Update 3/7/20: Added Oregon State’s Online Bachelor’s in Computer Science

Update 5/22/17: Added Techbridge girls in the list of other resources

In more than 20 years in technology, I’ve met plenty of great women developers. And yet, men outnumber women in tech by a large margin. Major tech companies are being challenged to increase diversity and inclusiveness. Learning coding is a big opportunity for people of all types. With the help of a female friend, I’ve compiled a list of some opportunities that might appeal to you.

In Person Coding Bootcamp Scholarships

Coding bootcamps are very popular these days. Chances are, there’s one near you. The idea of joining a group can be intimidating. Here’s a few that make a special appeal to women.

Codeup

Codeup is a startup I’ve supported when I lived in San Antonio and worked out of Geekdom. This is the first bootcamp I learned about which makes a special appeal to get women involved in tech. They offer scholarships for women to take their 4 month, full stack development course in San Antonio.

Ada Developers Academy

I’ve recently moved to the Seattle area and heard about a local program specifically developed for women called the Ada Developers Academy. Ada Lovelace has been called by many, the first programmer and is the inspiration for the name. Not only is the tuition free, but they also offer paid internships.

Online Bootcamps

Online bootcamps can be less intimidating and more approachable. Many allow working at your own pace, giving the option for a learner who wants a flexible schedule.

skillcrush

Skillcrush has a female founder and first lead instructor and has a very empowering message. You can try them out with a 10-day bootcamp and then choose from a number of paid options.

The Odin Project and Viking Code School

The Odin Project is an entirely free, online developer bootcamp which gets rave reviews in developer forums. Along, with it’s paid counterpart, Viking Code School, the comprehensive set of courses cover Ruby and more.

freeCodeCamp

freeCodeCamp is another entirely free, online developer bootcamp. Their full stack developer certificate is 2080 hours! When you finish 1200 hours, you can do a project for a non-profit. Also, very well reviewed in online forums by programmers going through or having finished one of their courses.

Other Resources

There are so many great resources for learning coding and for women in technology. Here’s just a few more resources that can help you get started:

• I love CodeAcademy‘s free, interactive tutorials. You can see how your code changes the results in real time, which really helps make the lessons stick.
• Code.org is famous for Hour of Code, aimed at Elementary School and High School students. Check out Beyond and Hour of Code for links to lots of great learning resources for learners of all ages, many of them free, including Harvard University’s CS50x, a ivy league college level course.
• TouchDevelop.com is a new favorite of mine from Microsoft Research, which I found on code.org. With free lessons including video tutorials, they teach an interactive development environment designed for touch. Perfect for learning on your iPad on the couch!
• Udemy has a Web Developer Bootcamp currently on sale for $15. 48 hours of HTML, CSS, Javascript and more. 4.7 stars from 16K+ reviewers. 60K students enrolled.
• KhanAcademy’s free Computer Programming courses in the Computer Science section are worth checking out.
• Lynda.com, part of LinkedIn, recently acquired by Microsoft, has Developer Training and Tutorials. Fees normally start at $20/month, but a free subscription is offered to King County Library card holders. Maybe your library offers it, too.
• Code School is offered by Pluralsight, which is a paid service I’ve learned a lot from. A free account registration gives you access to 16 of their 60 courses.
• Udacity offers some free development classes and paid options, with mentoring, for “nano-degrees”
• CourseReport has ratings by students including this list of Full-Stack Web Development Bootcamps
• Women in SharePoint organizes events within an event, like lunches at conferences. It has grown to a Women in Technology community on ITUnity
• FrontEnd Focus offers a newletter with new articles and tutorial links every week! Check out the latest issue for an idea of what you’ll get.
• TNW wrote an article in May 2015, 10 best coding bootcamps for those on a budget, both online and in-person
• Techbridge Girls is a STEM program for elementary and high school girls in the Seattle, DC and Bay Areas. Includes mentorship opportunities for in-career role models.
• Oregon State offers an online Computer Science curriculum. What stood out to me is there two year option for anyone with a bachelor’s degree. I found it listed 7th in BestColleges.com’s ranking of online computer science degrees. I should point out that computer science goes beyond just programming. That’s great if you’re looking for a traditional, more well rounded computer science education. The college degree could help you stand out in job applications.