CodeHouse 2022 Palo Alto and Atlanta – The Opportunities Of A Lifetime

Each year, VMware Code House Palo Alto and Atlanta exclusively invite a select group of women technologists from universities across the United States for a multi-day, virtual coding experience. Attendees work on real-world projects with the end goal of positively impacting STEM education for underrepresented communities. They then present their team's solution to a panel of VMware judges which allows them the opportunity to network with tech industry thought leaders. The immersive experience provides students with opportunities to learn new skills, grow their network, and develop their teamwork through collaboration. 

This year, VMware CodeHouse Atlanta attendees were introduced to the 'Go' language, while VMware CodeHouse Palo Alto attendees learned how to use Asynchronous Messaging. In just a short amount of time, students mastered and implemented these technologies in their respective solutions that targeted topics in STEM education, diversity, equity, and inclusion. VMware Careers sat down with Ashley Green and Cherielynn Tsay, two program managers from the Emerging Talent team, to hear more about their experiences with VMware CodeHouse.

VMware Careers: Ashley, tell us more about this year's VMware CodeHouse events in Palo Alto and Atlanta.

Ashley Green: VMware CodeHouse proudly represents women and underrepresented minorities in technology. This year, eighteen Black and Latina women studying bachelors degrees in computer science took part virtually in our VMware CodeHouse Atlanta. We had 20 women studying advanced degrees for VMware CodeHouse Palo Alto. Outside of coding, this year's program attendees participated in a variety of team-building activitiesand workshops and heard from influential keynote speakers from the industry and VMware.
Atlanta Winners 

Melanie Sanchez, Elisa Carillo, Nadia Sharp, and Bethany Abebe were this year's CodeHouse Atlanta 2022 grand prize winners. Their project, "Code for Change," is an interactive website that makes learning programming both engaging and relatable. They accomplished this by creating a short personality quiz which tailors the coding lessons and challenges to the users' interests. After completing the challenges, the user is paired with a charity relating to their interest to continue their engagement! 

Palo Alto Winners

The following week, Divya Sharma, Sneha Nair, and Tanuja Joshi, also known as "Team BigOh," (led by VMWare employee Billy Zhou) took first place at VMware CodeHouse Palo Alto 2022. Their project, "Feedforward," is a platform that connects students who are trying to advance in STEM topics, with mentors by bridging the knowledge gap between the classroom and the real world through any guidance necessary. Although there are numerous similar services, FeedForward is different because participating mentors are rated by both reach and the number of students they have helped. This model matches students with mentors faster and allows students to complete their work on time.

The team's future vision of the platform stands to provide a solution within a platform for all co-working requirements in corporations and institutions. Some examples of this vision include scheduling meetings or peer-programming sessions, providing feedback, rewards, team appreciation posts, and insights on team performance in each organization through a dashboard. As a result, the team hopes their platform will enable users to accelerate their education and career in STEM by connecting with industry mentors and peers.

VMware Careers: What would you say made this year's VMware CodeHouse events so successful?

Cherielynn Tsay: It was the commitment, drive, and dedication of our mentors, volunteers, and most of all our attendees that made this year's virtual VMware CodeHouse events so successful. Every year we are impressed by the brilliance of our attendees and their final projects, and this year was no different!

Are you a woman pursuing Bachelors, Masters or Ph.D. degree in computer science or computer engineering? Do you want to be part of VMware CodeHouse 2023? Stay tuned to our Emerging Talent social media channels for application announcements.   
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