Become part of our mentoring team now 🦹‍♀️

Of course, we are always looking for support in our association. But how does that actually work? What do I have to do or what experience do I have to bring with me? How much time should I invest? We will answer these questions in the next paragraphs.

First things first: We are an association, our activities are voluntary and therefore applies: Everything can - nothing must.

In the following, we provide insights into the tasks through which our mentors contribute.

👩‍💻 Participate 👩‍💻


  • Attend study groups

    Our Study Groups are the heart of our volunteer work. At study groups, our participants work on prepared exercises or on their own projects or ideas. If help is needed with coding, discussing an idea, or support in using a tool, the participants contact us. Our mentors have different skillsets, but usually they can help outside of their own specialization. If you get stuck, you can do what you do at work and Google the problem with the participants or ask another mentor for help. In this way, we also normalize that it is absolutely okay and normal not to know everything, and that googling is absolutely part of everyday IT life 😉.


  • Host a study group

    Finding a location, booking, coordinating, organizing mentors for the evening, determining who comes first and who leaves last. In other words, all the organizational aspects of a study group. But that doesn't mean that you have to do everything yourself, delegating is of course allowed.


  • Social Media

    We are soooooo social media. This saying is an insider within our team, after many of us have learned a thing or two in this area. If you enjoy creating posts and stories (in text and images) and scheduling them, we could certainly use your help here.


  • Design

    We are always happy about content, especially if it looks good and is colorful. (We are more familiar with Courier New 😀 )


  • Community & Networking

    Internally as well as externally, we naturally try to network well, since bringing like-minded people together is one of the main goals of our initiative. In Linz, there is a monthly community regulars' table for mentors and participants, and this is also planned for Vienna, depending on developments. Of course, these also have to be advertised and reserved. In the best case scenario, someone from the mentor group will be there in the evening to welcome newcomers and answer any questions they may have.


  • Hackathon, Sommerpartys, Events,...

    Despite COVID-19 and the relatively young existence of the association, we have been able to organize and implement some larger events so far. We would like to organize one or two hackathons per year in the future. In the past we held some remote workshop days and organized a summer party as a community event. Such events are organized in smaller mentor teams. You can participate in the organization beforehand or just help out at the event as a mentor. As with all our activities, everything can - nothing has to.


  • Eating Pizza

    Our study groups always end with a pizza, drinks, and networking session. This is an opportunity for participants to talk to others about today's exercise, or to ask us mentors anything. Often they just ask how they got into IT, what their first job was like, whether they can already apply for a job or what the application process usually looks like in IT.
    Our events usually have a very high percentage or are completely vegetarian. In addition, we usually always provide a vegan option as well.

Get in touch with us 👋👩‍💻

 

The best thing you can do is network with us in Slack: female-coders.slack.com. If you leave us a message in the #interest-in-mentoring channel, someone from our team will reach out to you. You will also be added to our private mentoring channels.

You can also contact us by e-mail:

Frequently Asked Questions

 

I don't know every tool and not every programming language. Is that a problem?

No, absolutely not. Nobody knows everything, and if we don't know what to do, we do it like in real life and Google together with our participants 😉 .
The most common programming languages used in our study groups are JavaScript, Python and HTML/CSS. However, we have also worked with Scratch and are always happy to expand our instructional repertoire. 

What do I need to be a mentor at a Study Group?

Joy in sharing knowledge is the only prerequisite! For technical knowledge, basic programming skills are usually quite sufficient. You don't need to bring anything to the Study Group itself, a laptop is of course always handy but not necessary.

Can I submit costs incurred for female coders to the association?

Generally, we cannot pay compensation, but if equipment or food is purchased for a study group, these costs will of course be covered by the association. Travel expenses or parking fees can also be covered by the association. 

How much time does it take to be a mentor?

That depends entirely on you. If you are on fire and want to help think and organize, then there is of course no upper limit. But it's perfectly fine to help mentor a Study Group once a year, semester or quarter. However, you should not miss the Christmas party 😉 .

How do the mentors communicate with each other and how is the association organized?

We use Slack, which is also where we always coordinate external requests. Otherwise, there is a planning meeting every quarter in which the allocation for the next 3 months takes place and possible topics are discussed. Among other things, we decide who wants to attend which study groups and discuss any extra events and submissions. 

Who are the mentors?

Our mentors are women who work around and in IT - as Java or Web developers or Data Scientists, among others, who would be very happy about support! And we don't bite most of the time either 😉