‘We are breaking the code to get girls in tech’ – TechGirlz aims to establish record for coding

RALEIGH – There currently isn’t a world record for number of girls coding at the same time. TechGirlz is getting ready to fix that.

This Sunday, March 30, the non-profit dedicated to getting middle school girls interested in tech careers, is hosting a nationwide challenge with coding workshops for girls in grades 5-9 at 18 locations.

Called Code Breakers and coinciding with Women’s History Month, the event aims to set two records: most girls coding at the same time in one location – and another in multiple locations.

In the Triangle, the first session at NC State University College of Engineering is already maxed out. As a result, the local chapter recently added a second location at IBM Triangle Park from 12pm-3pm.

“We are breaking the code to get girls in tech,” TechGirlz CEO and founder Tracey Welson-Rossman told WRAL TechWire.

“There is a rising tide of girls joining programs like TechGirlz because of an interest in tech, to learn new skills with their friends, or to pursue it as a lucrative and empowering future career. In Code Breakers, we hope to create a world record that can quickly be broken.”

On the day, students will participate in the Make a Website Using HTML/CSS workshop. Using a text editor and web browser, students will edit web page templates and use them to make their own website.

Welson-Rossman said she hopes the event shows strength in numbers and furthers the idea that “girls” and “tech” are synonymous.

“Ultimately, a tech career is a ticket to newly empowered economic and social status for women,” she said. “Coding is one part of the puzzle but serves as a fun entry point to the limitless world of technology careers.”