Over the past couple months, PT has been releasing a series of videos called “Women Coding for Change.” The videos tell some of the stories of the XPRT Women Code-a-thon and attempt to shed light on the massive gender gap in STEM fields. Our hope is that people watching these videos will be inspired to take action. For some women, that might mean beginning to explore computer science. But what do you do if you’re a woman who is interested in coding but already pursuing another career?
Code schools and online classes are both excellent options, but I’d like to point out a different, less obvious route: starting your coding journey with elearning development.
Many of the tools we use to build elearning courses—including Adobe Captivate, Articulate Storyline, and more—have a quick learning curve. Even a brand-new developer can do productive work in a short timeframe. The interactive nature of these tools makes them a compelling entry point for beginning developers. As developers grow more comfortable with these programs and improve their skills, they have the option to learn additional development tools, such as Javascript and HTML5, and use them to add more advanced features to their elearning modules.
Here at PT, we’ve seen this approach work in action. Our elearning developers, most of whom are women, came from a wide variety of backgrounds. One started as a graphic designer, one as a Web developer, and one as an instructional designer, while others have spent their entire careers coding. All of them are now confidently creating innovative, world-class elearning courses. All of them have helped us look at old problems from new perspectives.
The elearning industry is changing and growing every day. To deliver the online learning experiences that modern companies need, we need to utilize the development software we already have, create and adopt new tools, and integrate traditional development tools. The more we can add interactive, app-like features and responsive design to our elearning and learning-for-marketing content, the more audiences will benefit.
These challenges are opportunities for women—or men—who want to learn how to code but don’t know where to start. Elearning is a gateway to a world of coding possibilities. Anyone can step through.
