Fintech unicorn Revolut is launching free coding classes for women

The start-up needs new engineers in order to grow globally and wants to encourage more women into engineering in the process 
Only 17 per cent of the UK's tech work force is women
Revolut
Amelia Heathman1 October 2018

The challenger bank start-up Revolut is launching free classes to teach women how to code to improve diversity in the tech industry.

The company, which recently reached unicorn status with a $1.7 billion valuation, is looking to hire new engineers to help the company grow globally.

And whilst it has a decent gender split in its office, around 60-40, it falls down in gender diversity in its engineering team.

Revolut wants to change this with by offering free coding classes to interested women at its new head office in Canary Wharf.

Nikolay Storonsky, founder and CEO of Revolut, hopes other tech companies follow suit in improving the diversity of their engineering teams.

"While a lot of tech companies talk a good game about how important gender balance is to them, we've identified our own imbalance within our engineering teams and are taking action ourselves to help tackle this issue,” Storonsky told the Standard.

“I hope Revolut can really kick this kind of initiative off in the hope that other tech companies follow suit and provide more opportunities for women who are keen to learn code."

How Revolut’s free coding classes will work

Revolut has opened up the application process for its first set of classes at its new head office in Canary Wharf. You can sign up here, and make sure to select 'Docklands' as the location.

Tickets are going fast so if it's something you're interested in, don't wait around.

Each class will have around 10-15 people, who will be taught different skills such as web, server and mobile development, by Revolut’s in-house team.

The classes will allow people to specialise in the type of coding they want.

As well, they will take place in the evening, starting at around 6.30pm for an hour and a half, so you can easily fit in the classes around a job. Importantly, snacks will be provided.

If you don't make it into the first round of classes, there will be another course in February next year.

And, for anyone who excels at the classes and is really serious about a coding career, there could even be employment opportunities at Revolut.

More and more initiatives are popping up to get women into coding careers. For instance, there’s Code First: Girls, initially set up by Entrepreneur First’s Alice Bentinck, which goes into universities and gives free coding classes to women.

As well, later this year the US-based coding school Flatiron School, which taught Karlie Kloss how to code, will be launching coding classes in London at WeWork Finsbury Pavement later this year.

Women are chronically underrepresented in the tech industry, making up only 17 per cent of the UK’s tech workforce, particularly in engineering.

That’s why it’s great to see a growing UK start-up like Revolut taking the necessary steps to change this.

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