🍁 Autumn has arrived 🍁
It's mid-summer and the longest day has past, and what a busy last couple of months, and we are looking forward to the rest of the summer, there's plenty of events and activities happening in the Irish tech community.
With Dublin Maker wrapped up, school term officially started, leaves on trees turning and conkers waiting to be collected, autumn has truly arrived.
🚀 And around this time, the amazing volunteer-led community conference, ShipItCon was back again this year at The Round Room, and I was invited to look after the Maker/Community table and the make a Squishy competition. It was super fun and I have ideas to improve on the making comp next year. 🐙
🙏 ShipItCon and the community raise money for charities and helping other organisations and we were picked as one of the orgs! And we received €1500 from the generous donations, so a hu-uge thank you to everyone. 🤯
🙏 A huge thanks on behalf of @roundcrisis @micktwomey @whykay to @ShipItCon team & the #IrishTechCommunity for your support & helping us continue our voluntary work to the community.
— Coding Grace (@CodingGrace) August 30, 2024
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 to the #sic2024 team on another successful conference. pic.twitter.com/9j4P3n1fYJ
This came about after my LinkedIn post about the recent shutdowns of Girls in Tech and before that, Women Who Code, and that brought about concerns about the future of Coding Grace.
Vicky Twomey-Lee
😅 We are not great at asking for funding and donations, and annually we have base expenses to pay including accountancy fees. But that LinkedIn post generated conversations and people privately reaching out to me to see how they can help Coding Grace, including Tom from ShipItCon. So a huge thanks to the kind donation from ShipItCon and community, and thank you all who got in touch with me (I'm still following up with folks on how we can work together to continue our community work).
🫡 The legendary Grace Hopper videos were recently released by the NSA, you can check out part 1 and part 2 videos as well as via their official press release, enjoy!
💻 On to something different, and also quite important. It's never to old to start your own business, learn to code. With articles celebrating 30 under 30, media depicting people under 40 in tech, there's a section of the community being left out, and wondering (like myself), are we still relevant? The conversation is happening, and check out Áine Kerr's recent radio show where she "speaks to inspirational leaders, to acclaimed industry experts who want to share their experience and expertise, and to people who are just starting out on their journeys". And how a journalist in his 50s learn to code and I'm so happy he encountered the Python Community which embraced him with open arms (and why I still love the community).
👏 Congrats to the Diversity in Tech Awards 2024 finalists, I have been privileged to be back as one of the DITA judges again. Good luck to everyone. Event takes place at RDS on September 19. Tickets are still available at their website.
📈 With starting your own business in mind, recently shared post via TechFoundHer chats was call for transparency from Innovate UK of how they awarded only 25 instead of the expected 50 applicants to their Women in Innovation Award. Since the decision was reversed due to the amazing effort female founders. 💪
📢 Dogpatch Labs Founders Talent Accelerator is back! They are calling on Ireland's most exceptional individuals to find a co-founder, build a startup, and pitch for €100k investment.
Build, Now. Founders 2024: https://dogpatch.click/a7c001
👶 We have been very aware of making events including conferences inclusive to folks (especially if both want to attend the talks, network with peers, etc) who have younger kids, and from experience, I've only found the Convention Centre Dublin offering childminding services onsite. It has been an issue over and over again in other conferences, and something Coding Grace have been investigating. The child protection laws are very strict in Ireland, so we want to make sure everything is covered and safe for all. An old school friend of mine who's a superstar in the startup space mentioned the startup she founded that solves that issue, it's LMM Care who babysitting, pop-up creche and children's entertainment packages services. We will try and continue to make our events inclusive for all, if you have contacts, suggestions, please drop us an email.
🎉 And some more good news, Naas Library and Cultural Centre has its own dedicated makerspace! It's brilliant to see more of these spaces popping up. Workshop at the newest makerspace in Naas is free, so check them out.
💬 To keep the conversation going, join us on our Discord server: https://discord.gg/PVNQcpH4gq
Best Friends of Coding Grace: ShipItCon
❤️ Thanks to Symantec and All the Tech Things for sponsoring Pi-Tops v2. We now have 4 in total for our events and collaborations.
🌈 Dublin City PPN - Community Partner, we are also members.
🌈 For our long time supporters and those who contributed recently, thank you on behalf of the team.
💖 If you want to be involved with Coding Grace, there are different ways from offering to mentoring 🧑🏫, collaborating 🤝, help spreading the word about us 💬, and financial contributions 🤲.
💟 And a huge thanks to our regular Open Collective contributors 🙏
🎤 DUB|SEC: Call for Speakers
DUB|SEC meetups happen on the last Wednesday of every month and we are looking for talks for our next event on Wednesday 25th September!
We want talks that are anywhere between 10-60 minutes with a focus on Information Security. We are looking for people at all levels - experienced speakers or those just starting out.
🏠 https://www.meetup.com/dub-sec/
📧 If you are interested, email: info@dubsec.ie
🎤 ReactJS Dublin: Call for Speakers
If you've got something to share, we want YOU to be one of our speakers! Whether it's a project you're passionate about or a cool React tip
[...]
open to any talk proposals related to the React Ecosystem, including Native, GraphQL/Relay, Jest, Flow, ReasonML, CSS-in-JS, Webpack, and other technologies from the common stack
🏠 https://www.meetup.com/reactjs-dublin-meetup/
💻🍪 PyLadies Dublin: Call to bring your projects and bakes
For PyLadies Dublin November meetup, the last meetup of 2024, they want a chilled event inviting people to bring their projects and bakes... yes, bakes like cookies and buns to celebrate the end of year, and have fun chatting and showing off your amazing projects. Even the WIP ones.
More deets will appear on dublin.pyladies.com.
📧 Interested in hosting our November event? Email: dublin@pyladies.com
📢 WRAP Commission to provide support for Regional professionals to attend international markets/trade events
WRAP Is a joint initiative between Ardán and WDC, in association with local authorities in Clare, Donegal, Galway City, Galway County, Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon, Sligo, and Údarás na Gaeltachta. As part of its efforts to support regional Film, TV, and Games creators across these counties the WRAP Commission offers support for producers to attend international markets & trade events such as the Marché du Film in Cannes, or GamesCom.
To Apply:
📧 Email WRAP@ardan.ie with your details, your request for assistance, and the name of the Market you wish to attend.
Note: Please use the subject line: “Market Attendance Support”. This is a rolling call, but it is strongly advised that you get in touch 6-8 weeks prior to a marketplace closing registration if possible.
🚀 Djangonaut Space - Applications open
Djangonaut Space is a free, 8-week group mentoring program where individuals will work self-paced in a semi-structured learning environment. It seeks to help members of the community who wish to level up their current Django code contributions and potentially take on leadership roles in Django in the future.
Their next session starts on October 14th, 2024.
🤝 Founders - Applications open
Bringing together the most talented engineers, domain experts and commercial minds to find their co-founder and build their startup from scratch
- Who is it for: Ambitious technical and commercial individuals who are ready to build a tech startup to solve some of the world’s biggest problems.
- How It Works: We offer a pathway to entrepreneurship, using a powerful network for co-founder matching, and provide comprehensive support from mentors, experts and investors throughout.
- Financial Support: A €6,000 non-refundable grant is provided in Phase 1 to support participants while forming a team and building a startup from scratch.
- Investment: Phase 1 culminates in a pitch for €100,000 investment for each startup.
- Timeline: Phase 1 starts January 2025, running full-time at Dogpatch Labs until mid-April. Phase 2 is set from April- June 2025.
(Online) Awakenhub: LIMITED SPACES - Back to Business: AwakenHub's September Kickoff Event
Tue Sep 10, 2024 (17:00)
(In-Person) Empowering Women in Tech | Practical Strategies to Accelerate your Career
Tue Sep 10, 2024 (17:15)
(In-Person) Cork Female Coders - Coffee Meetup
Tue Sep 10, 2024 (18:30)
(In-Person) Midlands Women in Tech: Beyond Code - Join Us for an Exciting Software Development Technical Talk! @ TUS, Athlone
Wed Sep 11, 2024 (18:00)
(In-Person) PyLadies Dublin back @ Pinterest
Tue Sep 17, 2024 (18:30)
(Online) CHAT - Access to Assistive Technology in Work
Thu Sep 19, 2024 (14:00)
(In-Person) Diversity in Tech Awards 2024
Thu Sep 19, 2024 (18:00)
(In-Person) TechFoundHer: Innovation Lunch and Learn: Showcasing Women Tech Founders @ Huckletree
Fri Sep 20, 2024 (12:45)
(In-Person) ServiceNow: Women in Tech: A Talk on Tech and Perspectives on AI
Tue Sep 24, 2024 (18:00)
(Online) Women in AI Ireland: WaiTUTORIALS
Wed Sep 25, 2024 (18:00)
(Online) WITS Ireland: Empowering Women in Cybersecurity Through Community and Collaboration
Fri Sep 27, 2024 (12:00)
(In-Person) Recruit and Retain Neurodiversity in the Digital Sector #BelfastTechWeek
Tue Oct 1, 2024 (09:30)
(In-Person) EmpowerHER | Breaking Barriers & Elevating your Career in Tech @ NetApp
Thu Oct 3, 2024 (17:30)
(In-Person) Women in Tech x Belfast Tech Week - National Record of Achievement Night!
Thu Oct 3, 2024 (17:30)
(In-Person) The Minorities Recognition Awards NI (MRANI)
Fri Oct 4, 2024 (18:00)
(In-Person) Sheroes Awards and Conference
Sat Oct 12, 2024 (16:00)
(In-Person) Women in STEM Belfast @ Titanic Belfast
Wed Oct 16, 2024 (09:00)
(Online) Awakenhub: Aligning Profit with Purpose: The Rise of Social Impact Founders
Tue Oct 22, 2024 (17:00)
(In-Person) Women in STEM Awards 2024 @ The Round Room
Thu Oct 24, 2024 (18:30)
(In-Person) TechFoundHer: Innovation Lunch & Learn (Belfast): Showcasing Women Tech Founders @ MCS
Mon Sep 30, 2024 (12:30)
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⏭️ Our next bi-monthly newsletter will be in November 2024, if you have announcements, events, opportunities for our November-December Newsletter, drop us an email at contact@codinggrace.com.
Cheers,
/// Vicky 🐱🏳️🌈🦄