Coding Careers for Women

Coding Careers for Women is a joint initiative between Code Institute, Education and Training Boards, Regional Skills Fora and tech employers in Ireland. It offers women who are unemployed or returning to the workforce a pathway into tech careers.

What is the Coding Careers for Women Initiative? 

The Coding Careers for Women initiative is a 12-month immersive course in full-stack software development. It is then followed by a three-month work placement with a tech employer. By offering all-female cohorts, the initiative aims to remove some barriers preventing women from considering a tech career. 

The combination of project-based learning followed by the work placement allows women to hone their skills in a professional, supportive environment where they are challenged to develop and grow in competency and confidence.

What are the outcomes? 

The outcomes have been exceptional. Most of the first cohort employed in the sector as junior developers, QA engineers and digital transformation analysts with the best tech companies in the Limerick and Clare region. Demand has been so strong that the initiative launched another two cohorts of 20+ learners in 2022.

Case Study – Siobhan Gorman

Siobhan is a Code Institute Graduate as part of the Coding Careers For Women initiative with the Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board and the Mid-West Regional Skills Forum. Siobhan had taken a career break to raise her family. However, as they are now growing to university, Siobhan decided to look for new skills. She read about the Coding Careers for Women programme; the rest is history. Read Siobhán’s story below. 

Siobhan’s Story

“Before the Coding Careers for Women course, I had taken a career break to raise my family. Then, with my children gone to Uni, I was looking for new skills and confidence to return to the workplace. 

I saw the Coding Careers for Women advertised with Limerick and Clare ETB, and I applied. I felt the word coding makes it sound more accessible to me than software development, although they mean the same thing!

If the course hadn’t mentioned targeting women, I would not have considered it. I liked the idea that the course would address the particular constraints facing women who want a tech career.

With an all-female cohort, we understood where we were all coming from with respect to the particular demands and constraints on women, especially after taking a career break or juggling looking after children and working. 

Women are very supportive, and we formed a tight-knit team who shared problems and found solutions together. We were great friends despite not having met in person at all, and everyone was very generous with their time and knowledge. I seriously couldn’t have gotten through such a tough course without the group.

I’m currently halfway through my placement with Jaguar Land Rover, which is a fantastic opportunity, and I’m learning a lot of new skills every day, which will be invaluable in entering any workplace. My ambition is to work in a company like Jaguar Land Rover in a team as a junior developer with a view to becoming a scrum master, possibly after some more experience in an Agile team.”

Learning to code

Learning software development is incredibly important for the modern workforce. Now, more than ever, businesses need software developers. The Coding Careers for Women Initiative teaches code through the Full Stack Software Development programme. The course is 100% online, and its learning management system is intuitive and easy for students to understand and use. 

The course teaches the most in-demand skills to participants, including, but not limited to, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python, and more. HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python, and more. It also allows students to choose from one of three areas to specialise in after completing the full-stack area of the course. Those areas are; e-Commerce, Predictive Analytics, or ReactJS. These three areas are in huge demand, and knowing them will make our graduates even more attractive to potential employers.