Dream. Code. Create : Django Girls Legon.
his blog post was written by Hope Adoli. Thank you, Hope :)
The Django Girls Legon workshop took place on 2nd to 3rd February 2018 at Hilla Limann Hall of University of Ghana – Legon. Just as any other Django Girls event, our aim as organizers was to introduce ladies with little or no prior knowledge in programming to the world of programming in a fun and friendly environment, which we accomplished successfully 😊.
A total number of 87 ladies applied for a spot at the workshop. Out of this, 40 of them were eventually selected. In the next Django Girls Legon workshop, we hope to accommodate more than that number.
DAY 1 (2nd February 2018)
At 2:30 pm on 2nd February, the workshop was officially started with the arrival of coaches and participants. They registered and then grouped with each coach taking 3 participants. The organizers gave a short welcome note and then the installation party began.
The installation party began at 3pm. But before the installation, the coaches introduced the participants to GitHub and PythonAnywhere. They then proceeded to create GitHub and PythonAnywhere accounts. The coaches also guided the participants through the process of installing the software that will be used during the workshop. The software installed include;
Sublime Text Editor: This Text editor is a sophisticated text editor for code, markup and prose, with a slick user interface and extraordinary features. This is where we will be doing our coding.
Git: Git is a free and open source distributed version control system for tracking changes in computer files among multiple people. It will help us to manage our code and also help track any changes that we make.
Python: Python is a high-level programming language for general purpose programming. It has simple easy-to-use syntax, making it the perfect language for someone trying to learn computer programming for the first time.
Django Framework: This is a free and open source web framework that is written in Python. It provides developers with the infrastructure to quickly write database-driven web applications without having to start coding from the scratch. Before installing the Django Framework, a few items were put in place first.
i. Participants had to set up the Virtual Environment (virtualenv) and activate it. To set up the virtualenv, they first created a folder (directory) called djangogirls in the command line using C:\Users\NAME>mkdir djangogirls and then C:\Users\NAME>cd djangogirls.
ii. After that they created the virtualenv using
C:\Users\Name\djangogirls>python -m venv myvenv.
iii. The participants then went ahead to activate the virtualenv by running
C:\Users\Name\djangogirls>myvenv\Scripts\activate
iv. After successfully activating the virtualenv, the participants then updated the PIP installer by running
(myvenv) C:\Users\Name\dj>pip install –upgrade pip
After the PIP installer was successfully updated, Django was also installed.
The installation party could not have ended without participants taking pics and socializing! At 5pm, the installation party finally came to a close.
DAY 2 (23rd February 2018)
Saturday’s activities started with breakfast at 8:00 am. At 8:45am, the workshop began. The first item on the programme line-up was introducing the participants to the command prompt (Terminal). They were taught some basic uses of the cmd including creating and deleting directories, changing directories among others. The next item on the programme line-up was Introduction To Python. Our awesome coaches took the participants through the Python basics: Integers, Strings, Lists, Variables and Errors.
Soon, everyone was ready to try out their first Python commands!
After the introduction to Python was snack break. Cupcakes were served to everyone. It was also during this break that participants used to stretch themselves and prepare for the item on our programme line-up: Introduction To Django.
The workshop resumed after the snack break. The participants were taken through the introductory phases of Django Framework, after which they started their first Django projects.
The Django projects were divided into parts to make it easier for the participants to grasp quickly. After completing the first part of the Django project, we had a lunch break for an hour. During the break, we were visited by Andrew Smiths from Silent Works who came to give a 15-minute lightning talk to the participants about what it takes to be a good programmer, the opportunities within the Tech industry and also how they can use tech to make the world a better place.
The workshop once again resumed after the lunch break.
For the next few hours, the coaches guided the participants through the various stages of creating their first blog using the Django Web Framework. After successfully deploying their codes, they then continued to learn the basics of HTML and CSS.
At 5:00 pm, the workshop came to an ended with awarding of certificates to our awesome participants and coaches. After that, there was a photoshoot with the coaches and organizers and attendees got to socialize with others.
In conclusion, the Django Girls Legon event was a massive success, and we are very honoured and grateful to Django Girls for giving us the opportunity to impart positive change and help improve gender participation in Technology. The experience we have gained from organizing this event is enormous, and we will continue to spread the Django Love. As stated earlier, in our subsequent Django Girls Workshops, we hope to increase the number of participants gargantuanly.
COACHES
We wish to thank all the coaches that came to make the workshop a success. We are very happy to have hosted you.
SPONSORS & PARTNERS
Thanks to our amazing sponsors Python Software Foundation, GitHub, GitLab and Django Girls Foundation, we were able to cover the cost of accommodation, transportation, food (and snacks) and other costs. It really helped made the workshop a huge success and we are very grateful and very honoured to have worked with you. Also, we thank Python Ghana for helping with publicity.
Last but not the least, we wish to thank Michael Kokoroko, Bright Agbetsise and Mawuli Martey for helping put up the event venue.
Captured moments from Django Girls Legon has added to the Django Girls Flickr Account. Make sure to check them out!
Django Girls Legon Team
Winner Atidakpo
Django Girls is a non-profit that teaches programming to women all around the world. Want to help us? Support us!