Sharing to Inspire

The past week has been pretty busy as usual despite my two days off, I had a lot of social commitments and although they were very fun, it’s always great getting back to my room and catching up with my personal tasks and goals.

Really evens out my desk
Original image by Dave Fayram. 

On Tuesday I spent my evening with the weekly Code First:Girls Beginners class as my role as a CF:G Ambassador. It was the final session of the semester so we were treating the participants with a social that involved 12-inch pizzas and amazing cocktails. The final session was very fun, everyone was busy doing their last minute touch-ups to their website for the CF:G national competition and I had fun helping out with any errors they had come across.

That’s one of the best things about this job – having the opportunity to assist in the problem-solving process in web development which is always, always super rewarding because the result is immediate!

Another thing that I really enjoy as part of the ambassador team was the actual recruiting to sign up to the course process. I promoted the course thoroughly on social media, hoping to inspire people with my own story and enthusiasm towards women in tech. And it worked! We managed to get 45 sign-ups which are almost double last year’s figures!

Also, during the session, one of the girls had actually told me that she decided to sign up to the course because she was inspired by how keen I was on my posts. Needless to say, I was thrilled to know that the liveliness rubs off 😉

The session reminded me of last year’s Spring session where I had taken part in the course, learned and enhanced some skills, and entered the competition! Having the alternative view on the judging panel side was interesting and listening to the meaning and intention behind people’s designs was great! 😀

If you follow me on Twitter, you probably saw the websites they had made. I was busy tweeting away on Tuesday as the competition rolled in and showcased their websites. Feel free to have a look through the amazing work these girls have made in just 8 weeks! #shefCodeFirst

The Sheffield ambassador team, instructors and some participants!
The Sheffield ambassador team, instructors and some participants!

We finished off the evening by going to a local restaurant that is known for awesome pizzas and cocktails. Which by the way, was very cheap! Only £10? Even better!

Bloo88 pizzas – definitely deserved it after all the hard work!

I really enjoyed my time with Code First again, being an ambassador allowed me to meet some more like-minded girls who have proven once again to what women are capable of (so girls, never shy away from anything that is traditionally ‘a boy thing’, because you can do it too!) I’m looking forward to next semester’s advanced course on Python and hope to see as many of the beginner’s course students there as possible 🙂

Excited to continue to share and inspire!


Many thanks to those who sent me so much love and support in the last post, you all rock my world!

15 responses to “Sharing to Inspire”

  1. aww it’s so nice to see people enjoy their work 🙂

    i hope i can land on a job that i enjoy. i’m still unemployed af right now lol but i hope my first job can give me enjoyable experience too.

    that pizza looks ….*drool* so lucky to have tasted that pizza :9

    1. I’m sure it will do! ? I wish I could’ve shared digitally with everyone ?

  2. I’m loving the involvement vibes that you’re giving off! It sounds like you’re having a lot of fun in CG:F! It’s always great when you have a lot of sign-ups on the interest list :D. Having lots of names on my club interest list (in college) definitely made my day. You’re awesome for being a positive role model who’s all about being lovely + lively! The cocktails are making me thirsty XD.

    Keep on getting involved and do share your progress ♥

    1. Thank you so much Nancy, it means a lot coming from the Queen of involvement and one of my positive role models in life in general. Woo, check out that title you got from me ?

  3. Whoo hoo! This sounds like a great way to get involved. I’m glad you were able to recruit so many people by sharing your story on social media ^^ Great job, you!

    And pizzas and cocktails? What a nice thing to have at the gathering. The photos are making it look like a super fun get-together.

    I give you kudos for being so active and involved, Pauline. I’ve not done anything like what you’re doing, and while I do slightly regret not being more involved back then, I’m more happy for you because you’re doing things you love. Keep it up, girl!

    1. You still have plenty of opportunities to get involved, T! Thank you for your kind words ??

  4. This is so awesome and it’s great seeing your involvement in the community, especially encouraging other women to learn how to code! Although I attend some meetups regularly, I don’t think I motivate or mentor enough and I really should. ?

    The liveliness totally rubs off – when you get excited and pumped, so do others!

    I’m glad this has been somewhat of a pickup after your recent slump ❤️

    1. I think you would be an AMAZING mentor Georgie ? I’ve seen your presentations (photos and tweets!) and I know you would impact and inspire a lot of females. ?

      Thank you lovely! ?

  5. Congratulations, that is really wonderful that it went so well and you were able to get so many members. I am sure that they could see that you genuinely cared about this. 😀

  6. Oh wow Python! 😮 I know that it’s similar to Java but I’ve never really worked with it. I guess that will have to change 😉

    But I’m so glad that you were able to have an impact on those girls and that you were able to do something that you enjoy. It truly makes everything worthwhile.

    1. Give it a go! It’s so much fun ?

  7. Ah, so good to hear stories like these. I also am in the tech industry, I currently work as a frontend developer. I hope there are groups or events like these here in our area. It would really help us, coding skills are really not that recognized here in our country. Which is sad because i know there are so many Filipino people (male or female) who are so good at coding and it really is a great skill to have. Congrats on a successful event! By the way I tagged you on my latest post, check it out if you want 🙂

    1. It’s such a great skill to have I agree, especially in our now tech-driven world!

  8. That’s great that you’re involved with a program like this! That’s awesome to see more women getting into tech, and good job in recruiting so many 😀 I remember seeing you tweet about each website at the competition. That must have been a great experience to help them out and then be a part of the judging panel. I hope many of them enjoyed what they learned and continue down this path!

    1. Thanks Cat, it felt so rewarding! I’m glad I can share and inspire what I love with people.

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