Breaking Down Barriers to Access and Creating a Judgment-Free Space to Learn Code

When you think of the scene of a stereotypical “hackathon” you might imagine a bunch of young men sporting hoodies, their eyes glued to screens with limited conversation amongst each other. Such an intense, intimidating environment is probably not the first place you’d seek out if you wanted to learn more about technology. As a result, you might remain on the outside, excluded and uninformed.

At Girl Develop It (GDI), we have re-defined the concept of a "hackathon" to focus on creating an environment accessible, supportive, and empowering to women who are just learning to code. We focus on breaking down traditional barriers to access. And in December 2016 during CSEdweek, we did just that. With a grant from Infosys Foundation USA, we invited adult women in the Seattle area to attend our GDI Hackathon to learn more about software and coding… and 40 women showed up!

Many of them were newcomers or first-timers to hackathons, including underrepresented women traditionally left out of technology. These women enjoyed their first ever GDI Hackathon experience, built projects together, and forged relationships, both personal and professional with others from their own community

For many of our participants, the experience was both empowering and encouraging. Our hackathon attendees had never before participated in a collaborative event like this, and found it fun, exciting and challenging. By participating these women have now joined the GDI Seattle chapter (now with 3000+ members) where they can further network and continue to learn about software in a non-intimidating atmosphere. One Seattle attendee came in to sign up and said "I came because your Meetup group looked so inviting."

Another participant, in a post-event survey, shared this feedback about her favorite part of the event: "Getting to meet other developers! I'm new to the industry, so it was awesome to just have a chance to talk to other people in this space, ask questions, and work together."

GDI Hackathon organizer, Marcy Sutton, shared how her mentorship with an attendee is evolving. “Rene wants to get more heavily into accessibility. The GDI Hackathon was a great experience for all, and pivotal for some. Being exposed to GDI leaders and other members can impact career trajectories, and I see that happening with Rene. Super awesome.”

As a result of this galvanizing GDI Hackathon, barriers have indeed been broken down:

• 40 women in Seattle, who otherwise would not have had felt welcomed, enjoyed a judgment-free space to learn and exercise technical skills and meet and connect with others.
• Since the Hackathon, an additional 200 women have joined the Seattle GDI chapter, strengthening this 3000-member network even more.
• The Hackathon generated data, learnings, and tools that GDI will use to facilitate future Hackathon programming nationwide; the development of Hackathon guidelines, including informative policies and materials, is planned for future events across all 55 GDI chapters.

Since 2010, GDI has opened chapters around the US and has built strong, empowered communities in 56 cities, with 80,000+ members nationwide who are breaking down barriers and changing their lives through learning to code. We are delighted that we had this opportunity to break down barriers for 40 women in Seattle and partner with Infosys Foundation USA during CSEdweek to make our Hackathon a success.