Schools and academies that teach programming, which has become extremely popular recently, are no longer limited to the transfer of knowledge and skills and set more ambitious goals. The aim is to gather a community of programmers, share experience and knowledge both with experienced programmers and with those who are just starting to discover programming, in general to encourage interest in ways of learning programming and the benefits of this activity.
In order to gather the community of programmers and encourage cooperation between beginners and already experienced programmers, the web programming academy "3W Academy Lithuania" organized a two-day social event at the end of September - the "Code Mode 12017" competition. The event was attended by both experienced and new programmers, including former and current students of 3W Academy. Divided into teams, they competed with each other to create a website for a non-governmental organization, as well as looking for errors or user-inconvenient elements on public sector websites.
Focus on real projects
"Since the beginning of its activities in Lithuania, 3W Academy, which originated from France, has set itself the goal: to turn Vilnius into a city of programmers. However, now we see that this goal has expanded and become more ambitious: we want Lithuania to become a country of programmers. Therefore, we do not seek to compete with other schools that train programmers or with institutions and programmers working in this field in general, but to cooperate: this is the only way we will fulfill the mission of "3W Academy" - to turn Lithuania into a country of programmers", Vaidas Barauskas, executive director of "3W Academy", has no doubts.
The unusual date in the name of the event caught the attention of many participants. Why 12017? "We think that it would be appropriate for people in the field of technology to consider the time when humanity began to improve technologically as a reference point. It happened approximately 12 thousand years ago, hence the date", smiles V. Barauskas.
The organization of Code Mode 12017 was motivated by other problems that web professionals constantly notice. "It is not uncommon to work with imaginary projects while learning to program, which reduces both the learner's motivation and his ability to present a portfolio with real projects to a future employer after graduation. The goal of 3W Academy is to be as close to reality as possible. It is much easier to learn programming when you know what you want to create and understand that your future work will solve some real problem. Such a provision was one of the ideas for which we gathered at "Code Mode 12017", - says the head of "3W Academy".
From a competition to a social action
The event was also encouraged and determined by the new initiative of "3W Academy". Since many Lithuanian non-governmental organizations do not have the opportunity to create or renew their websites, the students of the academy will create websites for these organizations free of charge. Such a solution is beneficial for both parties: students gain real experience of implementing a web project, and NGOs receive a free website.
"We wanted to help non-governmental organizations, because they often do not have the opportunity to announce their important and useful activities. We have received more than 70 inquiries after offering NGOs the opportunity to collaborate and create or update a website. In this way, "Code Mode 12017" grew from an event and competition of the programmers' community to a meaningful social action", - notes Audrius Laurutis, project coordinator of "3W Academy".
Websites of public sector organizations are inconvenient and unattractive to users
Finally, the situation of the websites themselves is problematic. "There will be enough work for programmers in this area for a long time to come," assures V. Barauskas.
This problem was also reflected in one of the tasks of the Code Mode 12017 competition. Teams of programmers searched for bugs on their chosen websites of public sector organizations. The teams noticed a number of recurring issues that make these pages difficult to visit, inconvenient and unattractive to users, and traffic to such pages decreases.
The pages often do not have security certificates installed, they are not adapted for smartphones, tablets and other devices. Another common problem is that websites are overloaded with images and photos that are too large. A number of pages are generally not updated, some functions no longer work, and their design is messy.
The programmers not only analyzed the problems of the websites of state institutions or non-governmental organizations, but also made suggestions on how to solve them. "We will send these proposals to organizations and offer them the opportunity to cooperate and solve problems," A. Laurutis shared the plans.
So what is important for a user-friendly website? According to V. Barauskas, who has been working as a programmer and web designer for more than 10 years, the more options and buttons there are on the page, the more difficult it is for the visitor to make a decision, so it is necessary to keep this in mind when creating the page. Additional elements that do not add any value should be avoided. The most important thing is to understand that the visitor usually comes to the website with some goal in mind, and the page creators must provide him with all the opportunities to achieve that goal.
Gathering the programmer community was a success
With user-friendliness in mind, teams of programmers created a website for the charity and support fund "Pagalbos mäte tarnyba". Beautiful The activities of the organization include visiting sick, lonely, disabled people at home and providing all the necessary help, as well as day center activities, counseling of relatives who care for the sick. The event commission together with the NGO itself chose the most suitable website option. "We have no doubt that this act of kindness will be the beginning of successful further cooperation", said A. Laurutis.
The organizers of the event maintained integrity and were focused on technology everywhere, from the name of the event to the awards, so the prize pool of 1000 euros was paid out to the teams in bitcoins.
Code Mode 12017 participants were happy to gain valuable experience and are already looking forward to new events. "Hearing feedback from the participants, we have no doubt that the attempt to gather the programmer community was successful and that such events are very much needed, so we are already planning new events," V. Barauskas assured.
Author: Inga Kazakevičiūtė
