That’s not to say there aren’t females out there learning code; if you’re reading this article right now, the chances are high that you’re one of them. The problem is that many don’t know where to start a career in tech or get involved.

However, there has been a shift in popular opinion that anyone can do coding in recent years. In contrast, this shift has helped open the door for a more diverse group of people with different backgrounds and experience levels to explore programming.

It also means that many women are missing out on the great privilege of learning how to code. This blog post will discuss why learning to code can be a great career decision and give you some tips in getting started with your programming journey.

More Women Are Needed in Tech

A new study by Girls Who Code found that the number of women interested in STEM degrees has dropped dramatically over the past ten years.

This study found a 31% drop in women enrolling in computer science degrees from 2000-2010.

This has resulted in many problems for companies trying to hire new employees because they struggle to find qualified females to fill open roles within their organization.

Women make up around 24% of all workers in STEM fields, but more women are needed to fill these companies’ open jobs. The more women who enter the technology industry the better prepared the workforce will be for future employment.

Why Does This Matter

The truth is that having more women in tech leadership roles has been shown to bring about better results for companies both financially and culturally within their workforces.

This is because diversity has been shown to bring about more innovation, better collaboration with teams, and higher success rates.

The truth is that having more women in tech leadership roles has been shown to bring about better results for companies both financially and culturally within their workforces.

On the financial side, some studies show companies that have women in leadership roles see a boost in their return on equity by 34%. On top of this, Fortune 100 CEOs with diverse backgrounds make 16% more than their counterparts without diverse experience.

Thus, having women in the tech industry has been shown to bring about more successful products with lower failure rates. They are better at listening and communicating with their teams and understanding clients’ needs for a product or service.

When You Have All It Take To Become A Great Coder

Nothing should stop you from becoming a great coder. You can be the best in your field and even start a company based on your coding skills.

You Are Creative

Creativity is one of the most relevant traits you can have as you pursue your career in tech. You are constantly seeking new ways to solve problems and finding creative solutions for complex issues.

Thinking like an expert and solving problems in new ways is an essential trait for programming.

You Are Good With Programming Languages

When you are good with all coding languages, you’re equally comfortable working in any language regarding the crunch.

You can code up an idea for a web app in Ruby on Rails or Flask, then drop it down into Python if that works better; when the time is right, whip out your JavaScript knowledge and get hacking away.

You Are A Team Player

When you love helping others in your company when they need it the most, you enjoy being a member of a community committed to helping each other out, no matter what time of day it might be.

This commitment comes from an innate desire to go above and beyond for your co-workers and customers.

Working for a firm with strong values is important because it ensures that everyone can depend on each other for support.

5 Reasons Girls Should Learn How To Code

Perhaps you plan to become a software engineer, data scientist, computer analyst, or businesswoman; computer coding using programming languages is essential to acquire.

However, the following are the reasons why learning to code should make it on every woman’s to-do list:

1. You Will Take Control Of Your Career

It is like taking control of your career decision-making process when you learn how to code because it makes you more valuable in the job market.

You can also ensure that coding skills are always relevant and in-demand, which means less fear about switching jobs or getting laid off.

2. You Will Challenge The Tech Industry Standard

Coding gives girls a sense of power over the world around them, and they can create and build their future rather than wait for it to happen. It is a tool that everyone should have access to because the more people who know how to code, means new opportunities.

3. You Will Keep Your Mind Active

You won’t be stuck in an office environment doing the same thing over and over again. You might not even realize you are using coding skills daily until it comes to your attention.

4. You Will Indulge In Personal Perks

You will realize that your skillset is valued on merit, not on whether you look like a super-model or wear lipstick.

You will know the satisfaction of creating something from scratch and seeing it work right in front of you. You will be able to gain the respect and admiration of your peers.

5. Your Time Is Now 

You don’t have to wait for the ideal opportunity time before you start learning. Whether you want a new job or want more knowledge about technology and computers than is necessary for this day and age, everyone should know, even if it’s just basic HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and C++.

The Top 5 Skills Needed To Become A Great Coder

1. Coding Language

You can’t be a software developer or engineer without becoming proficient in at least one programming language like JavaScript or Python.

Also, you will need to understand how to use the standard-essential developer tools like Git, GitHub, and a lot more.

2. Self Reliance

Learning to write code can be complex, so you have to be extremely patient. You have to learn to overlook distractions and not wait for other software engineers to solve technical problems.

3. Communication Skills

Coders frequently work with teams requiring them to write code to understand and maintain other software developers.

In addition, developers need to explain complex concepts to inexperienced coders in a relatively simple way.

Coders frequently work with teams requiring them to write code to understand and maintain other software developers.

4. Recognize The Limits Of Machine Intelligence

Computers can’t think for themselves, so this is something that needs to be kept in mind. However, you’ll need to acquire a mindset where you believe the computer should only execute commands you explicitly gave.

5. Critical Thinking

Because code cannot be physically measured, you’ll need to learn how to represent it in a way that makes sense.

You must consider things from various viewpoints and make fascinating judgments based on what may seem simple.

13 Resources For Women Who Want To Learn How To Code

The following are the 13 resources for women who wish to learn how to code, but they have been divided into categories so that you can quickly discover what you’re searching for:

Website Training

1. Girls Who Code

The Institute of Women’s Policy Research survey research shows that only 20% of young women are interested in STEM courses and computer programming.

However, when it comes time to choose what to study and which profession to pursue, something happens.

Girls Who Code was created to break this cycle by providing young girls with the technical skills and self-assurance to continue their IT professions.

2. Ada Developer Academy

The Ada Developers Academy is a specialized and selective training program for women and gender non-conforming individuals who want to code.

Ada teaches women courses on Ruby on Rails, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Git, and Source Control while relying on sponsors to pay for the intense in-class and industry internship experience (i.e., tuition is free).

3. MotherCoders

MotherCoders is a nonprofit organization dedicated to assisting women in entering the technology sector to establish successful careers for themselves.

MotherCoders’ goal is to assist women who have difficulty enrolling in educational programs to re-enter the workforce, advance their professions, and start new businesses by providing a part-time, 9-week training program (including onsite childcare) that teaches women how to code mobile apps.

4. Hackbright Academy

Hackbright Academy provides a 12 week accelerated training program for women that combines traditional classroom instruction and individual project work to give students a thorough understanding of software engineering.

5. Girls Develop It 

Girl Develop It is another organization that provides affordable web and software development education to women all across the United States.

Girl Develop It strives to give ladies the confidence to create their website and mobile applications by offering in-person courses and neighborhood help.

Online Training/Courses

6. Skillcrush

At Skillcrush, you choose the skills you wish to learn on their website. Learn web development, advanced WordPress, web design, data analytics, and even copywriting for the internet are just some examples of the type of courses available.

Although coding for women is not the only goal of these programs (about 25% of students are male), they were created to assist female students to break into their chosen fields.

7. Rails Girls 

The Rails Girls is an online resource dedicated to women who want to learn more about technology and get their ideas off the ground. Learn simple programming, sketching, and prototyping fundamentals.

In addition, get access to online web guides, materials, and tools to aid in the development of your ideas while also learning more about events where you may meet like-minded females looking to break into the tech sector.

Tutorials

It’s as simple as going online and looking for coding instructions. That said, the following are a little simpler for you by providing you with some tutorials, so you don’t have to worry yourself hunting online:

8. CSS Tutorials

Do you want to learn some CSS tactics so that you can improve your skills? Tripwire has compiled a list of the most helpful CSS lessons for you to practice on.

Each course is directed to your specific needs, so choose the one that works best for you and have a look.

9. Code Conquest Code Tutorials

Code Conquest’s collection of free code tutorials covers the most widely used website languages such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP.

These lessons can assist you in determining whether a language is the best fit for you by providing an overview of its features.

10. Code Avengers

The interactive and engaging nature of the Code Avengers tutorials takes learning to the next level. Although not specifically targeted at women, there’s a lot to learn about how to code games, apps, and websites using HTML, CSS, Python, and JavaScript. This training is available in multiple languages and requires just 12 hours to finish.

11. Khan Academy

This nonprofit organization offers people who want to learn how to code with step-by-step video courses on programming drawings, animations, and games.

You may also learn how to create websites using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Python.

Slack Channels/Podcast/Videos

Here are some of the greatest Slack channels, podcasts, and videos for women who want to learn how to code.

12. Female Founder Podcasts

Take a look at this list of the greatest podcasts for women who want to break away from the pack and start their companies/enterprises:

Y Combinator’s Startup School Radio: They cover everything you need to know about starting, raising, and expanding your own tech company.

Girlboss Radio: each episode is a conversation with a famous woman who has succeeded in the corporate world. Discover how they got there and what they learned on the way.

13. Video Playlists for Women Coders

Check out this list of good video playlists to help you with any coding needs, whether you want to watch video content rather than written text:

Code path: They deal with software engineering as an ever-changing field, so if you’re just getting started, it might not be easy to keep up.

Find mentors, acquire new skills, and discover projects that will help you improve your coding abilities easier and more enjoyable.

WomenWhoCode: This nonprofit playlist of films, for example, helps to push women to excel in their tech professions.

With over 50,000 members from 20 countries (and with 3,000+ worldwide events), this is the natural place to be if you want a little boost of confidence and a lot of information.

The Key To Getting Started 

The key to getting started on your programming journey is just to get started. The first step is always the hardest, but it becomes more accessible and enjoyable once you’re moving.

If you never start, then how will anything ever be achieved? Once you learn that there are no natural barriers other than those you place on yourself, everything opens up like a vast ocean of possibilities waiting for your exploration.

Women learn to code because coding represents independence in both thought and action, empowerment, self-sufficiency, creativity within constraints, problem-solving skills, and the ability to learn continuously.

Coding has become a fundamental skill like reading, writing, speaking, or listening, which should be taught in all schools around the world not as an elective course but rather as part of the core curriculum because that’s what coding is; It’s literacy for the 21st century.

Conclusion 

Women may find coding to be an exciting and empowering experience. It would help if you learned how to code, and it will open doors to many opportunities for you.

Taking an online course, such as community groups or finding a mentor to assist you on the road to basic coding abilities, is the best approach to get started.

Do not let anything keep you out of the tech sector so that you can realize your aspirations. Don’t let misconceptions and gender bias get in the way of your success.

Take charge, make a strategy, and stick to it. Women coders are needed more than ever before.

So, if you have the motivation and commitment to work in the tech industry, check out these resources for some inspiration. You may undoubtedly encourage other women to pursue it as well.

The post Why Women Should Learn How to Code and How To Get Started appeared first on Startup Oasis.

If you’re planning to venture into the tech industry, acronyms such as HTML and CSS can be confusing, but you’ll understand how the two acronyms work with time. They are two of the most significant languages you need to learn to get started in a tech career.

HTML & CSS are part of the essential programming languages for creating the overall presentation of web pages and web applications. HTML provides the structure, while the CSS file offers the styling and layout.

However, while HTML is the essential language you can use to develop any website, CSS is used for website presentation. Therefore, they are referred to as the core languages to build any website.

A web developer uses HTML to annotate text so that a machine can understand the text and manipulate it accordingly.

Intro to HTML

HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language. HyperText is defined as the link between the web pages. It is a markup language used to determine the text document within a tag, representing the styles and structure of a web page.

A web developer uses HTML to annotate text so that a machine can understand the text and manipulate it accordingly. Most markup languages are human-readable. HTML used tags to define what manipulation has to be done on the reader. The browser uses the HTML language to manipulate text, images, and other content in the required format. Tim Berners-Lee (the founder of W3C) created HTML in 1991 – HTML 1.0 – while the standard version web developers use today was published in 1999.

It is a language that most websites we use are written in. Developers use HTML to create web pages and make them functional.

HTML Formatting Tags

There are many tags used to format and layout content on a web page. Tags are used to specify hypertext links that enable web developers to direct users to other sites with a click of the mouse, either on an image or words.  

How Does HTML Work?

It works by telling the browser how to display a web page. Web developers use a basic text editor on the computer to create an HTML document and then fill the HTML document with a series of HTML elements (such as h1 color, head, etc.) and HTML attributes (such as rel stylesheet, style sheet, etc.) using HTML tags.

HTML describes the appearance of an HTML document to be displayed by a web browser. The documents consist of document tags describing a web page’s visual appearance or providing a directive command like inserting imagery or a link to another web page within a copy.

HTML documents are saved in text format, and they are designed to be viewed or edited on any operating system that can connect to the internet. 

Why Use HTML?

Web Page Development

The HTML language is heavily used in creating web pages that are displayed on any web browser. Every page of the web browser contains HTML tags and hyperlinks that can connect to other web pages. Thus, every page you see on the Web is written by web developers using a version of HTML code, even this one! It is the official standard for displaying web pages.

Internet Navigation

This is one of the most significant, even revolutionary uses of HTML. Navigation is possible by utilizing the idea of hypertext. It is a text which refers to other web pages or text, when users click on the link, it automatically navigates to referenced text or page. Some argue that HTML became so popular in web development because of this concept. In essence, it is possible to access any document on the Web by using a hypertext link. Thus, it is easy for users to easily navigate the web pages, websites, and different servers.

HTML Styling

Without styles, the internet site would be an incredibly dull place. HTML style elements allow for the styling of the web pages. For example, you can style the text’s font family, color, and font size with HTML style.

Offline Web Applications

These days, it is possible to access web apps while offline. HTML enables users to operate with their data and uses a cache manifest file to determine the data to store while offline. Users can as well generate PDF from HTML to use while offline.

User Friendly

Unlike other programming languages, HTML is user-friendly and easy to use, even for beginners. This is because it has semantic elements that describe the content they contain, like header, footer, main, summary, and time are HTML common tags that are self-descriptive.

Examples of HTML

The following are examples of HTML that you can use to create a basic web page. Try them out on a text editor to see how they look on your web browser.

<!DOCTYPE html>

You need this HTML tag at the beginning of every HTML document you create.

<html>

This is another HTML tag that tells a web browser that it’s reading HTML. This comes after the DOCTYPE tag, and you close it with a </html> tag right at the end of the HTML file you create. Whatever it is you are creating goes between these tags.

Some other examples of HTML are: <head></head>, <title>, <body>, <h1>, and more. You can check out the whole list of available HTML tags here.

CSS is a great way for web developers to preserve the desired colors, texts, and fonts of HTML documents.

Intro to CSS: Cascading Style Sheets

CSS, or cascading style sheets, are an increasingly common way for web developers to control the look and feel of web page presentations. For example, a style sheet enables web developers to specify the font, color, and size of an entire website without the need to code the information on each site’s page.

Style sheets separate the look and feel of HTML documents from the structure or the content. It is a great way for web developers to preserve the desired colors, texts, and fonts of HTML documents. However, a beginner in web design can also benefit from sites designed using the CSS file.

Also, web developers may choose to apply their different style sheets to documents, overriding other style sheets. For example, a beginner web developer with low vision could modify every CSS-enabled website to display text in yellow on a black background color if those colors enable him to read the text.

CSS is a designed language intended to allow HTML pages to be more presentable. CSS enables you to apply a style sheet to your HTML page. CSS is also easy to learn and provides robust control over the presentation of an HTML page.

So How Does CSS Work?

CSS makes an HTML page be more presentable by interacting with HTML elements. HTML elements are the individual HTML documents of a web page. For example, a paragraph in HTML might look like this:

<p>Content Writing</p>.

But if you want to make this paragraph appear blue and be bold to people viewing your web page through the internet, you would use CSS code that looks like this:

p { color: blue; font-weight: bold; }

“p,” in this case, refers to the “paragraph,” known as the selector, and it is part of CSS code specifying which HTML element the CSS style will affect. In CSS, the selector is written to the left of the first curly bracket “{. “

The information between curly brackets is a declaration containing properties and values applied to the selector. For example, properties are color, font size, margins, etc., which are the settings for those properties.

Thus, in the example shown above, the color and font-weight can also be classified as properties, and “blue” and “bold” are regarded as values.

Why Use CSS?

CSS is a powerful style sheet programming language that you can use to control the look and feel of the information written on the HTML page, which means that if you have a website element – <h1> for example – and you want to make the text font size “18px”, the color “red.” The padding around it is “8px,” you would use cascading style sheets (CSS) to control the look of the HTML website <h1> element. 

CSS Provides Efficiency in Design and Updates

This approach provides many benefits when your client requires website-wide ranges. You can create a CSS rule and apply the rule to any HTML element within the site. In addition, since the content is completely separated from your design, you can make those changes in your style sheet and have it more presentable in every applicable instance.

CSS Is Easy to Work With

You can keep every visible part of your website wholly separated from CSS content when creating a website. CSS enables you to create layouts and troubleshoot any problems quickly. In addition, regardless of the web page, you can control all elements from a single style sheet or many.

It Is Used for Website Maintenance

Another reason web developers use CSS is that CSS plays a vital role while performing site maintenance. CSS makes a site much easier to navigate, and CSS files make the website feel more flexible and can also be altered more conveniently. In addition, CSS files make the HTML formatting and corresponding data elements modification easier to use. Thus, with CSS, website maintenance becomes more convenient from the development perspective. 

Examples of CSS

CSS Code for Easy Paragraph Formatting

With CSS styling code, you don’t have to specify a style every time you create a web page. Instead, you may decide that all paragraphs should have a particular type. For example, let’s assume you want the paragraph

-<p>, I’m a web developer – slightly larger than usual with dark red text instead of black. This CSS code is:

p { font size: 110%; color: dimred;}.

However, anytime the web browser renders a paragraph, the text will automatically inherit the size (110% of normal) and color (“dimred”).

CSS Makes It Easy To Change Link Colors

Changing of styles is not limited to paragraphs. There are four various colors a link can be assigned: visited color, hover color, standard color, and active color.

For example:

a:link {color: gray; }

a visited {color: green; }

a:active{color: teal; }

a:hover {color: purple; }.

However, with links, each “a” is followed by a colon and not a dot. This means those declarations change the color of a link in a specific context. Therefore, there is no need to change the class of a link to get it to change color.  

The World Wide Web Consortium

The W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) is an international standard company that works together for the long-term growth of the Web. This is done by developing principles and protocols that allow the furthering of the W3C’s vision that the Web is for everyone and allows participation and knowledge sharing by professionals globally. 

W3C was founded in 1994, and Tim Berners-Lee currently leads it. W3C is made up of companies that maintain full-time staff working together to develop standards for the Web.

According to www.w3.org, as of 21st July 2021, W3C has 444 members.

In addition, W3C also engages in education and outreach, develops software, and serves as a community forum to discuss anything about the Web.

HTML and CSS are the primary coding languages of web development, providing the foundation for taking your tech skills to the next level.

How Do HTML & CSS Relate To Each Other?

To learn the basics of web development, you need to master HTML and CSS. HTML is the foundation of web content, known as the web developer’s information on the HTML page that the users see and interact with on web browsers, including text, pictures, videos, etc.

A CSS style is a performance just like the client-side of the Web, which the users can see and interact with.

For example, the text, font size, image, and background color are used to change the appearance of the content, which is known as representations.

HTML and CSS are two essential programming languages in creating a web page.

An HTML file contains the web page structure, while a CSS file contains the styling of web pages, including colors, layout, fonts, etc.

Are They Still Relevant Today?

Of course, yes, they are still relevant in the tech industry. Even web developers use them as a foundation of web design. They are rules for styling and structuring content on a web page. They are used to add meaningful structure to web content and eliminate unwanted tags on the HTML page. 

Should I Learn HTML & CSS?

As an inexperienced web developer, the best way to start is to equip yourself with basic HTML and CSS skills. These two programming languages are relevant for a beginner in web development and are also used in other professional settings. The fact is, basic knowledge of the two programming languages could be a massive plus to your career. The following are the reasons why you need to learn HTML and CSS programming languages.

They Make it Easier to Learn Other Languages Faster

Understanding the foundational programming languages will be more accessible for you to grasp other programming languages, including JavaScript, Python, PHP, SQL, and more. In addition, the best way to get more serious in web development is by knowing the foundational programming languages, adding additional coding languages to your skill-set arms you with technical advantages and expertise.

Applications Across Industries

Being able to create sites or having knowledge of how the two coding languages are utilized can help you create and develop optimized and user-friendly sites without having to struggle for better results. HTML and CSS can also be used in other industries such as marketing and advertising. For example, as a digital marketer, understanding how a web page is built enables you to design and develop more marketing campaigns.

Final Word

HTML and CSS are foundational programming languages that are used for the creation of desirable web pages. After comparing both languages over their different uses and how they work, it can be seen that both coding languages are essential for creating attractive web pages.

Perhaps you are looking to venture into the exciting industry of web development, or you are an inexperienced web developer looking to enhance your career. This is the best time to take the next step toward achieving your goals.

HTML and CSS are the primary coding languages of web development, providing the foundation for taking your tech skills to the next level.

The post HTML & CSS: What’s The Difference? appeared first on Startup Oasis.