For the entire year, I counted down the days until I would get to go into New York City every day for seven weeks and participate in the Girls Who Code Summer Immersion Program. When I first learned about the program, it sounded like a dream: I would learn how to code in Python, learn about web development, learn the basics of data science, and gain exposure to robotics, all things I had been wanting to learn for a long time. In addition, I would do it while making friends with people with similar interests to mine, and spend the Summer in NYC with them. But the day was quickly approaching, and at a certain point, I knew that it was going to be made virtual (if not cancelled). I tried to imagine what it would be like. Would I get to work with my assigned company that usually mentors the program members or have as many workshops as before? Would I gain hands-on experience? Would I still get to make friends? The truth was, when I heard the program had been shortened to two weeks long for just an hour and a half class each day, I wasn’t too optimistic. I saw that I would only learn web development using HTML/CSS/JavaScript, and I thought it was going to be a waste of time and that I should have waited a year to apply. Luckily, Girls Who Code proved me wrong. After completing the program, I feel like I’ve learned not only how to use the languages we learned , but how to think. The first week we learned the basics of HTML/CSS/Javascript, and the second week we created our own activism websites. I loved the resources that Girls Who Code used to teach some of the more difficult concepts. For example, I clearly remember playing a layout game to review Flexbox for CSS, which helped me clearly understand the capabilities and how to categorize different items so I could display them the way I want on my website. A specific coding trick that one of my teachers taught me was using “inspect element” to troubleshoot. I had used inspect element before when trying cybersecurity, but I realized that there were a lot of other uses for it when building a website. I could highlight parts of the box model to check for problems and see how to fix them. In terms of working with our sponsor company, our company, Moody’s, had two workshops prepared for us. One was a resume workshop where we were taught how to structure a perfect resume and how to explain your skills and experience in a way that shows exactly what you are good at and what you have learned. The second workshop was an AI workshop, which I thought was presented very well. It covered the basics of AI, and used the Amazon Alexa to explain applications. Because the example was something that most people were familiar with, we were able to truly understand how AI is used. We had a brainstorming session to come up with ideas and got to see some of the product’s code in action. Overall, I enjoyed the workshops and think they were executed perfectly. Finally, I want to touch on how well Girls Who Code connected the students and encouraged us to work together. Every morning, we had “Sisterhood Activities” to bond with each other, my favorite being one where we played the first few seconds of a song and had to guess what it was. However, the best activities were the small group feedback sessions where we were able to look at each other’s projects, give advice, and get to know each other. Through these short meetings, I was able to meet so many nice people, who helped me throughout the program and that I know I will stay in touch with in the future. I definitely recommend sticking with things, even if plans are changed. It was still something I looked forward to every morning and definitely would have regretted not participating in this year. I am so thankful for the skills I gained and the friendships I made.
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AuthorKatie Zelvin Archives
September 2020
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