Rise, in Partnership with Barclays, is Inspiring the Next Generation of Women into Tech Roles
A hackathon weekend aimed at challenging 50 young women to code and build groundbreaking apps has been hosted by Rise, in partnership with Barclays.
Aged between four and 24, the group was tasked with creating apps that would encourage young people to save, spend their money thoughtfully, and get rewarded for positive financial behaviour.
The weekend put a new twist on a traditional hackathon, which is an event that offers a chance for experienced computer programmers and other software developers to collaborate intensively on software projects, by having a group that ranged in age and experience level. For many participants, coding and programming was completely new to them.
Stemettes, an organisation that encourages young women into careers in science, technology, engineering and maths co-hosted the weekend. Over the two days, the group built and coded apps using a number of industry tools including AppShed, Ratchet and MIT App Inventor.
Groups were split by experience level; beginners with no coding experience were in group ‘Dough’, intermediate-level in ‘Dosh’ and the most experienced coders in ‘Dividend’.
Despite the range in experience, 27 ideas were pitched to a panel of judges consisting of Maximilien Rae, Head of Young People Banking at Barclays, Magdalena Krön, Head of Rise London and Cathy White, PR and Communications Manager at Seedcamp. The judges marked each app based on three criteria: use of technology, meeting the brief and presentation quality.
Winning apps included Countdown Saver which works out how much the user is saving on average per month, to predict how long it will take to save for a desired item, and Pocket, which has a range of tools including quizzes, a financial glossary, and a reward system for responsible financial behaviour.
The younger winners won a Playbrush, donated by an innovative startup who have gamified toothbrushing for children. Five older winners won work experience at Barclays and Rise London this summer.
Read first-hand accounts from the participants that attended
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