During National Coding Week we asked Gemma Cameron (@ruby_gem), Developer at Co-op Digital and inspirational Girl Boss, if she would mind answering your questions about coding and working in the tech sector. Gemma was up for the challenge and took over our Twitter account for one hour. She gave out some useful advice during her surgery, so for those of you who missed it, here’s a few of the highlights…
What is the best coding language to start with? Which is your preferred language?
You’d be surprised to hear it is in fact Ruby! I like the eloquence of the language and how quickly I can set it up. It depends on the task really, I’ve got the most experience in .NET but I will often need to use different languages to complete different tasks. I’d definitely recommend Ruby or Python for a beginner (and this goes well with Raspberry Pi’s!) It’s pretty easy to get going and reads like a natural languages.
Have a go on codecademy to get started, or try Ruby out in your browser. JavaScript is pretty cool and very useful, but more complicated. Even experienced JavaScript developers often shout at the code because it has behaved in a weird way!
I’d also recommend visiting a local meet up to touch base with other developers, such as Codeup UK if you are in Manchester, or Liverpool Girl Geeks in Liverpool.
Have you noticed an increase in female graduates coming through lately?
I’ve not personally noticed the graduate situation change, but it’s not something I’m well versed on. I do know that Tech salaries have increased in Manchester by around 20% in the last 12 months and Liverpool’s has also increased by 16% over the past few years, with average salaries in both cities between £40k - £45k. Yet there’s obviously a real digital skills shortage. Great jobs, great pay. So get coding!
My daughter is 14 years old and a keen coder, any ideas for types of work experience we could seek for her end of year placement please?
I run Hack Manchester, which is a community coding competition and also offers a juniors / under 18’s event. Events are actually a great way to meet potential employers who may offer work experience. Alternatively, it would be a good idea to find some Tech companies that she loves and approach them directly, telling them why she would like to work there. Local networks like Liverpool Girl Geeks and Manchester Girl Geeks may also be able to help find placements as they are well-connected.
I’d recommend attending meet ups, one young man who attended our regular meet up when he was 14 secured a placement as a result and then ended up being head hunted by a tech company in Australia! We’ve recently offered work experience placements at the Co-op, you can read 15-year-old Caitlin’s blog, who spent a week with us on the Co-op website..
How do I write a good Alt tag? Is it just a case of copying the title description?
HTML alt tags are for screen readers or for use when the image doesn’t display. This is key for accessibility of a website, so make sure all your comments are descriptive of the image. You can find out more here: http://www.w3schools.com/tags/att_img_alt.asp. You can also check if your website passes accessibility guidelines using this free tool.
Thanks to Gemma Cameron for hosting the live session and for being an all round intellectual badass! <3
If you want to get into the classroom to learn, you can book onto one of our coding courses for an introduction to HTML and CSS. Or for more advanced coding, try our JavaScript course.