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CodeGirls has graduated its third cohort in a ceremony held on March 30th at Contour Software, Karachi. The graduation ceremony was attended by the boot camp participants, trainers, mentors, sponsors, organizers, community leaders and friends of the program.
Founder Consulnet Corporation and COO Genetech Solutions, Shamim Rajani kick-started the ceremony and shared about the new expansions in the program and the generous support of their partners. Her talk was followed by a video note from Executive Director United Global Initiative Dr. Hasnain Walji, one of the partner organizations of CodeGirls. Arifa Batool, a Quality Engineer from Atlassion, a sponsor company to CodeGirls, shared her journey as women in tech from Khairpur to Karachi and Sydney.
Two of CodeGirls alumni, Yusra and Hina shared their success stories to motivate and inspire the participants and talked about their experience of learning how to code and then finding their footing in the industry.
At the end of each cohort, participants have to work together to make group projects related to web development and they are graded based on their performance in the team project as well as class participation and individual viva. This time, the top seven project teams presented their work to the audience.
All graduating participants received their certificates and top 10 participants received a brand new laptop and a gift hamper from Miryana Organics. Trainers and mentors of the program also received a memento of thanks and certificates for their tireless work and support for this initiative.
Read More: These two women are battling the gender biased technology industry by teaching coding to young girls
The ceremony also hosted a panel discussion on Inclusion in Tech: Policies, Opportunities, and the Way Forward. The session was moderated by Founder WomenInTechPK and Co-Founder CodeGirls, Faiza Yousuf. The panelists include Jehan Ara – The Nest I/O & P@SHA, Shamim Rajani – Genetech Solutions CodeGirls, Muhammad Azam Mughal – SecureBeans, Owais Ashraf – Contour Software, Aqeel Ashraf – Contour Software, and Javeria Syed – Contour Software. The discussion revolved around creating an inclusive environment in the technology sector, strategies to diversify candidate pool and the rise of skill-based hiring.
CodeGirls is a community-funded Coding and Business Skills boot camp, designed for girls and women to learn how to code and start and run their businesses. The program is in multiple phases and is changing 220 lives every four months. The team publishes an assessment report at every graduation ceremony. The numbers tell that 126 young women were inducted in the third cohort, out of which 93 retained and graduated while 33 dropped out.
CodeGirls is currently accepting applications for Phase 1 and 2 of their program.
