During my year with Challenge Detroit I have many goals, including helping local nonprofits make a difference in the city, forming new personal and professional relationships and exploring the great city of Detroit. Another goal I have is to continue to learn new skills for my professional life. This month I decided to dive into the world of coding and website development. Working at Marketing Associates and consistently reading industry news, I am constantly observing the importance, power and impact of technology and the specialized skills that help set one a part from the rest in the job market. I have wanted to gain a basic understanding of coding for some time now and also basic skills to spark the motivation needed to teach myself how to develop a website.

So this month I attended a two day coding workshop conducted by Sisters Code. This local organization is dedicated to educating, empowering and enticing women to explore the world of coding and technology. Both days myself and seven other women met at Henry Ford Health Systems from 8:30am-5pm to learn the basic skills needed to build our own websites. We explored the world of html, Javascript and css, and by the end of day two we all had created a basic framework for our first website.

In addition to learning these exciting new skills, I was happy to be in such a supporting, open and empowering environment. We helped each other with each exercise and celebrated together when we completed difficult tasks (such as our first piece of Javascript). The environment for the entire two days was very relaxed and I felt empowered by the skills I gained and the people I met. The amount of women in technology careers is still significantly lacking, but with more organizations and workshops like Sisters Code women can work together to change these numbers. After completing this workshop, I am determined to build upon the skills I have gained so quickly. I hope Sisters Code and similar organizations can continue to inspire more women to feel confident to step out of their comfort zones and try something new that might change their life.

-Meagen