February 1, 2019
In Italy, DXC organizes regular events to promote coding culture and develop coding skills. To do so, DXC Italy has become a part of the CoderDojo initiative, a global volunteer-led community of free programming clubs for young people.
CoderDojo is a grassroots organization composed of thousands of independent clubs (called dojos). Supporters of the organization believe that, by exposing young people to information and communication technology (ICT) at a young age, they can begin to address issues stemming from a global shortage of programmers. The CoderDojo Foundation has seen significant growth since its founding, and now estimates that it has 1,250 dojos spread across 69 countries, with a growth rate of several new dojos every week.
DXC has been involved in the initiative in Italy since 2014, having opened CoderDojo centers in Bari, Milan and Rome.
DXC’s dojos each hold 15 to 20 events per year and are open to all youth aged 7 to 17. There are many different levels of coursework, ranging from Scratch (a simple, object-oriented program to teach kids the basics of coding) to courses on sensors and Arduino, Python, mobile application programming, and robotics. The centers are open to all, but DXC employees have established a strong presence within each dojo’s mentor group. In a fun twist from lessons at school, students at each dojo are invited to collaborate and copy one another’s work.
Since joining the initiative, DXC has held more than 70 CoderDojos events and produced 500 training hours. Roughly 2000 kids have participated in the program. Meanwhile, 80 DXC employees have acted as mentors, with a core of 30 employees regularly participating.
The feedback DXC receives from the kids has been positive and enthusiastic. The kids really commit to do their best, and are always helping one another. One of the most rewarding things to see are smiles on the faces of kids playing with games that they have programmed themselves: they are so proud! This is probably the reason why our courses are always fully booked.
And the mentors are also happy to participate and help. A frequent comment is that being a part of the CoderDojo initiative gives a sense of being part of a family. We have the pleasure of doing something good together!