Decoded HQ, London. March 18th, 2015
Kathryn Parsons and the team at Decoded hosted us at their HQ near Silicon Roundabout, giving us a quick lesson in how to code, how to hack, and why understanding what goes on behind the screen is so important for every one of us. This is even more so for women, who continue to be significantly under-represented in the technology sector.
Kathryn walked us through how the Decoded mission – to demystify code. Technology is disrupting, expanding and changing so many industries around us, it’s difficult to point to any business that has not and will not continue to change due to the rapid growth and development of the internet and the technology around it. Kathryn and their team left a clear impression on us – learning the language of code would help us develop, move with the changes, and be a force for change in the future. The other choice is to put our heads in the sand and risk being left behind.
After warming us up with cocktails and an incredible spread of food from their in-house chefs, we first learnt the basics behind coding – the use of the three principal programs HTML, CSS and JavaScript. On first glance code frankly looks like an alien language, but after a little while it looked a little less terrifying. We then learnt some serious lessons from the hacking team – be wary of free wifi! When you connect to free wifi, whether in Starbucks or the London Underground, your connection is open to hackers who can see everything you’re doing, including the logins and passwords you use for any number of platforms. To know you’re safe when signing in to anything, look for a green padlock at the beginning of the URL.
We’re all very seriously considering signing up for the Decoded day courses – the future is in the coders’ hands!
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