Category: women in computer science

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Teach girls to be brave, not perfect

Reshma Saujani is the founder of Girls Who Code, an US based organization which aims to close the gender gap in tech and to educate girls to computer science and, as the TedTalk below mentions, to bravery.

Some initiatives similar to Girls Who Code are present in Finland as well:
Rails Girls – coding camps for girls and women
Girls In Tech Helsinki – mentorship programmes and coding camps
Helsinki PyLadies – a support group to teach and learn Python
Women in Tech Finland – networking and events for women working in tech in Finland
Don’t forget University of Helsinki CS department has a network and a mentorship programme for girl students.

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Girls can code: Linda Liukas and Hello Ruby

Last week a live streaming of a TEDx CERN event titled “Breaking the Rules” was held in Physicum. Among the speakers stood out a Finnish contributor, well-known Linda Liukas. Linda is a programmer, a startupper and a champion of women in computer science. In 2010 she co-founded Rails Girls, an ongoing project to involve women with little to no experience in programming.

Listen to her talk at Slush 2014:

In 2012 she was named Digital Champion of Finland for her efforts of promoting digital culture:

In 2014, Linda successfully (over)funded a project through Kickstarter: Hello Ruby. It’s a nicely illustrated book, a “coding fairytale” (for kids aged 4-8), available in several languages. I bought my copy in Finnish last week!

Are you curious to take part in the Rails Girls bootcamps? There are plenty in Finland this fall.

(Featured image is from www.helloruby.com)