Everyone talks about the lack of women in tech. Sure, I can’t argue with the statistics. But let’s not ignore all the awesome places where women can learn to code — oftentimes at little or no cost.
The following list includes organizations in the US as well as overseas, who are teaching women how to code. The list is broken down into three categories: intensive courses, workshops, and online learning.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE LIST
1) HACKBRIGHT ACADEMY
Website: hackbrightacademy.com
Cost: $3,000 for part-time, $15,000 for full-time
Location: San Francisco, CA
Hackbright is a female-only developer bootcamp based in San Francisco. They have both part time and full-time offerings. At Hackbright you can learn front-end web development and back-end development part time. Moreover, Hackbright has a full-time Software Engineering Fellowship that combines both front end and backend, using Python as the primary backend language. However, Hackbright’s courses will cost you a pretty penny. By far Hackbright is the most expensive option on this list.
2) ADA DEVELOPERS ACADEMY
Website: adadevelopersacademy.org
Cost: Free
Location: Seattle, WA
Ada is a long-term female-only developer academy lasting a full year. The first six months are in a full-time classroom setting, while the latter six months involve on-the-ground training.
It is a sponsor-supported initiative, with loads of big-name contributors, including Amazon, Zillow, EMC, and many others. At Ada you learn: Ruby, Rails, HTML and CSS, JavaScript, Git and Source Control. While the program is free, realize you still need to cover living expenses and any relocation fees if moving to Seattle from elsewhere.
3) GIRL DEVELOP IT (GDI)
Website: girldevelopit.com
Cost: Depends on workshop, typically ranges from free to $90
Location: 35+ chapters across the US and now in Canada
GDI offers affordable web-development classes for women (men can attend, too.) Some of their events are even free! GDI has chapters across the US, and they just keep on growing! Seriously, every time I head back to their site I see more new chapters. The GDI core curriculum is as follows: HTML + CSS (part I and II), JavaScript, Intro to Git & Github and Web Accessibility. Nonetheless, at many GDI chapters you can find additional courses on topics like WordPress, Bootstrap, and even SEO.
4) RAILS GIRLS
Website: railsgirls.com
Cost: Free
Location: Worldwide
As the name reflects, Rails Girls is a Ruby on Rails specific workshop. Their gatherings generally last one or two days. Boys can attend, but must be accompanied by a girl. Girls are given a first priority when registering. Literally the organization has events worldwide. In fact, a lot of the Rails Girls workshops don’t even take place in the US.
5) RAILSBRIDGE
Website: railsbridge.org
Cost: Free
Location: US and some countries internationally
RailsBridge is very similar to Rails Girls: it’s a free Ruby on Rails workshop, lasting one to several days in duration. I attended a RailsBridge workshop in Cambridge, Massachusetts last year. The event was entirely free including meals, beverages and even child-care. RailsBridge is for women only, but guys can if accompanied by a girl, just like Rails Girls. At the event I went to, there were a few guys in the room. But nothing close to the number of girls in the room. RailsBridge has ongoing chapters in some cities, which are similar to study groups. RailsBridge is under the umbrella Bridge Foundry umbrella.
6) CLOJURE BRIDGE
Website: clojurebridge.org
Cost: Free
Location: US & now Australia
ClojureBridge is also a part of Bridge Foundry. They follow the RailsBridge model closely, with hands-on programming, not just lectures, at their workshops. At the moment ClojureBridge offers free workshops to women. Looking ahead, they plan on expanding their reach “to ensure even more diversity above and beyond gender alone.” However, rather than teaching Ruby on Rails, ClojureBridge instructs Clojure — a programming language that targets Java virtual machine. As they explain, “Clojure is a relatively new programming language that values simplicity, expressiveness, and practicality. The simplicity of the language makes it excellent to learn if you are new to programming and a pleasure to use, either way.”
7) LADIES LEARNING CODE
Website: ladieslearningcode.com
Cost: About $50 for a workshop
Location: Cities across Canada
Ladies Learning Code is a part of Learning Labs, an organization that also has Girls Learning Code, Kids Learning Code, and other groups promoting computer education. Ladies Learning Code has in-person classes in 18 cities around Canada. Topics taught vary, but mostly focus on front-end web skills like HTML, CSS and jQuery.
8) CODE FIRST:GIRLS
Website: codefirstgirls.org.uk
Cost: Free
Location: UK
Code First:Girls is strictly in the UK. They have a few programs, but primarily Code First:Girls holds free workshops for girls at college campuses. These classes are two hours a week and last for 4-6 weeks. This past summer, they also offered a hack school for girls. (Basically, a longer-term summer program.) Moreover, Code First:Girls hosts career talks for women interested in learning how to get into the tech industry.
9) CODECHIX
Website: codechix.org
Cost: Free (or affordable)
Location: Three locations around the US (and growing)
Founded in 2009, CodeChix has three locations around the US: in the Bay Area, Madison/Milwaukee, and Seattle/Redmond. Events are either open to all or female specific. (Check the event listing in advance to make sure!) According to the website, a few of their workshop topics include: “Wikipedia’s Operations Infrastructure, Algorithms and Directed Acyclic Graphs, Mobile/Graphic Design for Engineers Workshop, Toy Robotics: My little Pleo, OpenShift Workshop, and Android Installfest & App Building 101.” Unlike other organizations on the list, CodeChix is primarily geared towards female engineers.
10) CODEBAR.IO
Website: codebar.io
Cost: Free
Location: London, Brighton and Cambridge (UK)
UK-based Codebar offers free weekly coding workshops for those under-represented in the tech industry — catering primarily to women and LGBTQ communities. Their London and Brighton events typically attract 20-30 women per week who engage in free 1:1 or 1:2 mentoring to learn HTML, CSS, and Javascript. They also have free learning material online, covering HTML, Version Control, JavaScript and Ruby.
11) WOMEN’S CODING COLLECTIVE (WCC)
Website: thewc.co
Cost: Online classes $50 a piece, in-person workshops vary from free to $50
Location: Online and in-person workshops held in Boston only
WCC offers both online and offline coding courses, which are for women exclusively. All of their online classes are two weeks in duration. They teach the following: HTML, CSS, SEO, JavaScript with jQuery, WordPress, and PHP basics. Aside from the online classes, the WCC has a thriving Boston Meetup group. These in-person WCC workshops vary from mobile app development to building a website. Oftentimes the workshops get sold-out. So, they must be pretty awesome.
12) SKILLCRUSH
Website: skillcrush.com
Cost: Varies depending on class
Location: Online
Skillcrush is entirely online learning.
Skillcrush’s primary focus is on people looking to switch career paths, or level-up in their current role, by gaining my technical knowledge. They offer two types of courses. The first being 3 month long “career blueprints.” The blueprints are: web designer, web developer, and freelance wordpress developer. Blueprints cost either 3 monthly payments of $149, or a one-time payment of $399. So, if you choose the latter, you save $48. On the other hand, their individual classes are $175 a piece. They include: UX & Web Design, HTML & CSS, JavaScript, jQuery & APIs, Intro to WP, and Ruby, Git & Sinatra. Skillcrush is about empowering all kinds of people from varying backgrounds and countries, as well as gender. While women make up the majority of their student population, about 25% of the online class takers are men.
A version of this article was originally published on Learntocodewith.me.