Where dreams take root

Once upon a time

4 years ago, my friend Nadia - who decided to change careers to product/UX design - and I hired Sana, a coding bootcamp graduate who was looking to apply her newly acquired skills to real-world projects. Since the very beginning, Sana has shown an immense curiosity in solving problems and a huge motivation to grow and learn. Her arrangement consisted of a mix of paid self study, as well as building real-world web applications for customers. Sana learned so fast that after two years, we had nothing left to teach her. The time had come for her to find a job and explore the corporate world. We all knew that it wasn’t goodbye forever. We just all needed to go out to grow and refine our respective skills to be capable of bigger and better things once we got back together.

The reunion

And now we are back together. Almost 2 years later, in which we all focused on our own careers, a lingering desire to enable other women brought us back together and we founded Code Blossom, a non-profit organization to enable girls and young women from disadvantaged backgrounds to kickstart their tech careers. This time, we're scaling up the project to reach more women as we’re planning to operate in many countries all over the world.

From housewife to Regional Lead

Sana, who has quit her corporate job to join the Code Blossom organization full-time, will operate as Regional Lead in Pakistan. Her tech knowledge and professional experience that she has gained in the last few years, as well as the fact that her own learning is not too far back, will enable her to take responsibility for the challenging task of designing a curriculum that is extensive yet effective. At the same time, she is familiar with the culture of other countries we operate in and can empathize with the challenges the participants will face. 

Even though she has many responsibilities at home, running a household and caring for two children, she is excited about her career: “Life is a journey filled with unexpected turns, and today, I've chosen to embark on a new path—one that ignites my soul with purpose. As I step into this role, I want to show my children that dreams are worth chasing and that resilience can overcome any obstacle. With Code Blossom, I'm not just building a future for myself; I'm shaping opportunities for countless others. This isn't just a career change; it's a transformation of my spirit, and I can't wait to see what blooms”.

We can’t wait to see what we’ll build together with Sana as such a crucial part of our organization.

PoC in Pakistan

For our PoC, we will focus on Pakistan because we’re already set up there, having Sana available to be active in the field. We currently have 3 girls on board, who are going through our newly designed curriculum. In this phase, we’ll validate the curriculum, as well as the length of the course.

Very soon we’ll be expanding to other countries such as India, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, and more.

What sets us apart

We will provide all participants with a laptop and WIFI to make sure they have the right setup to get started with coding effectively. Our curriculum is a full-stack self-study course guided by a mentor who is available in case of technical difficulties and to provide emotional support.

Compared to other coding boot camps, we have paid projects in between modules in which the girls can apply their knowledge and play around with what they learned. The payment amount will be significant enough to act as an incentive both to stick with the curriculum, as well as to do their best in all the assignments.

At the end of the curriculum, we will personally make sure that the participants will find either an internship or a junior position as developers. To do so, we’re planning to work with international organizations, learning about their requirements and making sure that our graduates tick all the boxes on what they need to become successful.

Stay tuned!

This is just the beginning. This project will help hundreds of young women get their tech careers kick-started. If you’d like to be part of the movement, check out our website for options on how to get involved. Stay tuned - more updates will follow soon!