Kate brought her spark to this episode of Weird Growth. Lover of creating and driven by people and purpose.
You’ll often find her in glitter, coding or hooping outside of She Codes. Why does She Codes exist? Simple. To inspire 100,000 women by 2025. Their programs involve teaching technical skills, connecting women to career pathways, and working with fantastic partners. Their flagship program, She Codes Plus, is a six-month program that is designed to supercharge the tech career of its participants – ideal for women looking to enter, or advance in, the tech industry. They also offer one-day workshops and tutorials. Kate packed a lot of brilliant advice on this episode so strap in.
Problem
We need another million people in tech in Australia by 2025. She Codes solves both the hiring and diversity problem of the tech scene.
One big piece of advice
It never hurts to ask. Everyone is so nice. What the worst that can happen? An ignored email? And listen to you customers. Don’t be afraid to ask them what they want.
Bullets:
00:00 – Introduction
01:37 – The business Kate would start today
06:00 – How She Codes reached their first customers
07:14 – Why Kate took the leap
09:16 – Their first partnership with BHP
11:55 – What next level customer validation looks like
12:52 – The Cupcake Effect
14:07 – What we can learn from the cupcake effect
18:18 – Spacecubed turned 10 – Here are some of Kate’s highlights
20:44 – Kate’s advice for encouraging STEM
23:46 – What’s next for Kate and She Codes
24:46 – How East Coast states differ to Perth
27:20 – Be helpful first
28:17 – How Kate asks customers for feedback
Show & tell:
- Code tutorials - code.org - https://code.org/
- She Codes Website - https://shecodes.com.au/
- Slack - https://slack.com/
- HubSpot - https://www.hubspot.com/
- Kate on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-kirwin
