Tech North has partnered with Liverpool Girl Geeks to offer more women in the north of England its free coding course, 'Get Your Head Around Code', reports Liverpool Noise.
Liverpool Girl Geeks, first launched in 2013, is a community of women dedicated to offering inspiration, support, guidance and feedback to those interested in tech. Alongside the fully-funded coding course, it offers workshops, demonstrations and talks from industry leaders.
"There are so many girls in Liverpool interested in tech, they just don't know what careers there are available to them or where to start, so that's where we come in," said Liverpool Girl Geeks co-founder Rebecca Jones.
"When we launched Get Your Head Around Code as a fully-funded session it booked up incredibly fast. We offered 30 places for Jan, Feb and March and they went in less than a week which is extremely exciting for the city and shows the demand for this type of activity."
The course was created in 2015 with the aim of teaching coding skills to women at all levels with six-week sessions covering different areas of coding such as C++ and Java.
In April last year, Jones told the Liverpool Echo: "In digital innovation the diversity of the companies is very narrow. The leadership is predominantly men and that lack of diversity limits the ability of those companies to offer different products and think in different ways. The men that work in the industry say 'we'd like to take on more women how can you help us? How can we help you?
"We just really want to connect women with the options that are out there, we want to build those role models in the women that we're encouraging now, so in a few years, they're able to come and encourage younger students to follow them."
Tech North has been criticised in the past for not living up to the government rhetoric regarding a 'northern powerhouse' that will rival London and the south of England.
Last year, Tech City UK CEO, Gerard Grech, told IT Pro: "Tech North, which is actually supporting the seven Northern cities, is very much about capitalising growth and change and making sure it has an impact on making businesses grow, but also making sure that people that have a rose to play in the economic growth of a region.
"Cities have to do their bit prioritising digital in their growth strategies locally, ensure universities and colleges are contributing to the growth of the sector locally."
