We have a growing list of employers excited to support DEVELOP(her) by attending office hours and networking events and ultimately, hiring the graduates. (MCWT, by the way, is on a mission to make Michigan the place to be for women in IT.) The initial class will consist of 20 women who will receive 10 weeks of training followed by early career mentorship through the Michigan Council of Women in Technology. Through the generosity of The Hagerman Foundation and TEKsystems, this program is completely free to participants. We have three incredible partners who also believe that the tech industry should reflect the diversity of our communities. DEVELOP(her) will increase the number of women in the tech industry and support them as they grow in their technical roles. Grand Circus created DEVELOP(her) because we believe the best way to change the narrative about women in tech is to take action.

I know I’m not the only one with a similar story.

I think about myself as a kid-in addition to dancing (during softball games) and singing (really anytime I could), my idea of fun was having my siblings write me math “homework.” I now do a lot of really cool things in my job and majored in something I was wholeheartedly interested in, but math and science aren’t a part of my day to day. Somewhere between high school and college, a large number of us pursue a different path whether it’s because of a lack of exposure, misinformed beliefs or not seeing any STEM sheroes. In elementary and middle school, women have just as much interest in science, math and tech as their male counterparts. For those of us who decide to pursue a career in tech, less than 50% stay in those tech roles. Women are just 25% of the computing workforce. (57% for both), but when we look at representation in tech, women aren’t equally represented. Women dominate the workforce and universities in the U.S. Let’s take a look at some stats to explain. DEVELOP(her) is an innovative program that will allow us to find, train and unleash 20 female developers into the world. On July 18, we’ll kick off DEVELOP(her), a coding bootcamp for women in the Detroit and Flint communities. Update: This blog post was written about our 2016 program.

Are there are free coding bootcamps