Coding a new generation in Edmonton

Last summer (2017) I was approached by director, Nicole Murphy, to film a short-documentary feature for STORYHIVE called Coding a New Generation in Edmonton. We filmed at Startup Edmonton during a Ladies Learning Code workshop and the film was released this past fall. You can view the video directly on Facebook, and read the transcript below.

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Video of Coding a New Generation in Edmonton

“They couldn’t be more wrong when people say that women aren’t suited for tech. Bree Emmerson of The Edmonton Chapter of Ladies Learning Code is living proof.”

Video Transcript of Coding a New Generation in Edmonton

Bree Emmerson: [00:00:03] “When I was 12 years old, my mom decided to buy our very first home computer for my brother and I, and it had something called Microsoft Front Page. So I opened up this program and it allowed me to take the code from websites and change things until I could figure out what it was doing.

So as early as the age of 12, I was making websites for myself. My very first one was a Spice Girls fan site, and then as I got older, I would make them for family members. After I graduated high school, my mom said, why don’t you go to college for that? So I ended up doing just that and getting my diploma in computer graphic design, and have been working professionally since 2006.”

Bree Emmerson: [00:00:43] “So Ladies Learning Code started in about 2012, and it’s a national organization that teaches beginner-friendly computer programming workshops. It originally started with one chapter in Toronto, and in the few years it’s grown to about 36 across Canada. I found out that Ladies Learning Code, they were going to open up a chapter in Calgary. I contacted them to start this chapter in Edmonton.”

Instructor: [00:01:06] “We learned how four loops can repeat the same set of instructions, and that’s the biggest thing that a loop does. It’ll just do the same thing over and over and over again until we tell it to stop.”

Bree Emmerson: [00:01:15] “From personal experience, growing up, there wasn’t a lot of females to look up to in terms of technology. And one of the big things that I noticed was every computer science class I enrolled in, I was the only girl, if not one or two. And sometimes for some people, that can kind of stop them from learning something that they want to learn. I mean, there’s always going to be different personality types with people. One lady can walk into a room full of men, feel empowered and carry on with the day, and another lady can walk in and want to turn around and walk right back out.

So by offering beginner-friendly workshops, you open up a world that someone might not have tried before. And it’s not that we’re trying to say no men allowed. I mean, there are men in our workshops all the time. It’s more about creating an environment that anyone can feel comfortable in. And unfortunately, sometimes you have to put ‘ladies’ in the title to make sure that everybody knows that they’re welcome to be there.”

Instructor: [00:02:13] “With and we’re saying both things must be true. So, for example, if weather is cold and snowing is equal to true, then we want to wear a winter jacket.”

Bree Emmerson: [00:02:26] “So with our workshops, we usually run one a month. They’re all beginner friendly level. We do HTML and CSS, Python, Ruby. There’s a whole slew of content to do. And one of the things that I found interesting is that depending on the content we’re running, sometimes we’ve had workshops where all of the learners are women, all of the mentors are women, and then you change the computer programming we’re teaching, it becomes harder to find women to fill the volunteer roles.

Which proves the point as to why we need to do this, because we’re kind of catching up with the fact that so many people thought that this wasn’t for women.

What is awesome is that the men that do come, they just believe in this as much as we do. So we’ve never had someone come here and be condescending or anything like that. Everyone wants to be a part of this.

We’ve had some gentlemen come in and say they work in an office where there are no women, so they want to come help teach women how to code so that in the future, that’s not something that happens anymore.”

Attendee: [00:03:24] “So far, it’s been awesome. The people are great. Everyone has a really great attitude and everyone just wants to learn. And it’s been fantastic to have such a nurturing, kind of positive place to try something that originally really scared me.”

Bree Emmerson: [00:03:42] “I think if I could say anything to anybody, the biggest takeaway that I’ve had in my life is to not be afraid to take that step, even if it scares you to death. Because Lord knows I’m scared of everything and you never know what’s going to happen and what things are going to turn into. And all you have to do is reach out, and there’s usually someone there to help.”

Are you interested in learning how to code?

Since this feature originally aired, Ladies Learning Code has grown exponentially, becoming Canada Learning Code. As the organization always made virtual workshops available to those who couldn’t join in-person, pivoting during the pandemic led to more virtual learning for people of all ages across the country.

Learn more about Canada Learning Code and what courses are available in your area (or online) by visiting their website.

There are similar organizations in the UK and other countries around the world, start with your local library to see if they have free information sessions available! Or view my Learn how to code post for more DIY resources.

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