On Codebar

Tech has a diversity problem - like it or not.

Aside from the ethics and cultural issues from the workplace itself, a lack of diversity lends itself to a very narrow-minded output. How can you reach everyone you want to reach when the product you're making has a limited point of view?

Enter Codebar. Codebar aims to grow a diverse tech industry by providing a safe, beginner-friendly (and ultimately free) workshop to get off and running with technologies ranging from HTML and CSS to Python.

It's ran by many people across the UK. It's recently opened up a group in Bournemouth, which I'm pleased to see so many ex-coursemates a) sticking in Bournemouth, and b) helping out a great cause.

I finally got round to attending my first Codebar event over at CloudFlare last month having admittedly holding off myself. I wasn't really sure if I could convey some basics to a beginner without scaring them off. But once a coach position opened up I thought I might as well go for it. Anything is better than nothing, right?

Let's get one thing out the way first - my reservations were completely unfounded. I was a coach to a couple of ladies who had been to a few events in the past and picked up enough HTML and CSS knowledge to make their first website. Aside from tripping up trying to explain some CSS shorthand (it's anything but a short process) they were asking all the right questions and, with very little prompting, got their first websites up and running.

Times have changed since making my first website, which was thankfully lost to the culling of Geocities. No fixed width table layouts here. The sites they were generating would easily land them a starting position somewhere. From there, who knows?

I've been to a couple since then across London and it's great to see how far they progress in a short amount of time.

If you're looking to get into any tech stuff but feel you're cut off from it events like Codebar exist to help you out. Take advantage, you never know what will happen. You need to be quick on the trigger when an event goes up to get a spot, but as long as you're subscribed to the local events it's not an issue. It's a great problem to see, though. The demand is there.

Not sure you'll get anything out of it? There's plenty of tutorials ready for you to try at home or work through at the event. There's coaches available to help you out if you get stuck.

But what if you're already well versed in the tech industry? Go along! There's always a need for more coaches, and there's always someone who needs to know what you know. Give one a try. I can't recommend them enough.