Across all our offices, we engage and support initiatives that empower women and remove gender stereotypes, while encouraging more women to pursue a career in technology. One such program is the Project Program My Future, in which we are partners with IFRN. It's funded by CNPq and Petrobras, whose main objective is to promote training of technologists in analysis and software development. The project has a duration of just over a year and includes activities in schools, scholarships to two high school students, while creating demand for technology and educational development of women in the IT market.
As part of the project, Code Girl was created. It's a series of events that aims to attract women to technology, to share experiences and provide models for young people who are starting out in the IT market.
The first Code Girl took place on May 31, 2014 at the campus of IFRN in Natal. More than 200 participants from secondary and technical education and college attended lectures and mini-programming courses taught by women who already have experience in the IT field.
The morning was devoted to lectures and a brief presentation of the project by its mentor and creator, Pr. Dr. Claudia Ribeiro and Suzyanne Oliveira, one of the organizers. The lectures had as main objective to bring real experiences of the IT market for girls present at the event and inspire them.
Thoughtworks Recife was represented twice by consultants in development, Camilla Crispim and Gislene Pereira on the lecture "What you need to know about the fantastic world of programming" and a workshop in Ruby on Rails in the afternoon. During the three-hour-long workshop a small application was developed. The instructions are available here.
The consultant in business analysis, Lilian De Munno also lectured in the morning, with the theme "Deprogram the Prejudice: Women, Technology, Labour Market and You".
To close the day, the participants gathered for a coffee and a frank chat about the event, the challenges and prejudices in technology, with a focus on women's issues.
We left knowing that the second Code Girl will be in July. Due to the success of the first - with the entries closed for over a week before the event - the second will be in a larger auditorium with capacity for 500 people in IFRN.
The involvement in these kind of projects is certainly crucial for the inclusion and support of women in IT and undoubtedly a multiplier factor for women's love for technology.
Disclaimer: The statements and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Thoughtworks.