Django Girls Workshop 2019 in Tokyo

This blog post was written by Keiko Yamamoto . Thank you, Keiko :)

Hi! I am Madoka, a staff of Django Girls Tokyo.

On 16th November 2019, the Django Girls workshop Tokyo was held at the Cybozu headquarters. We had 31 coaches and 44 participants(girls). I was a participant last year, but this time, I joined as a coach for the first time.

The main mission as a staff for me is to increase the number of coaches and to manage them. I invited my friends and people whom I have met during Python and Django related conferences and activities. Many people are interested in being a coach at Django Girls. I was surprised by how well-known the community is! As a result, we had 11 more coaches than last year, thus, more participants were able to join.

I also had to prepare to be a coach because I do not have any prior experience in creating web applications as a job.

I had reviewed Django Girls tutorial many times and managed the documents of Coaches Meetup which was a month prior to the workshop. I was learning all the time during the preparation period, looking back at that time.

Back when I was just a participant in the last workshop and I really enjoyed learning the basics of Python and Django. That made me want to be part of organizing this amazing workshop with the Django Girls coaches and staff who are always full of energy and motivates me.

Finally, the day came, I saw many girls got so excited to see the ‘kawaii’ office. (e.g. there is HASHIBIROKO-jocho, who is Factory Manager of SHOEBILL).

We organized 8 teams which consist of 4 coaches and 4 to 5 participants to support whenever they have questions, struggles, or mistakes. Taking lunch, tea break, and Lightning Talks in-between, they have finally achieved their goals! They did it!

At the party, I was really happy to hear some of the girls of our team that said, “I could do that because the coaches are kind to me.” In addition, some of the girls expressed joining Django Girls as a staff for the workshop this year! I am so excited to work with them! :D

This workshop was made possible because of the support of all the participants, staff members, coaches, and sponsors. I am grateful, especially for the staff and coaches who had assisted me so I could make it as I wanted to do. It is my pleasure to keep supporting the girls(participants) like I was a year ago. We can’t wait to see what they will build next!

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