Ladies Learning Code

Ottawa – Meet your Intro to Mobile mentors!

Joining us for our Intro to Mobile workshop in Ottawa tomorrow? We couldn’t continue to offer these workshops without the generous support of our volunteer lead instructor and mentors! Meet them below:

Lead Instructor:

Rebecca Putinski (@h4xnoodle | http://bexsys.com)
Agile Engineer at Xtreme Labs 

What are you passionate about?
“Developing software that is beneficial to others and fun/easy to use. Mobile and web are great mediums and I love developing for them!”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?
“I love the idea! Helping others learn this valuable skill and ensuring that the environment is a great place to learn for women is a great idea. Both roles of learner and instructor/mentor are empowering and give us the opportunity to learn more about the community. Coding should be a skill everyone has accessibility to and LLC does an amazing job.”

Meet Your Mentors:

Lydia Krupp-Hunter (@lkrupphunter)
Level 2 tech support team lead at Shopify

Mike Williamson (http://mikewilliamson.wordpress.com/)
Freelance Web Developer

What are you passionate about?
“I love by the creative expression programming allows. I am passionate about expanding my skills and getting better at it. My other passion is the Brazilian art of Capoeira Angola which I teach here in Ottawa. I love the physical challenge of playing a beautiful game and the history and culture continue to fascinate me.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?
“Ladies Learning Code is tackling an important facet of the digital divide: tonnes of women use digital technologies and precious few of them are involved with making it. Who wouldn’t want to improve that situation?”

Gabriel Castro (@gabrielcastro)
Lead Front-End Developer at Akamai

What are you passionate about?
“I’m passionate about UX and human-computer interaction. I like building things to make people’s lives easier. I’m also an avid runner. Definitely one of those crazy people running around in the winter!”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?
“Because I enjoy mentoring and I want to encourage as many people as possible to get into programming.”

Simon MacDonald (@macdonst)
Software Engineer at IBM

What are you passionate about?
“I’m passionate about mobile development. I really enjoyed working on the PhoneGap project so much so I still work on it in my spare time. I love building apps as well. I’m also passionate about good coffee. If they take away the espresso machine at work I’m quitting and of course being a Dad.I love my daughter so much which leads me to…”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?
“I firmly believe anyone can do anything they set their mind to as long as they practice. One thing I’ve noticed in my career as a software developer is that there is a dearth of women working in the field. I want my daughter to grow up knowing that she can do anything she wants to do and if I can help in some small way to bring more women into the technology fields that would be pretty awesome.”

Chris Saunders (@chris_saunders)
API & Integrations Developer at Shopify

What are you passionate about?
“Homebrewing”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?
“I really just want to teach people. Tech has already become a huge part of our society and it’s our job as technologists to help make these tools accessible to everyone.”

Brandon Brule (@brandonbrule)
Front-End Developer at bv02

What are you passionate about?
“Optimization and performance, database scalability, talking web, sharing ideas and developing better workflow. The internet in its entirety and global access to it.”

Why did you want to get involved?
“I think its great, one of the best local events I have heard of and I immediately wanted to be apart of it. I strongly believe if everyone had the ability to share their ideas creatively across the globe we could solve some of humanities greatest difficulties. The internet and web development is extremely fun and rewarding. I think the initial challenge is daunting and intimidating but I find the best way to learn is not through tutorials but conversation and real interaction. Ladies Learning Code is doing it right, the environment is perfect for learning. We are creating something from nothing, and I think thats humbling. Written lines of text render everything you’ve ever seen on the web. Very addictive, challenging and you’ll impress your friends.”

Michael Prendergast (@michaeldwp | http://michaeldwp.com)
Founder and Ruby on Rails Developer at Innovisoft

What are you passionate about?
“I’m passionate about software development, entrepreneurship, user experience design, and almost anything where one gets to be creative. I’m also interested in nutrition and general health.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?
“Because I think what LLC is doing is fantastic! Other than that, I got involved because I enjoy helping and teaching, and because I think it’s important to encourage more women to get into this space. Coding is a lot of fun, it’s one of my favourite things in the world to do, and I’m happy to help encourage it in any way that I can.”

Joshua Mark (@iamjoshuamark | http://archonic.com)
Web Application Developer & Designer at Climate Check

What are you passionate about?
“Lots of things. Rock climbing. Home brew. Proper design, user experience. BBQ. Travelling. Photography. Super Troopers.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?
“It took a long time to get where I am with coding and often think about what I would say to myself 10 years ago if I had the chance. I’ve mentored co-workers before and they say I’m a good teacher. Looks great on dat resume too. I wouldn’t mind having another reason for Shopify to hire me.”

Harry Brundage (@harrybrundage | http://harry.me)
Performance Team Lead at Shopify

What are you passionate about?
“Music, growing, programming, people”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?
“I like teaching and I really want to see more women in technology.”

Philip Karpiak (@ESWAT)
Designer & Developer at Benbria

What are you passionate about?
“Cyberpunk culture would be what I’m starting to become passionate about again. I grew up listening to industrial music and reading cyberpunk manga. Some of my friends got to work on cyberpunk properties like the Ghost Recon video game series and the movie Elysium, always sharing the cool stuff they’re working on and getting me excited about the future they envisioned, even if it was dramatized. There was a lapse when I came to Ottawa since I had to get back up-to-speed with web app work, but now I’m again trying to see how I can mesh cyberpunk with UI work and make interfaces cool-looking but still useful.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?
“I know a few people who attended and mentored at LLC that have started to encourage me to take a shot at mentoring when the right topic came up. Since I predominantly do responsive web design now it made the most sense for me to try teaching this topic to some people.
I’ve also tried to get my roommate excited enough for mobile design that she would want to learn from me. Failed that, so this is the next best thing.”

Ahmed Omran (@aomra015 | http://www.aomran.com)
Freelance Web Developer & Canada eSchool

What are you passionate about?
“I have a great interest in technology and I am passionate about education because I believe that a great education is one of the best ways to empower people and cause positive change. My belief is that technology with a foundation of sound pedagogy can not only improve but democratize education and make it more accessible to every individual in the world.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?
“There are selfish and altruistic reasons for getting involved with Ladies Learning Code. I derive pleasure from interacting with and helping people. I also learn a great deal from every teaching experience. The altruistic reason is that a small contribution to the right organization can cause positive change in the world. Ladies Learning Code is the right organization because of their mandate to empower people with technical skills in a friendly, relaxed, social and approachable environment.”

Announcing Kids Learning Code + Girls Learning Code for teens!

Girls Learning Code Presents…Mother Daughter Hack Day!

To celebrate the mothers and mother-figures in our lives, Girls Learning Code hosted a Mother-Daughter Hack Day!  This workshop celebrated the theme of family by focusing on creating a digital scrap book.  Along with the Girls Learning Code chapter lead, Ashley Lewis,  was a fabulous team of mentors including Hannah, Dileshni, Michelle, Pallak, Taylor, Jill and Christine.  Ashley put together a fantastic variety of activities that allowed learners to expand their knowledge of graphic design, photo editing, blogging, and HTML & CSS, all the while exploring their family tree in a creative way.

The first task of the day was for each duo to build a family crest, which could then be used as an avatar for their blog and was also an essential component for their digital family scrap book.  The family crest’s were composed of images, colours, phrases, words, etc. that represented each family, and were designed using the free, browser based software Pixlr.  We also used Pixlr for the next activity, which was to edit family photos and apply wild filters and various corrections.  One of the learners, (Carol age 11,) said that her favorite part of the day was “editing photos using all the cool filters in Pixlr.”  It was so fun to see all the creative changes that could be applied to old family photos.

After a full morning of photo editing, we spent the afternoon blogging with Tumblr to create “digital scrap books.”  Ashley also taught everyone how to use HTML and CSS to make their Tumblr pages look unique.  We applied the HTML changes directly through Tumblr, and used a Firefox add-on called “Edit CSS” to make changes to the CSS in the Tumblr theme.

Check out some of the amazing webpages built this weekend!

http://gradymaclean.tumblr.com/
http://girlscrackthecode.tumblr.com/
http://captainjackieawesome.tumblr.com/
http://e-c-me.tumblr.com/
http://immumstuff.tumblr.com/

A big thank you to everyone for making this day fantastic. A very “Happy Mothers Day ” to all the mothers out there!!!

We’re headed to Montreal!

Meet the Mentors of Intro to Python, Vancouver Edition!

On Saturday, May 11th we will be hosting an Introduction to Python Workshop in Vancouver!  If you’re joining us these are the amazing people who will be helping us learn all day. A huge thanks to them for volunteering their Saturday!

Lead Instructor: 

Tavis Rudd @tavisrudd

What are you passionate about? 

I’m passionate about making computers and networks more accessible, but not by dumbing them down with simple but restricted UIs. I prefer making it easier for people to start programming, to understand computers, to make them do new things and to unleash their potential for human good.

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

Our industry is unbalanced with far too few women involved.  I want to do anything I can to help correct that.

Mentors:

Duncan Lock @duncanlock

What are you passionate about?

“The web, empowering people through programming, learning & teaching.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code workshop?

“I used to teach (database development) full time and really enjoyed it – and I’ve recently run some workshops for some bio-scientist friends to help them with their bio-informatics/data processing needs (mostly in python, as it happens) – and Ladies Learning Code seemed like a great opportunity to a) do more of this and b) help out a great cause.”

Ted Hart @distribecology

What are you passionate about?

“Coding, skiing, good food, good beer, my wife, my dog and the mountains.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code workshop?

“I currently teach for Software Carpentry and I’m interested in improving my teaching skills.”

Ellie Frost @stillinbeta

What are you passionate about?

“I love to learn. I will happily spend my weekends picking up new technologies, concepts, or just trawling Wikipedia. I try to learn something from everything I do, even if it’s just “never do that again.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code workshop?

“Computers are awesome, and I love teaching people about them. I’ve heard a lot of horror stories about people being turned off of computers, math, or science due to one lousy teacher, and I’m hoping to have an opportunity to correct that.”

Kaushik Choudhary @kaushcho

What are you passionate about?

“I am passionate about using technology to improve the quality of life of all people. I love to learn new technologies as tools for solving challenging problems.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code workshop?

“I love to learn and teach. I had tons of fun being a TA during my Master’s as it allowed me an opportunity to learn and teach at the same time. To me, sharing my learning is one of the most gratifying experiences.”

Sara Dadizadeh

What are you passionate about?

“My interests are in distributed systems and large systems. I love the complex challenges that arise when trying to scale, and the elegant solutions that can be found with the right trade offs.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code workshop?

“One of my best friends is 30 and doesn’t like her job and thinking of trying computer science. She asked me, how could I know if I’ll like doing a degree? And I suddenly remembered the email from Meetup asking about mentors and thought it was the perfect opportunity for her to come. And then I thought, hey, I could actually help people
I’ve mentored for Chictech in the past and my team won first place and that was rewarding.”

Don Burks @don_burks

What are you passionate about?

“Solving problems, writing clean, elegant code, and sharing my knowledge with others in a teaching/mentoring environment.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code workshop?

“I originally saw the call for mentors for the JavaScript session, and realized it was a perfect opportunity to step forward and share my knowledge.”

Israa Elnjjar 

What are you passionate about? 

“About life, learning and new tech.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? 

“Meetup.”

Caitlin Tuba

Matt Smillie 

Girls Learning Code: HTML & CSS

Our last Girls Learning Code workshop was an exciting and action packed day at Girls Learning Code! Kathryn Barrett led a fantastic workshop that introduced the girls to some essential coding skills, with the end goal of each girl building their own web page. Kathryn led the girls through the basic steps in coding, some fun games, and a demo at the end of the day where each girl presented her finished product. Our wonderful mentors Tessa, Dileshni, Erika, and Anusha assisted Kathryn in guiding the girls through each coding activity.

The girls quickly grasped the basic functions of HTML, and before the day was even halfway over they were able to insert pictures, videos, and links into their code. During the afternoon Kathryn taught everyone how to apply CSS to their webpages, which allowed the girls to style their HTML code and make their pages look awesome!

My favorite part of the day was watching the end of day demos – it was so cool to see what amazing things the girls came up with. Many of the websites featured creative business ideas, such as a mock company that sold llamas! The girls demonstrated the links, videos, and pictures they inserted into their pages, and explained to everyone what the concept of their business/page idea was. Here’s an example of a “Cake Pop” business!

Great job, girls!

We’re headed to Edmonton!

Meet your mentors for our first-ever Intro to JavaScript workshop in Halifax!

Are you learning Intro to JavaScript at our sold-out workshop this Saturday?  We’re very excited to be bringing our workshops to this beautiful city and want to especially thank these awesome people who will spend helping us learn.

Lead Instructor: Gavin Uhma (@gavinuhma)

CTO, GoInstant 

As CTO of GoInstant, Gavin’s role is to lead the development team and create value. He’s excited by the technological challenges that the developers face on a daily basis and amazed by the entire team’s ability to evolve a complex and novel technology into such a simple product.

Before co-founding GoInstant, Gavin was the Lead Developer and Project Manager of Slightly Social, a Facebook-based social gaming start-up. Prior to Slightly Social, Gavin was a Game Developer at Techlink Entertainment.

Gavin graduated from Cape Breton University with a Bachelor of Information Technology, with a concentration in Information Management from the Shannon School of Business.

Mentors:

Jeff Andersen (@jeffandersen)

GoInstant

What are you passionate about?

I would say I’m passionate about writing applications that make things easier to do (cliché but it’s true). The thing I found when I started programming was that making things work, simplifying my life was hugely addicting.

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

Working at a local technology company I’ve seen first hand how dominated the industry is by males and want to see that change.

Mike Milner (@secretmike)

GoInstant

What are you passionate about?

We are in the midst of a data revolution. Successful companies in all industries are using data to make better decisions. Most of my career has centered on collecting, processing, and presenting data to investigate crimes. Over the past few years I’ve been turning that experience toward Business Intelligence and Data Science. Most companies have lots of data – my passion is turning that data into actionable knowledge.

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

I love helping people turn their ideas into reality. Coding is one more tool anybody can use to improve some aspect of their life.

Sreejata Chatterjee (@antiphobe)
LeadSift Inc

What are you passionate about?

Science and Logic as a whole, Computers in particular! Solving problems and Optimizing Code, work, and life. And food.

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

I believe women are meant to excel in coding, owing to their ultimate patience and attention to detail! But there are very few women in tech/who learn code, and since being able to write or understand basic code is almost like being able to communicate in the modern tech-ridden world, I would love to help more women get up to speed.

Huma Naushad

Eldis Group Halifax

What are you passionate about?

Programming.

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

Our company’s Director of e commerce told me about this program. So I want to help other ladies learn to code.

David Jellicoe

NSCC

What are you passionate about?

User interface design-UX.

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

A friend asked me to help.

Jonathan Down (@jonathandown)

Headspace Design

What are you passionate about?

Programming, AI, robots, video games.

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

To give back to the community and excite the next generation of programmers.

Connor Bell (@connorbellns)

UpMyGame

What are you passionate about?

Game, mobile dev, math, skateboarding.

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

Love to teach and pay it forward.

Susan Grandy (@susan_grandy)

LogicBay

What are you passionate about?

AI and Data Mining.

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

This seemed like an excellent opportunity to reengage with the tech community, focusing on the female gender. I also know people having signed up for workshops in the past that have been cancelled because of lack of participation or otherwise. I would like to see LLC a success in Halifax.

Gazheek Sinclair (@gazheek)
Ricky Ferris (@rickyferris)
Jon Seller

Meet your mentors for our first-ever Intro to HTML/CSS workshop in Calgary!

Are you learning Intro to HTML/CSS at our first-ever workshop in Calgary this weekend?  We’re very excited to be bringing our workshops to the city and want to especially thank these awesome people who will spend helping us learn.  A big thanks to Kylie Toh and Morgan Moe our Chapter Leads in Calgary for spearheading the effort in partnership with The Geek Chic and a special thanks to Assembly Coworking Space for hosting us in their great space!

Lead Instructor: Christina Truong (@christinatruong)

Christina Truong has been in the web industry for 5+ years. She has agency experience working for major brands such as Virgin Mobile, Bell, Home Depot, KFC and Holt Renfrew as well as freelance work with small businesses and personal websites. She has participated in the initiative to encourage more women to join the technology field by volunteering for Ladies Learning Code as a guest speaker, mentor and now as an instructor.

She can be reached on Twitter (@christinatruong) or old-fashioned email (hello[at]christinatruong.com).

What are you passionate about? “Aside from the web, shoes and food!”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “I wanted to help encourage more women to become developers.”

Mentors:

Zeynin Juma @zeynin

What are you passionate about? 

“I am passionate about technology, about learning, mentoring and helping others reach a goal. I also love robots Check out the team I helped mentor here:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/story/2013/04/06/calgary-robotics-competition.html”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? 

I code, I’m a lady and I’d love to help.

Keegan Callin 

What are you passionate about? 

Reliability.  Efficient, well designed systems.

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? 

“Curious about state of interest in internet, computers, and communications. Interested in facilitating the learning of those interested.”

Marie-Andree B.Langlois 

What are you passionate about?  

I really like mathematics, problem solving and algorithms, which is why I study cryptography.

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

I think programming is a very useful skill that a lot of people should have, I think coding classes should be more accessible, so people can experience it and see that its not as scary as it sounds.

Kalen McConnell @katokalen

What are you passionate about?

Homesteading, anything hand-made, crafting, old-time arts, interior design, web design, typography, film, local food culture, clean code.

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

Was asked if I’d help out by Rosemary, a fellow female dev

Alicia Nesbitt @MonkyRevolution

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

I believe that women need to make their presence known in the largely male-dominated computer industry.

Rosemary Sanchez @rrrosemaryyy

What are you passionate about?

I have always been passionate about learning and empowering through knowledge. At work I am enamoured whenever I learn a new coding technique or paradigm, but after hours I delve deep into figuring out how things work. I’m an avid DIYer and wouldn’t be sad if I was trapped in a library for hours on end.

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

As a female developer, I feel it is important to make programming an accessible, positive experience for those wanting to learn. Being able to support other females is especially important to me as I want them to feel as empowered as their male counterparts, as both genders can contribute a lot to this industry. It’s also a great medium for expression, learning, and building.

Justine Matsalla @justinem

What are you passionate about?

Responsive design, heavy drum and bass

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

A friends recommended it to me, and I also want to help more women get involved in the industry!

Mo Khan @mocheen

What are you passionate about?

I am super passionate about test driven development, object oriented programming and design patterns.

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

I enjoy learning, and you learn more when you teach.

William Greenwood @wltgreenwood

What are you passionate about?

I am passionate about coding. It is the first thing I think about in the morning when I wake up. It’s what I do all day. I am also very passionate about learning. As a self-confessed autodidact, I am always on the search to know and read more. I want to explore every inch of this world and unravel all its stories in the quest of knowledge.

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

When I was completing my undergraduate degree, I found the lack of women in computer science and software engineering troubling. I want to help break down these barriers that are preventing women from succeeding in these fields with the most important tool of all: education.

James Lee @leedangerous

What are you passionate about?

“I’m passionate about making things better. I think that’s why I became an engineer to start with. I love to take something, and make it more efficient, more effective. I love making data driven decisions because numbers help you clarify.

I’m also passionate about using technology to change the world for better. I love seeing technology used to make humanitarian and international development project run more effectively, or open up new possibilities in the developing world.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

I met Kylie and Morgan and they seem like awesome ladies trying to make a positive change in the tech community.  I also love mentoring, having mentored jr and sr high kids for a decade.

Tamer Salama @tamersalama

What are you passionate about?

Web, Mobile Apps / Consulting / Startups

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

I came to know them through a couple of good acquaintances. It’s a great opportunity to give back to the community.

Carrie Mah @lovely12ose

What are you passionate about?

“I am passionate about learning what’s popular in the gaming and technology industry. I like to read articles and try to keep up to date with everything as much as I can.

Ever since I was in Junior High, I always wanted to work with computers. I thought robots were cool, but learning Processing, I now feel that allowing my creativity to be expressed through something systematic like a programming language has further increased my interest with HCI.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

“I am an executive at the Computer Science Undergraduate Society and saw the e-mail that came through. My friends also encouraged me to be a part of this, and so I thought it would be fun.

I was hesitant at first as I am not the best with HTML/CSS.”

Abhinav Rastogi @abhinav_rastogi

What are you passionate about?

The dynamic nature and fluidity of how you can use html / css and come up with very innovative and interesting user interfaces and interaction design.

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

My motivation came from my sister being hesitant when she was applying for jobs as a software developer. Even though she had a degree in CS, she wasn’t comfortable with coding and working with web development.

Jodie Struthers @iversia

What are you passionate about?

“I love creative writing and making online games. I’ve been running an online world building project/collaborative writing game called Shadowlack for over a decade. It’s been an amazing experience and it’s something that I hold very dear to my heart. The community there is absolutely wonderful and I’m happy to call it my “”internet home.”"

I live and breathe the internet.

Also, if you aren’t using some sort of DVCS repository (Git, Mercurial, SVN, etc. to keep track of code changes), then you should be. There is no such thing as having “”too many”" backups.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

The idea of me being a mentor is both wonderful and terrifying. Terrifying for whom? Well… heh, heh, heh…

Stephanie Hall @stephiestylings

What are you passionate about?

Oh so many things! I love design and art. I love having the secret to the process behind my work. It’s rewarding to share the final product after putting so much love — and, I admit, frustration — into building something beautiful and satisfying.

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

I recently took a web design certificate at MRU and I caught on super fast, so I thought helping others learn would solidify everything in my brain. That, and it’s fun to meet other gals into geeky things!

Steven (Zong) Huang @apexflash

What are you passionate about?

art, cycling, coding and helping others

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? 

To make the stuff I know useful to others and hopefully get more people to take interest in computer science in general, which is my area of study.

Girls Learning Code: Double the Python, Double the Fun

This spring Girls Learning Code took a courageous leap and dove into Python…twice! That’s right, we hosted two workshops introducing girls to the awesome creative capabilities that come with learning how to program in Python. Since our Ruby workshop back in February was a great success, we knew that a Python workshop would also be met with enthusiasm, but we could have never imagined the excitement that arose. It was our most sought after workshop to date!

The first version of this workshop was lead by Python professional Juan Musleh. Juan lead the girls through a series of activities, the most popular being the MadLibs creations. The girls tried their hand at writing some comedic code and had a blast reading their final product out to the group. Their learned how to play math games with their computer and even programmed it to engage in number guessing games.

The second version of our Python workshop was lead by Rebecca Putinski and Chris Abiad, two very talented Python programmers.
Rebecca kicked off the workshop with a game that would allow the girls to understand that computers need very specific instructions in order to perform tasks. The girls got into groups and clustered around a series of tape traces on the floor. Each girl would take a turn closing their eyes and walking along the tape trail. They had to rely on their teammates to give them clear, specific instructions in order to make it from one end of the trail to the other.

Giving the workshop an artistic flare, Rebecca taught the girls how to use functions to create generative line art. The girls thoroughly enjoyed using code to create interesting graphics. Each design was so interesting that we had to take a break and browse all the great interpretations of the activity. Take a look at some of them!

Chris challenged the girls to take on a superhero persona and use Python to defeat an evil genius by deciphering his coded activity. The girls used their new skills to solve a colour matching concentration game and “saved the day”!

As always, we like to give our girls a real world perpective of the tool that we teach them. In this workshop the girls got a chance to see how people are using Python and Raspberry Pi to create cool additions to their Mindcraft experience!

The girls learned a lot and there has never been more demand for an intermediate version of a workshop then there was for this Python series. We look forward to fulfilling that need in the near future. Thank you to all the mentors, who all participated in both workshops to help the girls get the best possible learning experience. A big thanks goes out to our three talented workshop instructors! Great job everyone.

Meet your Mentors for Iphone App Development!

Lead Instructor: Tristan Roscoe (@thenewkid | http://thenewkid.ca)
App Development Lead at CSA Group- I am responsible for overseeing the design and development of all our desktop and mobile apps.

What are you passionate about?
“I love to learn. Every day after sitting at the computer for 8 hours I grab a bite to eat (I love food too) and sit down at my computer again to learn something new. Through twitter, blogs and forums I learn as much as I can about all the amazing, new and innovative products, tools, and technologies people are creating. I also love the city and everything it has to offer.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?
“Women are misrepresented in the industry, plain and simple. I think this is changing and is important for sustaining creativity and innovation. I’d like to do what I can to educate everyone that women are needed and extremely welcome.”

Rebecca Putinski (@h4xnoodle | http://bexsys.com)
Agile Engineer at Xtreme Labs – I develop cool apps

What are you passionate about?
“Developing software that is beneficial to others and fun/easy to use. Mobile and web are great mediums and I love developing for them!”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?
“I love the idea! Helping others learn this valuable skill and ensuring that the environment is a great place to learn for women is a great idea. Both roles of learner and instructor/mentor are empowering and give us the opportunity to learn more about the community. Coding should be a skill everyone has accessibility to and LLC does an amazing job.”  

Daniel Somers (@danielsomers | danielsomers.com)
Prime Restaurants – I build and maintain web applications that do analysis on sales, marketing, and accounting data

What are you passionate about?
“I like writing code that’s as functional, stateless and terse as possible. I also like the problem domain of applications that work on large data sets — the challenges that come with it are endlessly interesting to me.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?
“Heather (Payne) told me about it, and I think this kind of hands on approach to learning is a great idea — small groups of people making cool things seems like such a good way to learn.”

Audrey Kuo (@MartianMoose)
Developer at Zoocasa.com

What are you passionate about?
“Writing good software, being creative, meeting passionate people.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?
“I enjoy programming but it is even more fun to work through problems together with others.”

Steve Cosman (@scosman | shoeboxapp.com)
CEO, Founder at MyShoebox – Developer, Product Design

What are you passionate about?
“tightly integrating cloud services into many platforms, low power mobile computing (background synchronization, geofencing), mobile development (former Windows Phone PM @ Microsoft)”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?
“My friend Rebecca recommended it.”

Andrew Corway (@AndrewCorway | www.andrewcorway.com)
UX/UI Designer at Uberflip- I design the experience, interface assets, and assist with the initial front-end implementation of the designs.

What are you passionate about?
“I love simple experiences that predict and aid users in their goals. Code efficiency is one of the cornerstones of delivering great experiences.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?
“Ihaveafew friends who have done it, and I like to stay relevant within the industry.”

James Larcombe (@jameslarcombe)
iOS Developer at Xtreme Labs

What are you passionate about?
“iOS development.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?
“I feel that I bring the perspective of an iOS developer that has seen the platform evolve since 2009.”

Andrew Stevens (@andrewstevens | andxyz.com)
Freelance – Making it work on time and within budget.

What are you passionate about?
“The path of least resistance to getting something that will work, get used and is loved. I like coding. But I think practical tempers my wild coding dreams.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?
“In my youth I never volunteered it seemed, boy did I miss out. And now, thanks to ladies learning code, it’s something where I can have fun and they call it volunteering.”

Van Le (@netfunctional | www.netfunctional.com)
Founder and Mobile Application Consultant NetFunctional Inc – Van has been developing software for more than 10 years, in a variety of places. Initially focused on bioinformatics and health sciences software, she now helps customers turn their ideas for mobile apps into reality.

What are you passionate about?
“My kids, building great mobile apps and golf.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?
“I’ve found a great work life balance by having a career in IT/IS and want to share my experience, encourage and support other women.”

Ahmad Nassri (@AhmadNassri | http://ahmadnassri.com )
User Interface Development Manager at CBC/Radio-Canada

What are you passionate about?
“Web Technology in general and anything open- source. I’ve authored various open- source libraries and tools used by thousands of developers world wide, including top companies and research labs such as Yahoo, CERN (The European Organization for Nuclear Research)”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?
“a great cause to be part of. an opportunity to share knowledge and help others.”

Janette Yuen (@jnetyuen | linkedin.com/pub/janette-yuen)
Grad Student at McMaster University

What are you passionate about?
“Fun work that makes a valuable difference. Fulfilling goals… like getting a program to compile. (Best feeling ever!)”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?
“I wanted to start volunteer work again. As a woman in the tech industry, LLC’s mission resonated with me.”

Suthaharan Tharmalingam (@haran005 | http://kurinchilamp.kurinchilion.com)
Programming, Database Design and Project Management at Kurinchilion

What are you passionate about?
“Passionate about programming, Keeping up with my peers and having the opportunity to create great applications.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?
“Share the knowledge gained from my experience, to keep skills alive and to know the community.”

Bianca Sayan (www.biancasayan.com)
Self-employed

What are you passionate about?
“I’m passionate about sustainability (especially in the business sector), futurism, and web applications.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?
“My brother, Sacha, has volunteered before. Also, being a Lady, I want to support other women taking over tech.”

David Misshula (@davidmisshula | davidmisshula.com)
Self-Employed

What are you passionate about?
“I love all things technology and helping people understand it! I’m a huge advocate of taking (calculated) risks. I love to learn. I love to listen. What are you passionate about?”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?
“It is an amazing place to collaborate with others, meet amazing people and make a difference in Toronto’s technology scene.”

Dmytro Yashkir (@dyashkir | Dyashkir.com)
Instarad.io and Freelancer

What are you passionate about?
“Building, I love creating things with code”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?
“Great initiative and always really fun to help people who want to learn something you love doing yourself”

Pallak Grewal (@pallakgrewal)
Computer Engineering student at University of Toronto

What are you passionate about?
“Coding and cute animals!”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?
“I heard about LLC at work and mentored for an HTML workshop. It was an absolutely amazing experience.”

Laurie MacDougall Sookraj (@ldms)
University Health Network – I write software for hospitals to help clinicians be more efficient which allows them to offer their patients better care. I mostly build web- based applications for use within the hospital.

What are you passionate about?
“Taking broken software and making it work better, building stuff that’s useful to people and helps them to do their work more effectively. Also hammocks, cupcakes, and martinis.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?
“I had a lot of opportunities when I was growing up to learn about computers and how they work, but a lot of people didn’t get that same support, so I think it’s important to create a positive space where people feel comfortable learning new things. These are skills that should be accessible to anyone who’s willing to learn.” 

Gabriel Logan-Wright (www.bruze.com)
Director, Digital at Bruze Inc. – I’m responsible for planning, developing and deploying website and web- application projects. My team is responsible for designing and developing the front-end interactivity of the website. We also work with back- end developers to ensure that information from the front-end is being properly stored and recalled from the database.

What are you passionate about?
“Everything! Books, movies, food, music, video games, gadgets, I devour them all.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?
“This experience was highly recommended by a friend and former LLC mentor.”

Uzma Khan (@uz_rkhan)
Mobile Web App Development at Center for Global eHealth Innovation, UHN

What are you passionate about?
“I am passionate about creativity and innovation that aim towards solving problems or filling in user needs. Applying technology to develop great user experiences and making a difference in the lives of people is what makes me most happy.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?
“I have always thought that it is a great initiative and wish to be able to contribute my skills, time and talent towards this wonderful cause. I would love to see more women in tech and Ladies Learning Code is a great platform to introduce women of all ages to the exciting world of coding. It can help break barriers and also help young girls opt for further education in tech.”

“Teach the Web”: A free online course by Mozilla starting May 2nd!

Join us for Mozilla’s “Teach the Web,” a totally free, flexible and open online course which will run May 2nd-June 30th! Teach the Web is part of Mozilla’s Maker Party 2013, the second annual summer-long party Mozilla has thrown focused on Web education and digital literacy.

Don’t worry if you don’t identify as a “webmaker” or have much experience with webmaking – this course is a great primer. You can participate as much or as little as you’d like. If you’ve mentored or instructed at a Hive event or one of ours in the past or are thinking about signing up in the future, this would be a great place to start.

Find more details or sign up and get started at http://webmaker.org/teach

As a participant you will learn how to:

-teach digital literacies through making, remixing and sharing
-incorporate openness and online innovation into teaching practices
-adapt educational resources to meet your learners’ interests and needs
-receive feedback from peers on your own resources and lessons

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to the team via Twitter @mozteach or the G+ Webmaker community.

Ready for iPhone App Development?

We are really excited for our first-ever iPhone App development workshop, and there are a few things you need to set up on your computer (it needs to be a Mac!) to get you ready.

This workshop is for absolute beginners looking to get their feet with native iPhone app development, only using XML, CSS and JavaScript instead of Objective-C. The final product? A To-Do app built and personalized by you! In order for this workshop to be beginner-friendly, we will be using the Appcelerator Platform.

In order to prepare for the workshop, please do the following to prep. It’s important if you are using your work computer to be able to let IT allow for two program installations.

Click the little apple icon in the top left hand corner and select “About this Mac” and make sure it is the following:

1. Intel-based Mac
2. OS X Version 10.6.6 or higher

Install Xcode

1. If you have 10.7.4 or higher, open the “App Store” on your Mac and search for “Xcode” or click here. If you are running Snow Leopard (10.6.6), then you can download Xcode from here.

2. Download and install the Xcode app by clicking “Free” and then “Install App”

3. You must have an Apple ID to download and install, if you don’t have an Apple ID, create one. (Psst. It’s the same as your iTunes account!)

4. While you wait for it to download and install, move to Step 2.

5. After Xcode has finished installing, open it from your Applications folder

6. Click “Agree” to the Xcode License Agreements

7. After Xcode has finished installing, open it from your Applications folder

8. Click “Agree” to the Xcode License Agreements9. Click “Install” for any required System Components

10. Installation will require you to enter your Mac administrator password, this is the password you create when you first setup your Mac

11. Click “Start Using Xcode” once the installation is complete. You are now done  with Xcode. It’s now time for Titanium Studio!

Titanium Studio

1. Click here and sign up for an account, it’s free

2. You’ll receive an e-mail verification within a couple minutes, click on the first link in the email to activate your account

3. It will ask you to tak a moment and update your profile, enter your country, province and click “Update”. This will take you to https://my.appcelerator.com/

4. Under “Get Started with Titanium” click the download link for Titanium Studio Mac5. Once Titanium_Studio.dmg is finished downloading, open it and drag Titanium Studio to your Applications

6. Under Applications – Titanium Studio drag TitaniumStudio app to your dock and open it

7. Select a workspace, keep the default path and click “Use this as the default and do not ask again” checkbox

8. Select “I do have an account with Appcelerator” and click “Next”

9. Enter your user information you created on the first step

10. A “Titanium Update” prompt will appear, keep everything selected and click “Next”

11. The following screen will ask you if you would like to let Titanium Studio install NodeJS, click “Install” (if you already have NodeJS installed you can skip this step)

12. Installation will require you to enter your Mac administrator password, this is the password you create when you first setup your Mac

13. Last but not least, please download the Alloy source from GitHub, we’ll be using a bunch of examples from it.

14. Go grab a coffee or a bite to eat, when you come back you’ll be all ready for the workshop!

Meet your mentors for our first-ever Intro to HTML/CSS workshops in London!

Are you learning Intro to HTML/CSS at our first-ever workshops in London this weekend?  We’re very excited to be bringing our workshops to the Forest City and want to especially thank these awesome people who will spend helping us learn.  A big thanks to Kelly McGregor, our Chapter Lead in London for spearheading the effort and a special thanks to Big Viking Games for hosting us in their great space!

Lead Instructor: Christina Truong (@christinatruong)

Christina Truong has been in the web industry for 5+ years. She has agency experience working for major brands such as Virgin Mobile, Bell, Home Depot, KFC and Holt Renfrew as well as freelance work with small businesses and personal websites. She has participated in the initiative to encourage more women to join the technology field by volunteering for Ladies Learning Code as a guest speaker, mentor and now as an instructor.

She can be reached on Twitter (@christinatruong) or old-fashioned email (hello[at]christinatruong.com).

What are you passionate about? “Aside from the web, shoes and food!”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “I wanted to help encourage more women to become developers.”

Mentors:

Candis Bross (@candisbross)

Freelance Graphic Designer & Illustrator

What are you passionate about?

I am passionate about creating connections between people. My designs are about more than just selling a product. I believe that design is about making an emotional connection with someone who views your work. Emotion is the ultimate motivator and it’s that emotion that ultimately drives people to establish a relationship with a company and not just a product.

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

I want to help the women in my community learn to create & build on the web and fall in love with coding like I did when I was younger. Nothing is more rewarding than creating something yourself and showing it to the world.

Zoe Blair (@zoster)

Web Developer Analyst at rtraction

What are you passionate about?

Mochas!

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

The novelty of seeing that many lady coders under one roof.

Colton Hathaway (@ColtonHathaway)

Founder and Creative Director at Inner Geek Media

What are you passionate about?

I am passionate about modern design and user experience. It doesn’t matter how long it takes to develop, if there is a better way for a user to interact with my software, that needs to be implemented. I’m constantly learning about the latest trends and love tweaking those paradigms to make them even better.

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

I wanted to give back to the community. Having such a young company, I understand the importance of bringing new, talented minds into the digital space and I hope that I can help some of them get into the community.

Barb Ward (@barbwaard)

IT Developer/ Trainer at Harrison Pensa LLP

What are you passionate about?

I’m passionate about training and helping people with regards to understanding technology! I’m also passionate about coding and delivering useful applications to the end-user…

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

I want to help people learn more about coding and networking more with women in the same industry as I am!

Laura Smith (@loo_smith)

Software Engineering Intern @ Pinterest/ Student at Western University

What are you passionate about?

I am passionate about technology and innovation. I am passionate about inspiring and helping other female students to succeed in the technology industry.

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

I realize how intimidating coding can be so I would like to help women learn to code and be excited about it.

Taylor Ogram (@Tbird_1)

Founder of gatekeeper.com

Jamie Guillemette (@KiteLondon)

Technical Direction at TD Canada Trust

What are you passionate about?

Coding, Hacking, Making (ardunio / raspberry pi), Gaming and Kiteboarding

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

I enjoy teaching and mentoring.

Christina Shan (@chrstnsh)

What are you passionate about?

Learning, problem solving, innovation, intersection of business and technology, and making a difference.

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

Give back by sharing my knowledge and skills and help others discover the joy of coding.

Jessica Johnston (@jjloa)

Program Manager for CurioCity web program at Let’s Talk Science

What are you passionate about?

Science, technology, and geekery in all forms.

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

I had heard nothing but good things about them in Toronto and they shared a lot of my passion for more girls in IT. However, though I had been interested, supported on indiegogo, and promoted it when I had opportunities to present locally, I’d never had really been able to make it to Toronto for their events. So hearing they’d hit London through two different people who were trying to recruit me to mentor just made my day – of course I had to get involved!

Yulia Kovaleva (@y_kovaleva)

Web Developer at Keyframe Communications Inc.

Alison Adair (@laughliverun)

Marketing and Communication at Western Continuing Studies

What are you passionate about?

Photography, traveling, food, and making things more efficient.

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

Saw the tweets and heard the buzz, thought it was a great idea. A colleague asked if I could help.

Dwight Follick (@dwighticus)

Freelance Senior Web Developer

What are you passionate about?

Creating things, startups & tech communities.

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

Sounds like a great and needed initiative.

Jamieson Roberts (@BlacklightJDR)

What are you passionate about?

Aesthetics and user experience. Nothing bothers me more than a well programmed website that is un-usable from a users perspective and doesn’t perform well and aesthetically pleasing on all devices.

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

I believe that programming of all languages is one of the critical skills of 21st century. We need to educate people of all genders in these skills, but as there is still a male dominant workforce in programming, targeted programs like LLC are a brilliant way of equalling the playing field!

Carolyn Marshall
Denise Spiessens
Rachel Fee
Jon Pilon

Whoa, Halifax!

This post was written by Ladies Learning Code Halifax Chapter Lead, Rachel Aaron. Rachel is an Investment Analyst at Innovacorp.

On Saturday, April 6th, Ladies Learning Code’s brand new Halifax Chapter hosted their very first workshop, an Intro to HTML and CSS. The turnout was incredible – the workshop sold out weeks in advance with 56 participants supported by 15 amazingly talented mentors. We spent the day packed into the Atrium at the Innovacorp Enterprise Centre with Lead Instructor, Pearl Chen. The buzz in the room was electric!

 The mentors were truly amazing – we can’t thank them enough. Ladies Learning Code workshops offer participants a unique learning experience because of the 4:1 ratio of participants to mentors. This weekend, we saw for ourselves how pivotal the mentor is in making the learning experience both fun and delightfully challenging for their group of four learners. Just like in other cities, our mentors in Halifax were the stars of the day. Each mentor worked closely with their group – they helped those who didn’t understand right away, and challenged those who were finding the material easy to grasp. They were also very encouraging to participants who wanted to try things that were a little outside the box, and helped people hack their way to creating some amazing websites. Check out the video that Global News filmed at the workshop.

Participants Nina and Astree took the stage at the end of the day to demonstrate their amazing progress. Nina created a website for her mother’s home organization business, and Astree used the Ladies Learning Code workshop to design and build the website for LemonOpp, her newly-minted event planning business. It was incredible to see what participants were able to create in just a few hours.

The workshop was a success only because of the amazing support and sponsorship from the tech and startup community in Halifax. Innovacorp was indispensable, from offering their amazing venue to helping with setup and sponsorship of the event. Pearl, our volunteer Lead Instructor, traveled from Toronto to lead the workshop – thank you, Pearl! GoInstant was fantastic and sent three of their very talented developers as mentors. Graduates and students of the Dalhousie Computer Science Faculty were also on hand as mentors, and we had some incredibly talented women from NSCC, Azorus, InnovaIT, and Headspace design come in and teach our participants, among others. Check out a full list of all of our amazing mentors here.

The incredible energy and excitement around this first workshop has definitely confirmed that Halifax can do more events like this, and the Halifax Chapter of Ladies Learning Code will be organizing a workshop every month going forward. The next workshop will be held on May 4th in the Innovation Room at the Innovacorp Enterprise Center. Gavin Uhma, CTO of GoInstant, will teach JavaScript to a room of 40 excited beginners. Learn more or register for our May 4th Intro to JavaScript here.

Thanks again Halifax! This is just the beginning!

Back by Popular Demand…our 3D Printing workshop!

Taking place on April 6th is our second 3D printing workshop, back by crazy-popular demand. 3D printing is a hot topic right now and people are excited to see what this new technology is all about. This workshop is particularly exciting because not only will curiosities be satisfied, but participants will have a hands-on experience in the creation of their own 3D printed objects, and see how the process works from start to finish.

We would like to introduce the printing experts, and mentors for our highly anticipated 3D printing workshop!

Lead Instructors: Bi-Ying Miao and Matthew Compeau
(@hotpopfactory | http://www.hotpopfactory.com)
Hot Pop Factory

“Matt and Bi-Ying are the founders of Hot Pop Factory, a digital fashion studio based in Toronto. They use 3D printing to fabricate jewelry, creating intimate adornments for the human body. Drawing on their background in architectural design, the duo has developed a novel take on jewelry. Matt and Bi-Ying hope to use digital fabrication to disrupt the way people consume products and turn consumers into creators. As part of this mission, they offer 3D printing workshops to empower smart, young stylish women to take complete ownership of what they wear.”

3D Printing Expert: Andre Tiemann (http://printmyhouse.com)
Production at Entire Imaging Solutions

What are you passionate about? “3D Printing.”
Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “I have a few 3D printers. Plus I like anything 3D Printer related.”

3D Printing Expert: Jacob Botden (@jacobbiljo)
Controls Designer – Designing, programming and wiring industrial machines – at Athena Automation

What are you passionate about? “Electronics design, 3d printing and the Open Source Harware community.”
Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “I always look forward to opportunities to expand the 3D printing community.”

3D Printing Expert: Renae MacLeod (@Renae27 | http://renae.ca)
iT Director at Blammo Worldwide – Lone support for 20-40 people

What are you passionate about? “Technology.”
Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “I enjoy helping others especially when they are eager to learn about technology.”

3D Printing Expert: Adam Plavins
Electrician

What are you passionate about? “3d printing,machine building, cnc,DIY, open source, and all other mad scientist skills.”
Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “Heard about Ladies Learning Code through Site 3 and the Toronto Reprap group.”

3D Printing Expert: Kyle Renwick
Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital
What are you passionate about?
What are you passionate about? “I love building stuff that is useful to people in their daily lives. I also really like skiing, trampoline and hockey.”
Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “I thought that it was a great opportunity to share my passion for creating stuff.”

3D Printing Expert: Kathryn Barrett (@kathryn_barrett)
User Experience Web Designer

What are you passionate about? “Simplistic interface design and overall user experience within web, mobile and physical environments. The development of technology and its corresponding experience has always been about taking risks and learning until something wonderful is created and I think now is the perfect time for more people to get involved and become creators. We live in such a fascinating world with such fascinating tools!.”
Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “First and foremost, to share information and knowledge. Would also love to see more women in the industry.”

3D Printing Expert: Sumant Advani
3DPhacktory – I work with clients to help bring their ideas from concepts to real life 3D prints.

What are you passionate about? “Helping spread the word about the exciting world of 3D printing and make it accessible to anyone with a good design or idea.”
Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “To help people with an interest in tech fields find something they love and encourage them to take their passions and develop them into a productive skill set.”

Meshmixer Expert: Sara Zokaei (@SaraZnotes | http://www.coroflot.com/sarazokaei)
User Experience Designer at Autodesk

What are you passionate about?  “I am passionate about designing, making and creating a well thought through user interface, a good code or a good product that works like magic!!”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?  “I recently learned about ladies learning code. My first thought was if this community was around when I was a computer math student, I probably would have benefited from the support and continued to finish the degree instead of switching paths. I was more than excited when the opportunity presented itself for me to participate and give back. Having come around full circle, this time I intend to stay.”

Meshmixer Expert: Garth Gutenberg (http://grinninggecko.com/)
Mobile, Video and WordPress team/technical lead at Postmedia

What are you passionate about? “Technology! The progress of technology, building things (out of code), the impact of technology on our lives.”
Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “My sister attended one of the sessions and spoke very highly of it. I enjoy giving back and using my expertise to help others.”

Meshmixer Expert: Ozana Gherman (@OzanaGherman | http://www.textilemuseum.ca/)
Communication + Marketing + Design at Textile Museum of Canada

What are you passionate about? “Architecture + Textiles.”
Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “Love 3D!”

Meshmixer Expert: Connie Leung (@firstandshadow| http://firstandshadow.com)
R&D, site design and development.

What are you passionate about? “A/R, wearable technologies, responsive architecture and biomimicry Oh cycling!!”
Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “I love what you guys do and help demystify technology in language and in spirit. I wish you guys were around when I was going up. What sparked my interest when I was a kid was the BBS and being a Sys/Op.”

Meshmixer Expert: Gerry Power (@gerrypower)
ZooTech Keeper for zoocasa.com and homerenovationguide.com at Rogers Ventures

What are you passionate about? “Technology, continuous learning, motorcycles, sailing and passionate people.”
Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “So happy to support people in our community that want to learn and experience technology!”

Meshmixer Expert: Eleni Alpous (@Elenithecamera | http://covetlettering.tumblr.com/)
Cossette, Graphic Designer

What are you passionate about? “Lettering, photographing everyday, Star Trek: Next Generation, Toronto, Design, Baking bread and pie, art gallery going, coffee.”
Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “I loved my first experience with LLC at last year’s 3d printing class – it opened my mind up to opportunities and possibilities. I wish I had had LLC when I was younger – it inspires me that it’s so much a part of LLC programming to reach out to young girls and provide the tools to build their imagination, confidence and digital/creative skillset.”

Meshmixer Expert: Ian Ameline
Autodesk – I am the principal engineer and technical lead for Autodesk Mudbox.

What are you passionate about? “Creating software that allows artists and sculptors to express themselves creatively without having to think technically.”
Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “Watching people learn how to use software to produce art is very instructive when it comes to designing and creating that software. This is an opportunity for me to learn as much as teach.”

Meshmixer Expert: Anna Romanovska (@anna_romanovska)
Autodesk – UX Designer

What are you passionate about? “As a designer I’m passionate about well designed experiences and making people’s lives easier.”
Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “LLC is a great opportunity to engage with diy and making community, meet new people and hopefully together explore new creative possibilities. Also to inspire and get inspired.”

Meet your mentors for our first-ever Intro to HTML/CSS workshop in Halifax!

Are you learning Intro to HTML/CSS  at our first-ever workshop in Halifax?  We’re very excited to be bringing our workshops to this beautiful city and want to especially thank these awesome people who will spend helping us learn.

Lead Instructor: Pearl Chen (@pearlchen | Google+)
From LEDs to HTML, Android hacking to micro-controllers — Pearl Chen takes on a cross-disciplinary approach to her work.

With over 8 years of professional experience in web technologies, Pearl has a body of work that ranges from Facebook campaigns for Google Chrome, microsites for Nike, and WordPress customizations for craib.com. Pearl was most recently the Research & Technology Manager at the CFC Media Lab and is now currently acting as CTO for The Hungry Veg, a startup for vegetarians that she co-founded.

Alongside her web developer work, Pearl also tackles more unusual jobs such as modifying the guts of Nintendo Wii controllers, making toys talk to her Android device, and holding electronics workshops (http://gplus.to/klab).

She can be reached on Google+ (http://klab.ca/+), on Twitter (@androidsNsheep), or old-fashioned email (pearl[at]karma-laboratory.com).

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? For my entire professional career (especially while freelancing as a web developer), I have never found myself working with another professional female developer (except once when I was involved in the hiring process). So…where are you, ladies? What scared you off? I hope Ladies Learning Code will help me answer this.

Mentors:

Leah Brown

Dalhousie University

What are you passionate about?

I’m passionate about Computer Science – I think it is a really exciting field to be in because everything is constantly developing and getting better. I am also passionate about promoting Computer Science to both women and men since I find the field is a largely overlooked and many people don’t consider it as a potential career.

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

I got involved because I think coding is a lot of fun and I like to help people!

Stephanie Creaser 

Azorus (Software Engineer)

What are you passionate about?

Creating high-quality software. Having a beautiful, user-friendly front-end is important too — first impressions matter!

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

I thought it was a great opportunity to share some of my experience, give something back, and maybe even help inspire someone.

Matt Creaser

GoInstant/SalesForce

What are you passionate about?

In my work I’m really passionate about learning new things and growing as a developer. Web development is perfect for this because of its incredible rate of advancement.

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

I thought it was a great opportunity to share some of my experience, give something back, and maybe even help inspire someone.

Jeff Andersen

GoInstant

What are you passionate about?

I would say I’m passionate about writing applications that make things easier to do (cliché but it’s true). The thing I found when I started programming was that making things work, simplifying my life was hugely addicting.

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

Working at a local technology company I’ve seen first hand how dominated the industry is by males and want to see that change.

Mei Kuan Wong

Dalhousie University

What are you passionate about?

My passion lies in solving real world problems using technology. Inline with my motto that life is lifelong learning process, my current fascination is picking up new knowledge from Coursera.com e.g. Machine Learning, Data Analytics, etc. Apart from coding, I enjoy travelling, baking and listening to music.

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

I love teaching and sharing technology with others. By getting involved with Ladies Learning Code, I am able to share my skills with other ladies in a fun setting and making new friends with like-minded folks.

Michelle McCurdy

Nova Scotia Community College

What are you passionate about?

Designing and creating !  Everything from graphics to websites to interiors.

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

As Faculty at NSCC for the school of Applied Arts & New Mediat, I noted that there are very few women involved in this trade and would like to see this turn around.

Sreejata Chatterjee (@antiphobe)

LeadSift Inc

What are you passionate about?

Science and Logic as a whole, Computers in particular! Solving problems and Optimizing Code, work, and life. And food.

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

I believe women are meant to excel in coding, owing to their ultimate patience and attention to detail! But there are very few women in tech/who learn code, and since being able to write or understand basic code is almost like being able to communicate in the modern tech-ridden world, I would love to help more women get up to speed.

Melissa Anez

The Islandora Project – UPEI

What are you passionate about?

Open source, libraries, and simulation games.

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

Mentorship played a huge role in getting me to where I am in my education and career. LLC sounds like a great opportunity to pay some of that forward and to help other women discover the opportunities that a little coding experience can open up.

Mary Elizabeth O’Toole (@MEOToole)

InnovaIT Web Services

What are you passionate about?

I am passionate about Adult Education, portfolio learning, and helping people to integrate technolgy tools to meet business and and educational objectives.

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

I love the idea of affordable workshops that offer a collaborative and supportive environment for learning technology skills – and ways to use technology and community to support personal and business development.

Mike Milner (@secretmike)

GoInstant

What are you passionate about?

We are in the midst of a data revolution. Successful companies in all industries are using data to make better decisions. Most of my career has centered on collecting, processing, and presenting data to investigate crimes. Over the past few years I’ve been turning that experience toward Business Intelligence and Data Science. Most companies have lots of data – my passion is turning that data into actionable knowledge.

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code?

I love helping people turn their ideas into reality. Coding is one more tool anybody can use to improve some aspect of their life.

Jonathan Seller

Software Developer

Gavin Uhma

CTO, GoInstant

Gazheek Sinclair
Ozge Yeloglu

Girls Learning Code March Break Camp – What a week it was

It’s been just about a week since we wrapped up our second ever March Break camp for girls. Time to take a look back at our last few days of camp and, of course, show off all of the awesome final projects just in case you missed Demo Day or want to re-live this inspiring week with us!

First, if you haven’t already, catch up and take a look at our first couple days of camp here. You can also check out what Google had to say about our visit on Tuesday here. Now, let’s dive into the rest of the week!

Wednesday morning started with an enlightening panel discussion about how multimedia can be used to send a message tot he public.  The girls even got to pitch their own ideas to the panel and get specific advice about how they can start making their dreams a reality.

We then got settled in for a lesson in logo design, lead by the very talented Kaitlin Bos. After a quick chat about the fundamentals and history of logo design, the girls got into their groups and started sketching and prototyping logo concepts to reflect on their team’s cause (which they decided earlier in the week). After narrowing their ideas down they presented the logo designs to a panel of logo experts who helped them perfect the designs before heading back over to the computer room and getting those logos digitized and ready for print, using free photo editing software GIMP. Once completed, we printed the logos on to special iron-on paper and transferred them onto white t-shirts for the girls to take home!

In the afternoon we got a visit from the producer and one of the stars on the hit interactive web series, Ruby Skye PI. The girls gathered around for a viewing of the second season and solved mysteries, along with the main character Ruby Skye, by using cell phones and the internet throughout the episodes to solve puzzles and text for clues. This was a big hit with the girls and they really enjoyed watching along and gathering clues together.

Thursday started off with a talk about creating a professional looking photo series and how the girls could use these photos to communicate about their chosen topic. They spent the rest of the morning taking photos and then learning to edit them again using GIMP.

We finished off the day on Thursday creating and editing our own videos, again focusing on each teams chosen topic. The girls had a LOT of fun brainstorming ideas and acting out their videos. The finished videos were created using Mozilla Popcorn. Want to check them out? The final videos are posted on the team websites, linked at the end of this post.

Friday was Demo Day, which meant we spent most of the morning getting the final touches on the team websites and blogs.

After some practicing for a surprise flash mob performance of “Cotton Eyed Joe” we all got to work setting up for our guests. We got a huge turn out of parents and supporters and every single one of the girls got up in front of the crowd to present. Check out some of the Love Bombs, created using HTML, sent out to the parents earlier in the week inviting them out to Demo Day here, here and here.

Click the team name links below to see their final projects, a website featuring all their work:
The Megabytes
The Hyperlinks
The Polaroids
The Tripods
The Tumblrs
The Podcasts
The Pixels
The Producers

Can’t wait for the next Girls Learning Code camp? Us either! Be sure to check them out and sign up early to make sure you get a spot in one or both!

July Summer Camp: Webmaking
August Summer Camp: Inventing

Thanks again to all the amazing mentors who made this week possible. We can’t help but feel so proud and lucky to have been a part of the week. These girls are definitely going to change the world!

Girls Learning Code: Meet Your Mentors for Python!

Girls Learning Code is hosting another amazing workshop this weekend!

With the help of some fantastic mentors and instructors, Girls Learning Code will be hosting an Introduction to Python workshop. Python is a computer programming language similar to Ruby. In February Girls Learning Code held an Introduction to Ruby workshop and it was a wild success. The girls grasped the concepts of computer programming so quickly, and with such interest, that we knew we needed to learn about Python as well. Meet the mentors who will be at Python this Sunday!

Lead Instructor: Juan Musleh (@juanmusleh | http://juanmusleh.net/)
Developer at Freshbooks

Juan is Toronto’s newest software developer by day and serial hobbyist by night. Continually pushing the limits of the word “active”, Juan blends experience building software from the ground up with a drive to try every single recreational activity in existence at least once.
Having spent multiple years organizing the Canadian University Software Engineering Conference (CUSEC), she’s now immersed herself in the Toronto software development community by co-organizing the most recent edition of TechTalksTO, and volunteering for Ladies Learning Code.
Juan’s relationship with Python began during her tenure at Evertz Microsystems, and it was love at first sight. Their relationship has continued to blossom through Juan’s move to FreshBooks in Toronto, where she sings its praises to whoever will listen. She hopes that the Python workshop will not only convince the attendees that Python is amazing, but also inspire them to spend their free time tinkering with programming languages and building neat applications.

Rebecca Putinski (@h4xnoodle)
Agile Engineer at Xtreme Labs – I develop cool apps

Tell us a little about yourself!I’m passionate about developing software that is beneficial to others and fun/easy to use. Mobile and web are great mediums and I love developing for them!

Why did you get involved with Girls Learning Code?
Helping others learn valuable skills and ensuring that the environment is a great place to learn for women is a great idea. Both roles of learner and instructor/mentor are empowering and give us the opportunity to learn more about the community. Coding should be a skill everyone has accessibility to.

Ashley Lewis (@AshleyJaneLewis)
Girls Learning Code Event Producer, TIFF Workshop Facilitator

Tell us a little about yourself!With a background in fine art, she also enjoys painting, sculpting and drawing when she isn’t coding. She loves collaborating on creative projects with people of different specializations and is currently aiding in the launch of Toronto’s first mobile Children’s Museum, inspired by the late great Marshall McLuhan. She has worked and interned for companies like TIFF and CBC and is thrilled at the opportunity to add Girls Learning Code to that list. As a lady learning code herself, she is excited at the thought of passing on that passion to younger generations.

Why did you get involved with Girls Learning Code?
Girls Learning Code is an awesome organization! Seeing the girls learn skills and confidence in the realm of tech each week is really inspiring. We’re really motivating girls to be the best  that they can be, all while having fun.

Andrea Zeelie (@azeelie)
Communications Coordinator for HC Link

Tell us a little about yourself!
I love to learn! I’m really interested in finding creative ways to display and disseminate health promotion information.

Why did you get involved with Girls Learning Code?
For so many reasons, but mostly because technology can be so empowering! I wish I had access to opportunities like this when I was a girl.

Huma Zafar
Tell us a little about yourself!
I am passionate about teaching, learning, and writing code!

Why did you get involved with Girls Learning Code?
As a woman studying Computer Science, I know the importance of getting girls interested in technical fields. I want to get involved with Girls Learning Code because I believe this initiative is greatly beneficial for both young women as well as the technological industry as a whole.

Lucy Feng
RL Solutions

Tell us a little about yourself! My passion is for clean and functional user experience, and a advocate for our clients profusely…. If you were to ask me in the context of my current employment.  Life-wise, my passion lies in music. It started with piano in typical early childhood. I went to a performing arts high school, pursued biotech in university and landed in software as a professional. I picked up the guitar a few years ago and after some failed attempts to learn to play I’ve picked up enough skills to write the music and lyrics to a folk album. Recorded in my bedroom next to a noisy air conditioner last summer with my Thinkpad T-42, it’s about as close as I’ve ever been to chasing that passion. I like an audience and I have this energy that loves to come out in a performance, even if it’s just to my roommates who are trying to sleep.
Why did you get involved with Girls Learning Code? I’m not a developer but I value my limited knowledge of how programming works so very much. I think kids (of either gender) should be exposed to the kind of problem solving and critical thinking it takes to work in the tech industry.

Taya Denotter (@denotts)
Marketing Coordinator at Indigo

Tell us a little about yourself!
Two years after graduating from an intensive new media program, I’ve done everything from coordinating photo shoots, to distributing your favourite childhood cartoons around the world, to creating campaigns for your favourite bookstore. I can usually be found live-tweeting award shows and streaming Sabrina the Teenage Witch re-runs on YouTube.
Why did you get involved with Girls Learning Code?
I stumbled into the tech industry and flourished when I discovered a passion I never knew I had. I’m excited to introduce the next generation of girls to how amazing and fun technology can be!

Erika Casupanan (@erika_cas)
Account Coordinator at Media Profile

Tell us a little about yourself!
After five years of school in media studies, multimedia design and public relations, I’ve become a working girl in downtown Toronto. I work at a public relations agency and I love the fast-paced nature of my job. In my spare time I can be found crafting, volunteering and attempting to kick box.
Why did you get involved with Girls Learning Code?
I’m a young lady with a tech background, a love for volunteering and the desire to never stop learning. Girls Learning Code let’s me put my passions together while empowering young ladies in the community.

Lindsay Fry
Olive Media

Tell us a little about yourself!
Originally from the East Coast, I moved to Toronto almost seven years ago. After several years in the Salon/Spa industry I took the chance to pursue my creative passions and went back to school to study graphic and web design. Since then I have been working hard to perfect and expand my skills while working from home as a freelance designer for Olive Media.
Why did you get involved with Girls Learning Code?
I was inspired to become a Girls Learning Code mentor after the amazing experience I had attending one of the Ladies Learning Code workshops. I believe mentoring will give me a chance to share my skills in a fun and challenging environment and I am very excited to be a part of the team!

Thank you so much, mentors! See you Sunday!

Intro to JavaScript Toronto Mentors!

Are you learning JavaScript in Toronto on March 16th? You will be spending the day with these awesome people.

Lead Instructor: Christina Truong (@christinatruong | http://christinatruong.com)
Developer at Teehan+Lax

What are you passionate about? “Aside from the web, shoes and food!”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “I wanted to help encourage more women to become developers.”

Anne Thomas (@AlfalfaAnne | http://annethomasdesign.com)
Front-End Web Developer at Grip Limited

What are you passionate about? “UX Design / WordPress / Horses.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “Love the idea / Love to help / Love to meet awesome people.”

Calvin Tennant (@calvintennant | http://calvintennant.com)
Web Developer & Designer at Myplanet Digital

What are you passionate about? “Building products that enable people to work/learn more efficiently.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “To teach, present, help others.”

Brenna O’Brien (@brennaob | http://brennaobrien.com)
Front-End Web Developer at Filament Creative Inc.

What are you passionate about? “The web and the community surrounding it, and music. . . lots of music.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “I’d love to see girls and women involved in development be the norm, not the exception.”

Ryan Christiani (@Rchristiani | http://www.ryanchristiani.com)
Front-end Developer at Trioro

What are you passionate about? “I am passionate about the web and new technology, I think it is an amazing time to be on the web right now, so much is constantly changing! I am extremely passionate about learning, since graduating college and deciding to learn and pursue a career path only vaguely related to my degree, I really appreciate people constantly striving to learn more! You are never done learning and expanding your knowledge!”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “I graduated with a degree in illustration a while ago, and right out decided I wanted to work on the web. I want to get involved with Ladies Learning Code because I only wish when I was starting out there was something like this around. A large community coming together to teach and learn sounds pretty awesome. And I want to be a part of it in some way.”

Josh Matthews (@lastontheboat | http://www.joshmatthews.net/)
I write code to fix Firefox when it breaks

What are you passionate about? “Collaboration, sharing knowledge, and playing music.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “I love sharing what I know with other people, and I know how to write code.”

Thiveya Muthu (@Thiveya_Seneca | http://thiveya.com)
Paisley Products of Canada Inc. – Web designer and developer

What are you passionate about? “Graphic Design, web standard and technology”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “Exposure and involve”

Rene Vega
Senior Web Developer – Team Lead at Torstar Digital

What are you passionate about? “Supporting high profile businesses using web technologies to improve their brand presence and revenue.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “It’s key for new people that want to be successful in the Web Development field to get hands on experience with real life working situations as soon as possible. Now that I have such experience I want to give back the favor to enthusiasts eager to learn.”

Tyler Savery (@tylersavery | http://theyoungastronauts.com)
The Young Astronauts – Frontend and Backend Development, Training new employees, Client acquisition and Business Owner

What are you passionate about? “I love challenging myself with learning new things in the coding world and I love teaching people new things. I’m very strong in the web dev world but I have a strong passion for game development and app development too. Outside the programming world I like playing music, board games, and brainstorming/planning cool ideas.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “I’ve been following your progress for a long time and have had many friends mentor at your workshops. Hopefully I can get involved ”

Adrian Maurer (@adgezaza)
CBC – Mobile Software Developer – Lead on developing mobile software framework to build and launch new mobile products on.

What are you passionate about? “technology, cycling, photography, and history.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “develop further as a teacher not just a developer.”

John Wood (http://www.jwood.ca)
Sapient – Front end web development in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

What are you passionate about? “Travel, running, motorcycles, LOL cats.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “Networking, teaching experience.”

Christina Almeida
Web Developer at Flight Centre Inc.

What are you passionate about? “Reading, Watching great movies and coding ”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “I thought this would be a great way to help movtivate and mentor woman so that there will be more of us in this industry.”

R.T. Lechow (@rtlechow | http://rtlechow.com)
Artisanal Software Craftsperson at Learnhub – “I grow code!”

What are you passionate about? “Philosophy, feminism, bicycles, Free and Open-Source Software.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “Software education is broken, let’s fix it! Plus, MINASWAN: Matz is nice, and so we are nice.”

Alfred Ayache (@notrswebmaster | http://www.notoriouswebmaster.com/)
Independent Web Application Architect/Developer

What are you passionate about? “Technology serving society.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “Helping people learn technology.”