Inspiring all children, a journey: diversity and computing education

Do you remember when you wrote your first line of code? Do you remember who inspired you to become who you are when you were a child? But also, what the challenges might have been?
I remember when I was a little girl with a strong interest in a lot of things, including science, and what and who helped me pursue an education and a career in science and technology. However, my journey in the industry from France to the UK, from software engineer student to team lead, from language processing to robots to online coding games, made me understand there is still a lot of work to be done in terms of diversity. I will talk about my own experiences, what shaped my dreams and inspirations, the reality check, and the project I’m now working on Code For Life. Code For Life is an initiative started at Ocado Technology in 2014, in response to the UK putting computing in the primary school curriculum. It comprises a small full time team and also a large group of dedicated volunteers who focus on creating free, open source games, mostly web games developed with Django, to teach all children how to program. We are all dedicated to inspire all children and give them the tools and opportunities they deserve.