Imagine walking into a classroom and being the only one representing your gender. Imagine being left out of study groups purposely because of other students’ presumptions.
Angel Thomas, a freelance software developer and co-chapter leader of Girl Develop It Toledo, doesn’t have to imagine. She experienced gender prejudice while taking software development programs at both the University of Toledo and Owens Community College. “I was frequently treated like I didn’t belong in the class-—not by teachers, but by other students,” said Thomas. “For a lot of women, that would cause them to not even continue to pursue that career goal.”
Thomas is not alone in her isolation. Software programming and coding are heavily male-dominated fields. According to a 2010 National Center for Women & Information Technology report, computing occupations held by women have declined since 1991, a bad sign given that women only comprise 25 percent of the IT workforce.
Through networking, Thomas discovered Girl Develop It Detroit, the local chapter of an international nonprofit organization. Girl Develop It empowers women of all ages and backgrounds to learn how to develop software through mentorship and hands-on instruction by building confidence in women through courses such as coding and javascript.
Creating a Toledo chapter
Because Thomas has taken college courses in addition to Girl Develop It Detroit classes, her knowledge and skills were already advanced. She volunteered to become a teacher’s assistant for Girl Develop It Detroit classes. “When I realized what Girl Develop It did, I thought that would be great for Toledo: a place where women can come and learn in a welcoming environment,” said Thomas. “They can ask all the questions they want and nobody’s going to treat them like ‘That’s a stupid question.’ People feel included.”
Thomas spoke with Detroit chapter leader Erika Carlson about starting a chapter in her hometown. Carlson connected her with Lindsey Danforth, geospatial information systems specialist for the City of Toledo, who had also applied to start a Toledo chapter. Together, Thomas and Danforth became co-founders of Girl Develop It Toledo, one of 25 chapters nationwide.
“We’re breaking barriers,” said Danforth, who also took classes at the Detroit chapter. “We’re opening this door to a new world of programming.”
Classes now available
Girl Develop It Toledo is based at Seed Coworking, a contemporary office space and resource sharing community in downtown’s historic St. Clair Village. Instructors are selected by expertise; the current Toledo course has an all-inclusive fee of $80.
“It’s a very collaborative environment,” said Jon Spencer, creative director at White Label Collaborative who teaches the chapter’s current HTML/CSS course. “We definitely have quite a few students helping each other out.”
Students are not expected to have prior coding knowledge. By following two classes, students are able to apply certain coding techniques and create a live website. Doing so creates potential freelance opportunities with small local businesses.
“I think the next step in education is definitely toward having programming literacy,” Danforth said. “In the near future, everybody’s going to have to know how to code to even make it through our world because we touch technology every day.”
The next class , “Intro to HTML/CSS,” is taught by Spencer, and is April 14-15, 6pm-10pm. You can join Girl Develop It Toledo at its next “Code and Coffee” gathering Sunday, April 27 at the Black Kite Coffeeshop from 10am-1pm. $25. For more information, visit girldevelopit.com/chapters/toledo.
