Free coding workshop March 25 at Texas Tech in Marble Falls
Austin Coding Academy CEO Chris Lofton (left) and Dr. Justin Louder, associate vice provost of Texas Tech University eLearning and Academic Partnerships and interim superintendent of Texas Tech’s K-12 program, at the September announcement of the creation of the Texas Tech Coding Academy. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
The Texas Tech Coding Academy is offering a free Learn to Code workshop from 6-7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 25, at Texas Tech University at Highland Lakes, 806 Steve Hawkins Parkway in Marble Falls.
The workshop, taught by Daniel Cumming, Austin Coding Academy’s director of Placement and Partnerships, will be capped at 20 students. Interested people can register on the workshop’s Eventbrite page.
“This is an opportunity to learn about development and how (people) can build their own websites,” said Austin Coding Academy CEO Chris Lofton. “It’s for anyone who has an interest in web development and technology. They don’t have to have any prior experience.”
In September, TTU-Highland Lakes and Austin Coding Academy announced a partnership through which the academy would offer a nine-month program on coding for software, apps, and websites.
At that announcement, Lofton noted the academy also would offer free workshops to help people who did not have the time or the tuition money to pay for the 32-week program.
“This is to give them some skills and guidance to continue to work on it,” Lofton said.
Students should:
- bring laptops and chargers;
- download Git, a code management system, and Visual Studio Code, a popular code editor, before the workshop starts;
- and create a GitHub account.
Lofton said students need two more things: patience and persistence.
“We want to get people interested in learning how fun it is with coding and how easy it is to get started with the basics,” he added.
The goal is for each student to either have built their own website by the end of the workshop or learn the tools to complete a website on their own, he said.
“It’s really important for Marble Falls people to learn about technology and have a chance to try it themselves to build and develop websites,” Lofton said. “We want to grow the technology industry in Marble Falls. We want people to know these skills, to enjoy them, and improve their lives and create and improve their lives to do things they love.”