Women Who Code – Lightning Learning

On November 7, I attended an online event hosted by Women Who Code called Lightning Learning, where people could sign up to host fifteen minute presentations on any coding topic. I was incredibly nervous when I RSVP’d: I think I still lack confidence as a coder, and was thinking I’d go to the event feeling left behind, lacking vocabulary to understand even a basic level of understanding. I was pleasantly surprised though!

🔮 My thoughts before:

I was also hesitant about the nature of the event being specifically geared towards women. The coding community already feels difficult to access as a mid-twenties beginner (most people start so early!), and I already had the disparity between women / men coders lurking at the forefront of my thoughts. I was nervous about an event geared specifically towards women, because it pointed out a discrepancy that I wish didn’t exist in the first place. I did not want to feel coddled, or be made explicitly aware of an issue I already am nervous about. The event, however, did not focus on gender, but instead on providing a space to build skills. I normally don’t immediately subscribe to events that claim to empower women, because sometimes it feels like a marketing strategy, but instead of a marketing strategy this felt like a safe space meant to genuinely help women get a leg up.

The event:

The host of the event was Austin’s chapter leader, CC Yang, and she felt like such a genuine person. She started off the meeting by saying “If you feel uncomfortable in any way, please let me know: I will take you seriously!” (I typed it down word-for-word because it was so comforting). She then specified that Women Who Code is a place for women and nonbinary people to feel safe. I watched two presentations before having to leave for another meeting (each presentation went over the fifteen minute mark, but it wasn’t a big deal because the group was small to start with). At the end, I even felt confident enough to say hello to the group and say that it was my first event!

The presentations:

The first presentation, by a member named Tammy, was on UX accessibility testing. Although I had come to learn about coding topics, it was eye-opening to learn tools to test for UX. After Tammy’s presentation, viewers asked questions in Zoom chat, and other members dropped resources they thought were relevant. I loved seeing people band together to provide other resources, because it felt like a potluck of information. After Tammy’s presentation, CC did a presentation on how to handle exceptions when they come up in code. This was where I found particular interest, because, while it was a topic I hadn’t encountered much in my own coding experience, I was still able to understand what she was getting at!!!! She provided examples of exceptions in Python and C++, and I was able to interpolate some C++ syntax from my Python knowledge (I was very proud of this, because it felt like an “expert level coder skill:” I can now understand bits of languages I’m not “fluent” in, because of the problem solving skills I’ve developed from Python.

CC Did an amazing job of generalizing her presentation to fit many languages and skill levels, and her slides specified different ways to solve exceptions. A lot of what she talked about was related to the headspace you need to have with coding, and how to walk away and problem to take breaks, something all of us need to keep in mind regardless of skill level.

Final thoughts:

To be frank, this was an event I would have never attended if I had not been required to. I was interested in joining coding clubs / groups, but did not feel legitimate enough to join as a beginner. I am genuinely pleased by how well it went, and have signed up for another event on November 15, called “An Evening of Python Coding,” where people can go in and bring Python problems to talk through together. I learn well from working through problems with peers, and am excited to see how it goes!! I plan to sign up regularly for Women Who Code events, at least one every week or two, and will likely branch out to other organizations’ events, as well as in-person events, once I gain more confidence!