Features / django girls
Helping young women and non-binary people fall in love with coding
The internationally acclaimed Django Girls programming workshop is coming to Bristol to provide free virtual programming workshops for women and non-binary people.
The non-profit organisation is entirely volunteer-led, with hundreds of people contributing to bring more women into the world of technology through providing tools, resources and support.
Django Girls focuses on democratising technology by making web applications like Python, Django, HTML and CSS more approachable and creating resources designed with empathy.
So far the group has staged 971 events in 101 different countries, helping more than 21,000 women build their first web application.
The Bristol Django Girls workshop will be run by Eshwari Chandrashekhar, volunteer and director of software engineering at innovation scale-up Wazoku.
Eshwari has spent most of her career as a programmer and engineer and is passionate about engaging more women to work in technology.
“Django Girls is an amazing global initiative, and I’m delighted and proud to be teaching the Bristol workshop,” she said.
As director of software engineering, Eshwari has overall responsibility for developing Wazoku’s platform and is keen to encourage other women to consider technology as a career.
She continues: “It’s been hugely rewarding for me to work in tech, and I want to inspire others to do the same. When hiring developers we have been known to get 100 CVs, and just one of those will be from a woman.
“I want to reach and teach people and see this as a great way of getting the female development community to grow.”
The Bristol Django Girls workshop will be run by Eshwari Chandrashekhar, volunteer and director of software engineering at innovation scale-up Wazoku – photo: Eshwari Chandrashekhar
Wazoku’s Enterprise Innovation Platform includes idea management, open innovation, and innovation consulting services.
The platform has helped organisations such as HSBC and NASA to crowdsource ideas and innovations and connect and interact with employees, clients, and the wider world to generate fresh ideas as part of an overall innovation strategy.
The free virtual Bristol Django Girls workshop will run between 9am and 6pm on Friday and is free to participate. Attendees need no prior knowledge of coding or programming and will work through tutorials in small groups with a coach.
Participants require a laptop, a good internet connection and an enthusiasm to learn about programming. There is also a real-life drinks event at 6pm on Friday for those in Bristol.
Anyone interested in attending the online training can register via: www.djangogirls.org/en/bristol/
Main photo: Django Girls
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