On Saturday, November 14, the Dayton chapter of Girl Develop It (GDI), a national organization dedicated to helping women of diverse backgrounds learn web and software development, will hold the first day of a two-day introductory class on building a website with HTML and CSS. I would tell you to click on over to their website and sign up for the class, but it filled up on the first day.
“We’re thrilled that our HTML/CSS class in November filled up within a day,” said Sara Cope, who is not only the instructor for the class but, along with Catherine Devlin, is also one of the Dayton chapter’s co-founders. “It’s great to see the community as excited about this as we are.”
And the community is definitely excited. The group held a highly successful launch party at Proto Build Bar on October 20th. And on November 2nd the group reached 200 members on its Meetup site. That’s a very large support group for women looking to move into Dayton’s growing tech industry.
Even if you weren’t one of the lucky few to get into this course, the Dayton GDI group has a lot planned for the months ahead. “Next year,” says Ms. Cope, “we’ll offer classes in both front end and back end programming as well as workshops on specific tools like WordPress. We also plan to include sessions that focus on soft skills and job hunting.”
There are other ways to get involved with the group as well. Twice a month the group hosts “Code & Coffee” get togethers at Proto Build Bar. The next one is scheduled for Saturday, December 12th, from 10am to noon and is billed as “Code & Coffee & 3D Printing!!” “This month,” the page for the event says, “we’ll be 3D printing holiday ornaments or decorations with the help of Proto’s awesome staff!” The Code & Coffee events are free and open to everyone, regardless of gender or skill level.
Ms. Cope and Ms. Devlin are also always looking for volunteers to help out with events and other initiatives. “We can’t do this without help from the community!” Ms. Cope stressed. If you are interested in becoming involved in any way, you are encouraged to reach out to the group through their Meetup webpage.
Written by Katy Bowman
