6 March 2018 at 08:00 (GMT) Download PDF
Partnership sees Trainline support Code First: Girls’ goal of teaching 20,000 women to code for free by 2020, to encourage more women to pursue careers in technology.
6 March London: Today, Trainline and Code First: Girls have announced a partnership to help 20,000 women in the UK to code, for free, by 2020, as part of the Code First: Girls’ 20:20 Campaign.
The partnership represents a commitment by Trainline, Europe’s leading independent rail and coach platform, to support the work of Code First: Girls in addressing issues of diversity in the technology sector within the UK. As well as financial support, Trainline will help deliver the training programme by providing in-house specialists as mentors. It will also open-up the programme for women at Trainline who would like to learn how to code.
Code First: Girls’ campaign aims to raise £1.5m - £500k each year for three years to upskill 20,000 women in the UK in coding, with Trainline partnering to support this goal.
The partnership comes at a time of stark underrepresentation for women in the UK’s technology sector. According to the UK Office of National Statistics’ most recent figures, only 3.9% of tech and telco professionals in the UK were female programmers and software developers.
Trainline’s own innovation trajectory has seen it develop and release the UK’s first predictive pricing tool for rail tickets and the most advanced rail voice assistant in the UK, among other innovations, within the past 12 months. With a team made up of 48 nationalities, the business recognises the importance of diversity and the necessity to address issues of gender imbalance in tech both now and in the future.
Tackling gender imbalance and championing talent within the technology industry is at the absolute core of Trainline’s culture and values. We are proud to partner with Code First: Girls, an organisation that is a force for real and positive change within the UK’s technology industry. An increase in female programmers, developers and engineers will have profound benefits to the UK’s tech economy, its businesses and its customers.
Clare Gilmartin
CEO, Trainline
Code First: Girls is excited to partner with Trainline on our 2020 campaign. We look forward to supporting them with building and tapping into a talent pool of incredible women looking to develop their careers in tech, as well as to help women understand what tech oriented careers are available to them. Trainline, an innovative tech company committed to diversity, shares many common goals with our organisation and we are delighted to have them on board.
Amali de Alwis
CEO, Code First: Girls
ENDS
About Trainline
Trainline is Europe’s leading independent rail and coach platform. We work with 144 rail and coach companies to offer our customers travel to thousands of destinations in and across 36 countries. Our aim is to bring together all rail, coach and other travel services into one simple experience so customers can get the best prices and smart, real time travel information on the go.
About Code First: Girls
Code First: Girls, is a multi-award winning social enterprise which works with companies and women to increase the proportions of women in tech. They do this by running free coding courses for young women, paid courses for men and women, by advising companies on tech talent, and by running a community of 6000+ women who are interested in tech.
They are the largest provider of free in person coding courses for women in the U.K. Over the past 3 years they’ve delivered £2.5 million+ worth of free tech education, taught 5000+ women how to code for free, and have helped companies to recruit and train better tech talent in their firms.