This coming Saturday, I will be leading a trial in Shipley of something we are calling Code Cafe.
The idea: Introduce coding to people over the age of 18.
That’s it.
And I can hear one or two of you reading this saying “Woah there! Just for people over the age of 18?”
Well, yeah. Sorry not sorry. There are already clubs that younger people can go to: After-school Code Clubs, Coder Dojos once a month, Young Rewired State gigs. All of these are aimed at younger people. And I am involved with a lot of this locally.
What about the grown ups?
Some of the parents that comes to the Coder Dojos etc are into coding already. (And you wonder who is dragging who to these!) But increasingly, parents are coming to these sessions with their children and asking where they can learn. Outside of these sessions there’s people I am meeting who are saying “I don’t know what coding is” and “I’d like to code”.
So, let’s do something about it.
With the support of the Kirkgate Centre (particularly David Craig who has been all ears to this idea), we’ll be giving it a go this coming Saturday. We’ll be starting at half nine until midday. Whether you can do the whole thing, the first hour, the last hour, I’m not bothered. Come down and have a look.
And we’ll be up front. This isn’t a course that runs month by month. We’d like to do Code Cafe monthly, but this isn’t a replacement for in-depth courses. There are plenty of those about. (And if you’re an organisation that offers those, please let me know.) This is a taster to start with. And if it goes further it’ll continue to be a taster - and also a place where others can show off what they do.
I am doing this off my own back, being paid nowt. I am doing Code Cafe to inspire people, to come and think deeper about what coding can do, and hopefully look into taking up some coding. And, again, the Kirkgate Centre are helping make this starter free to attend.
We’re aware that coding is seen as a “growth industry” and one where there is a “skills shortage”, we’re not too bothered about that. Our goal is to introduce you to coding, to inspire you to delve further.
While we’re there we’ll be all ears. We’ll also be doing a lot of learning there, to understand what people want to know.
But, come on Saturday! We’ll get you into something really simple code-wise, something you use every day: the internet. We’ll get hands-on and do some simple web page making, to get you confident. And hopefully to inspire you!
You can register (in the loosest sense) to learn over at www.studioofthings.com/codecafe. And if you fancy helping as a mentor, drop me a line at si@studioofthings.com.
I hope you’ll be there!