Over the last 12 months, through the support of New Industries WA and the Department of Jobs Tourism Science and Innovation the successful {web}Girls workshops have been able to run in regional hubs across the state.
Perth{web}Girls founder, Kate Kirwin, hopes to encourage more women to explore career opportunities and business developments in the field of STEM and tech innovation. “The enthusiasm for learning beginner level coding is infectious - we had girls as young as 9 creating websites at our recent regional workshops.”
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“The great thing about coding is that you really can do it anywhere there is internet. By running events in some of the most remote parts of Western Australia including Port Hedland, Newman, Geraldton and Bunbury, we’re able to reach a new market of young programmers.” Once interest has been sparked and basic skills learnt, creativity, collaboration, and further education can flourish regardless of distance and location, so long as a solid digital connection is in place. With limited career opportunities in traditional bricks and mortar businesses in regional Australia, there are an increasing numbers of employees setting up workstations from home and shared workspaces with other remote workers in order to collaborate and grow their careers in the tech space.
In the South West, women drove from Busselton, Australind and even Perth to attend the event at Maker + Co in Bunbury last November. More recently, in Geraldton the workshop sold out, with 60 women and 9 mentors signed up to code at Pollinator’s City Hive space in Geraldton.
Keep an eye out for the next regional iterations of {web}Girls - in Port Hedland and Karratha this Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th May at Spacecubed’s partner spaces the WEB Business Hub Port Hedland, and the Enterprise Hub Karratha. Free to participate for women of all ages and experience levels, the workshop will educate on coding basics whilst building the newest WA community of tech-savvy women.
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Thanks to all supporting partners, including BHP, Robert Walters, New Industries WA and the Department of Jobs Tourism Science and Innovation, RAC and Ventra IP.
