Rails Girls gets girls started with tech in Buenos Aires–with help from Engine Yard

There’s no denying that code transforms technologies and societies. It’s time that girls too get excited about coding and start cracking the web. Rails Girls gives women a first experience to coding and building things.

Buenos Aires is home to many creative souls and innovative startups. Yet here too - as in all tech-savvy cities - startups and new tech ideas are mostly run by men. It’s not that we don’t like manly ideas. Quite the contrary, actually. But we’d still like to see some girls stir the game, and that’s why Rails Girls has set out on a global quest: to create local communities for women who enjoy technology and coding. We want more girls rocking the boat. And Buenos Aires is next up in the schedule.

What goes around, comes around

In its simplicity, Rails Girls is a web development workshop for women of all ages and backgrounds. It’s a fully non-profit, back-to-the-community event where the focus is on getting hands dirty with Ruby on Rails. Originating from Helsinki, Finland, events have been held across Europe and Asia, with Buenos Aires being the first (but surely not last) event in South America.

We’re thrilled to have Engine Yard on board as a sponsor for the Buenos Aires event. In fact, Rails Girls and Engine Yard go way back. Engine Yard’s Jessica Allen (@jessicaspacekat) was a keynote speaker at the Helsinki event in late 2011 where she shared her insights on Coffeescript and 80’s pop songs. Buenos Aires might miss out on the 80’s pop songs, but thanks to Engine Yard and a trusted partner from Buenos Aires, Aycron, a software development firm that provides solutions to world´s leading companies, we get to party rock to the tune of some real web development.

RoR, UI and TLC

We’re ladies equipped with hard-core, right-down-to business attitude, but still we never forget our cute, pink, sparkling selves. That’s why the workshops always include some bubbly wine, a dash of party spirit and some reserve chocolate for emergencies.

The event itself is quite cozy: some 40 women get together for two days in order to learn how to code. Each event has a handful of Rails coaches who represent the local developer community. In small groups the girls ideate a web app they want to build, and the coaches guide them through the code step by step. There are also a few lightning talks on programming, design and the web.

Now you’re thinking: “nobody learns to code in just 2 days!”. Quite right. But the idea is just to get you started. Maybe you find a fellow Rails Girl who’d like to meetup another time to continue the project. Maybe you want to start attending more tech events. Maybe you set up a local community, like the girls in Berlin http://blog.railsgirls.com/post/21639621704/check-out-the-video-of-the-berlin-event-made-by did. That’s the idea.

We want to light a spark.

RAILS GIRLS BUENOS AIRES IN A NUTSHELL

When: June 15th & 16th Where: Buenos Aires, Argentina. Event held at Universidad de Palermo. For Whom: All ladies (and men, too) who want to learn to code with RoR Where to register: www.railsgirls.com/buenosaires After Party: open for all, details to follow Follow us on twitter: @RailsGirlsBA

Aycron

Website: http://www.aycron.com

Follow us on twitter: @aycron

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aycron

Mail: [email protected]