startup stories: embracing the pivot!
TRANSCRIPT
Startup Stories: Embracing the pivot
Katie Williams, M.Ed.Founder Coding & Cocktailsand RISE OF //CODE
Innovation comes from dissatisfaction with the way things are.
I am very dissatisfied with the number of women and people of color in the tech sector.
What are you dissatisfied with?Tweet me!@fiberopticnow
“If your plan is for 1 year, plant rice.”
“If your plan is for 10 years, plant trees.”
“If your plan is for 100 years, educate children”
-Confucius
All kids love tech
Everyone loves tech.
How many people actually know how technology works?
The future job growth in the tech sector is exponential.
But, the number of women who graduate with Computer Science degrees is startlingly low.
Women
Additionally, the number of people of color working in tech startups is also very low.
There is a gap between the jobs of tomorrow, and the skills we teach in school today.
There is a system of privilege that benefits white people and especially white men in tech.
How can we change this trend so all people have access to a career in tech?
Many initiatives are teaching coding online.
But, MOOCs have a 93% or higher dropout rate.
That’s why I started a grassroots initiative in the Netherlands to teach kids tech.
EMPOWERMENT
DESIGN THINKING
WE ARE NOT A SEXY APP.
We offer a variety of in-person 8-week courses.
● HTML/CSS● Circuits● Graphic Design● Videography● 3D Printing● Python● Drones
We design hands-on workshops with tangible goals
Employ university students studying tech-related fields to teach our courses to kids.
Develop rigorous teacher trainings in classroom management, pedagogy and practice.
But we realized that adults want to learn coding, too!
How did a grassroots initiative to teach kids coding spawn a sexy-networking workshop series for adults?
EMBRACETHE PIVOT
Takeaways● Find your dissatisfaction & act on it!● Test your ideas quickly.● Embrace the pivot!● You never know how your original
idea will morph & change!
Are you interested to start coding workshops in your area of the world?Email [email protected]
@fiberopticnow
**This presentation was originally a speech given at the Maastricht Week of Global Entrepreneurship in 2014 by Katie Williams
Bibliography1. "The Hour of Code Is Coming." Code.org. Web. 20 Nov. 2014. <http://www.code.org>.
2. Yang, Diyi, Tanmay Sinha, David Adamson, and Carolyn Penstein Rose. "“Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out”: Anticipating Student Dropouts in Massive Open Online Courses."
3. "Eight Charts That Put Tech Companies' Diversity Stats into Perspective." Gigaom. Web. 20 Nov. 2014. <https://gigaom.com/2014/08/21/eight-charts-that-put-tech-companies-diversity-stats-into-perspective/>.