2025 with our Career Development MOOC! Get an overview of crucial aspects of career growth, from overcoming barriers and developing essential skills to making strategic career decisions and utilising powerful tools like networking and negotiation. This course could be the first step in your journey to achieving your professional goals and advancing your career!

Complete before Sunday, 5th January 2025 to get certified! 🏆

Session 1: Introduction to career development 

  • Things you should know before embarking on your career development journey
  • Internal and external barriers to growth for women in the workplace 
  • Self-advocacy 
  • Brag docs – track your achievements and make them visible 

Session 2: Skills development 

  • Progression frameworks 
  • How to leverage your progression framework for career growth (and what to do if you don’t have one) 
  • Which technical skills should you learn? 
  • Feedback loops 

Session 3: Just keep growing 

  • Making decisions  on when it’s time to move on
  • Way to develop your career beyond promotions  
  • Pivoting your role 
  • Getting the most out of your manager 
  • Mentorship 

Session 4: Other Awesome Career Development Tools 

  • Networking 
  • Community 
  • The art of negotiation

LEARN A NEW SKILL IN JUST 4 LESSONS

Sign up to our self-paced tech taster MOOCs and learn a new skill in just 4 lessons. You’ll have 4 weeks to complete all 4 sessions and mini-quizzes to earn a certificate 🏆! From Coding and Data, to self-development, our courses are designed to fit around your schedule and are great to familiarise yourself with a new topic or as a refresher!

SELF-PACED LEARNING
Free and open to all CFG Members​
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intro to agile & scrum

LESSONS RELEASED: 8TH JANUARY @ 6PM

Agile and Scrum are transforming the way teams work and deliver value! If you’re eager to understand these powerful methodologies, this is perfect for you. Each lesson, you’ll explore different aspects of Agile and Scrum, gaining a great foundation to build upon. From comparing Agile to Waterfall and understanding Scrum benefits to diving into sprints, team roles, and ceremonies, this course covers it all. You’ll also learn to manage your Scrum projects using Jira and tackle real-life Scrum challenges. 

Complete before Wednesday, 29th January 2025 to get certified! 🏆

Session 1: Introduction to Agile and Scrum

  • Agile vs. Waterfall
  • Different Agile Frameworks
  • Benefits and features of Scrum

Session 2: Sprints, teams and ceremonies 

  • Team members involved in Scrum
  • What is a sprint
  • Scrum ‘ceremonies’ 

Session 3: Jira to manage your Scrum project 

  • Introduction to Jira
  • How to create a stories & epics
  • Boards, Filters & JQL

Session 4: Scrum in real life 

  • More Jira: Dashboards
  • Common Scrum misconceptions & challenges
  • Scrum master Day-to-Day
SELF-PACED LEARNING
Free and open to all CFG Members​
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intro to coding

LESSONS RELEASED: 8TH JANUARY @ 6PM

Coding is how we communicate with computers! If you want to dip your toe into the world of programming, this session is perfect for you.

Each lesson, you’ll get an overview of different elements of coding and a great foundation to start building upon your knowledge further. It could be the first step in your journey to getting into tech!

Complete before Wednesday, 29th January 2025 to get certified! 🏆

Session 1: What is coding and why is it important? 

  • Intro to coding
  • Compiler vs Interpreter
  • Low level vs High level programming language
  • Basic concepts of computer programming, such as variables
  • Different types of data types – Integer, Floating points (Decimals), Booleans

Session 2: Different forms of Data Structures

  • Operators in programming- +,-,*,/,%,&,|, >,<,!,~, etc
  • Strings
  • Lists or Arrays
  • Associated arrays such as Dictionary, Maps

Session 3: Control structures and Functions 

  • Conditional Statements – If, Else if and Else
  • Loops – for, while, do-while and their basic structure
  • Commonly used keywords with Loops- break, continue, pass
  • Functions

Session 4: Errors, Types of errors and Error Handling 

  • Syntax errors, logic errors, runtime errors
  • How to troubleshoot and debug code
  • Art of Pseudocode and making flowchart
  • A small taste of how to write simple programs in a programming language, such as Python
SELF-PACED LEARNING
Free and open to all CFG Members​
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intro to cvs & apps

LESSONS RELEASED: 8TH JANUARY @ 6PM

An inevitable part of any career is submitting CVs and applications for roles. For tech roles in particular, you are often expected to provide a portfolio and go through a tech assessment. Our CVs & Applications course will give you the foundational knowledge to build upon in your tech career, including how to manage Imposter Syndrome and portray your best self throughout the process.

Complete before Wednesday, 29th January 2025 to get certified! 🏆

Session 1: Introduction to CV’s : structure and formatting  

  • Why having a good CV is important 
  • How someone makes a decision on your CV
  • A general structure CV’s should follow

Session 2: How to make your CV stand out 

  • What people think will make your CV stand out 
  • Dissecting each section of a CV 
  • Personal branding and how it can provide great content for your CV 
  • Linking other content such as a portfolio, github profile

Session 3:  Navigating tech job applications 

  • Where to find and apply for tech jobs 
  • Advice on tracking your applications
  • Should you write cover letters for your applications? 

Session 4: Smashing your interview (and some other tips) 

  • How to use a brag document. 
  • How to navigate the conversation around salary

Interview processes that tech roles may have 

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LIVE MOOC SPRINTS & CHALLENGES

Join us live for our MOOC Sprints and Challenges below, all hosted live by expert instructors for four weeks, one evening a week.

*LIVE* MOOC SPRINT: GET CERTIFIED (FOR FREE!)
Free and open to all CFG Members​
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INTRO TO PYTHON

STARTS: 7th JANUARY - 28TH JANUARY @ 6pm

Python is an interpreted, object-oriented, high-level programming language with dynamic semantics. Python is commonly used for developing websites, task automation, data analysis, and data visualisation. Due to the nature of Python, it is regularly used in industries and roles such as accountants and scientists, for a variety of everyday tasks.

Session 1: Introduction to Python

LIVE Session Session: Tuesday 7th January @ 6pm (GMT)

  1. Install  Python on your machine 
  2. Why learn Python? 
  3. Hello World!
  4. Variables
  5. Conditions

Session 2: Operations in Python

LIVE Session Session: Tuesday 14th January @ 6pm (GMT)

  1. Assigning Values
  2. Comparing values
  3. Assessing Logic  

Session 3: Functions in Python

LIVE Session Session: Tuesday 21st January @ 6pm (GMT)

  1. Lambda functions
  2. Local and Global Scope
  3. Spelling checker project 

Session 4: Statements, arguments and libraries in Python

LIVE Session Session: Tuesday 28th January @ 6pm (GMT)

  1. Python Libraries 
  2. Return Statements
  3. Arguments
*LIVE* MOOC CHALLENGE
Free and open to all CFG Members​
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intro to python

STARTS: 18th february - 1st april @ 6pm

Test your knowledge with our Python Challenge sponsored by DSTL and NCF! This challenge will let you put your knowledge to the test and help you further develop your Python programming skills while gaining valuable practical experience. 

CHALLENGE SESSIONS

Tuesday 18th February @ 6PM GMT – (Kick-off event & challenge revealed)

Thursday 20th February – Project work begins for final hand on Thursday 25th March

Tuesday 1st April – Presentations from finalists

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MOOCS

FAQS

Yes, our MOOC Sprints are the perfect “coding for beginners” option.  These 100% free MOOC sessions will introduce you to in-demand tech concepts, languages, and other key skills, providing a great introduction to coding. 

MOOC Sprints will give you a great taste of key tech topics – from UX/UI to bug fixing, languages to CVs and applications. After each session, you complete a quick quiz on the topic to earn your certificate on completion.

The CFG Massive Open Online Courses come in two forms – our MOOC Sprints and our MOOC Challenges. Both are great for beginners or those with some tech knowledge and know-how! These 100% free MOOC sessions will introduce you to in-demand tech concepts, languages, and other key skills.

Our MOOC Sprints are a 1-hour session each week over four weeks and will give you a great taste of key tech topics – from UX/UI to bug fixing, languages to CVs and applications. After each session, you will need to complete a quick quiz on the topic.

These sessions are recorded and can be watched later, however, to get the most out of the sessions, we recommend attending live to take part in interactive tasks and engage with the instructors. Those who complete the MOOC Sprint within the initial time frame (usually 6 weeks) will receive a certification.

Our MOOC Challenges come after the Sprints and allow members to take part in a challenge – our mini ‘Hackathon’ to test their knowledge and skills. Both MOOC Sprints and Challenges are great for CFG members at any level – from beginner to more advanced.

Yes, all our courses are 100% free! Our MOOCs are a great place to start and sessions will introduce you to in-demand tech concepts, languages, and other key skills.

MOOC stands for Massive Open Online Courses. They are free and taught online by our friendly Code First Girls instructors. You can join them live or can catch up on-demand and they are suitable for anyone over 18+ wishing to get started in tech, or brush up on their skills.

Our MOOC Sprints are short coding courses with a 1-hour session a week, for four weeks. After the sprint, you can then choose to take part in a MOOC Challenge, – our mini ‘Hackathon’ to test your knowledge and skills. 

Other questions? Visit our knowledge base for more information.

MOOC Sprints & Challenges Web Images

BECOME A CODE FIRST GIRLS MEMBER

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TECH HIRING IN PORTUGAL

TUI leveraged our program to hire Junior Software Developers from a cohort with 75% career switchers and 100% non-computer science backgrounds.

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HIRING TECH TALENT IN GERMANY

Commerce Tools used our programme to hire entry-level tech talent for Junior Software Engineering and Junior Site Reliability Engineering roles.

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ROLLS-ROYCE HIRING IN THE USA

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.

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OPPORTUNITIES IN TECH IN INDIA

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CLASSES TO CFGDEGREE: HIRING IN INDIA

Unilever leveraged our pipeline to place CFGdegree graduates in roles like Solutions Factory DevOps Specialist and Solutions Factory ML Ops Specialist.

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TECH TALENT PIPELINES IN SINGAPORE

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.

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TRAINING TECH TALENT IN HILVERSUM

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TECH HIRING IN KRAKOW AND WARSAW

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FROM BEGINNER TO SKILLED IN HUNGARY

Morgan Stanley used our program to hire entry-level software engineers from a cohort with 99% underrepresented ethnicities and 85% career-focused participants.

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FINDING TECH TALENT IN poland

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.

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TECH TOPICS UNLOCKED IN SWITZERLAND

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.

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FINDING SOFTWARE ENGINEERS IN SPAIN

Skyscanner’s pipeline achieved a 4% year-over-year increase in women in tech roles, with 62% beginner-level participants and 85% career switchers.

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HIRING TECH TALENT IN SPAIN

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CLOSING THE TALENT GAP IN GERMANY

Capgemini’s pilot program closed Germany’s talent gap, placing 80+ graduates globally and generating job-ready candidates for junior infrastructure admin roles.

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UNLOCKING TECH TALENT IN POLAND

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ENTRY-LEVEL TALENT IN THE NETHERLANDS

Booking.com used our program to hire junior software engineers from a cohort with 94% underrepresented ethnicities and 50% career switchers.