February 24, 2015
Toronto is 500 developers richer this week following The HTML500, Canada’s largest learn-to-code event that touched down in the city for the first time on Sunday, February 22.
Novice coders, some as young as nine years old, flocked to MaRS Discovery District to learn basic HTML and CSS over an intensive one-day workshop. Hosted by Vancouver-based Lighthouse Labs, which runs coding bootcamps, The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering was the event’s official education partner.
Fifty aspiring engineers between the ages of nine and 13 joined the day, supported by Engineering Outreach instructors and HTML500 mentors.
“There’s a lot of new technology out there, and we wanted to experience it,” says Kaitlyn Bilodeau, a Grade 5 student at Denlow Public School in Toronto.
“I wanted to learn how to build a website and actually do it myself,” added Elisa Hirano, a Grade 6 student at Franklin Street Public School in Markham.
Kaitlyn, Elisa and their friend Emily Ng agreed that this one-day crash-course won’t be the last time they apply these skills to a web-based project–all three said they were looking forward to practicing at home and building on their new knowledge.
Attendees heard a one-hour lecture on from Lighthouse Labs’ head instructor Khurram Virani, then launched into the task of building their own web page from scratch. ECE provided dozens of experienced fourth-year and graduate student mentors to help the participants troubleshoot and navigate their workflow. The day wrapped up with a career fair advertising both non-developer and coding jobs for participants.
The HTML500 launched its inaugural one-day event last year in Vancouver, with more than 1,300 people on the waiting list to attend. Response was so strong that Lighthouse Labs decided to take the show on the road, adding stops in Calgary, London, and Toronto in January and February 2015. More than 5,000 registrants applied to participate.
“Based on the total number of registrants we have for The HTML500 events in Vancouver, Calgary, London and Toronto, it’s clear that there is a huge demand for digital literacy in Canada,” says Jeremy Shaki, Lighthouse Labs co-founder. “As a community and a country, we miss out on good ideas that are not launched into action. The HTML500 is all about providing encouragement and the tools necessary to get people creating with code because the possibilities are endless.”
More information:
Marit Mitchell
Senior Communications Officer
The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
416-978-7997; marit.mitchell@utoronto.ca