National Coding Week

Get your fingers at the ready because National Coding Week (NCW) is almost on us and if you want to be a part of the digital revolution, now is the time.

The first ever National Coding Week, sponsored by JT, takes place from 21st to 28th September and has been organised by Channel Island based Richard Rolfe and Jordan Love. It will see coding events across the UK and Channel Islands with leading industry organisations lending their support. Richard says they have been overwhelmed by the response, ‘We established this week because we’re passionate about spreading tech skills and making everyone aware of the opportunities in the industry. Considering we only started organising the event a month ago, the response has been phenomenal with support as far afield as Brussels and the European Union.’

Richard and Jordan Love run Codex DLD and during NCW they will be running a weekend Web Design course at the Guernsey Training Association. The course on Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th September is aimed at giving participants the tools, resources and confidence to build a basic website.

Jordan Love said, ‘There are lots of opportunities for young people like me to get involved in exciting careers such as web development however, there are great opportunities for older people too. What we need to do is give people the confidence to learn the new skills and offer the support and encouragement to take the first few steps.’

One of the aims of the week is to show that coding can be for everyone, and Bettina Parker-Macrae, a former lawyer, is one person who is getting behind it. Bettina is currently on the Digital Jersey industry led six month Coding Programme, ‘An awareness campaign like National Coding Week is brilliant it’s so important for people to realise that everyone can get involved. I represent mature women/mothers, and whilst in some ways it’s more challenging for me because I haven’t had the same exposure to technology as younger people, it is still something I believe in passionately.

With women under represented in the tech industry Richard Rolfe welcomed the support of coding group, Women Who Code, who will be running events in London and Belfast during the week. Sheree Atcheson, Founder of Women Who Code said, ‘We are very proud to be a part of National Coding Week because we’re all about helping women excel in tech careers. Through a week like this, we can all work on showcasing amazing tech careers and prospects to girls and women all over the UK.’

JT CEO, Graeme Millar said encouraging a range of people into the industry is essential, ‘We are over half way through a £7m investment programme to extend our fibre network in Guernsey to ensure we have a world-class and updated IT infrastructure in Guernsey. This programme will help to not only ensure our Islands’ infrastructure is future-proofed but it will be essential to the development of skills of our future workforce and local businesses alike.

‘We’re keen to see school leavers and young people considering technology and telecoms careers, but we also need people with maturity, who have experience of life and other industries. National Coding Week is a fantastic initiative which will help showcase and highlight the opportunities on offer.’

The EU estimates that by 2020 there will be up to 1.3million jobs unfilled due to the lack of relevant digital skills.

Everyone can get involved by following an online coding course for free such as those with codecademy, whilst for those in the Channel Islands with some experience in coding there is the first ever Jersey Hackathon being held at Digital Jersey. A Hackathon is essentially a coding marathon and will see teams of coders and creative coming up with ideas for a set project.

One of the organisers, Robert Dudley said although it’s not for complete beginners, if people want to come and see what it’s all about there will be opportunities, ‘We have opened it up to a variety of disciplines and so we have creative and designers involved. We can’t guarantee mentoring for those who are complete beginners, but someone with basic skills can make themselves known on the Facebook page and see if they can join a team. If you want to get a feel for what’s going and just pop in to take a look then get in touch.’

Other events for National Coding Week include events in London, Blackburn, Northern Ireland, Stoke-on-Trent and the Isle of Man.