Earlier this month, ACT | The App Association co-hosted the third installment of our Coding a Career event series alongside our partners Apple and Louisiana’s Community and Technical Colleges at the Bossier Parish Community College (BPCC) Shreveport Campus. This event brought together some of the area’s most engaged officials, business leaders, educators, and students for a day of programming focused on giving students actionable insights around how to turn an interest in computer science and coding into a lifelong career.
Coding a Career
Our BPCC Coding a Career event featured a keynote address and panel discussion with a focus on how students can turn their coding skills into a career; the skills companies look for when hiring developers for their teams, and practical advice on how to take the next steps towards a future career in development. Attendees also asked questions of our panelists for more practical tips and tricks and participated in a coding demonstration.
Our event kicked off with a warm welcome by Quentin Calhoun, assistant dean of business and information technology at BPCC, followed by opening remarks by the App Association’s very own Graham Dufault and a keynote address from Dr. Rick Bateman, chancellor of administration at BPCC. During both Graham’s and Rick’s remarks, attendees learned more about the opportunities the app economy can offer innovators and what comprehensive computer science education can mean for future opportunities in our industry.
“The reason why we pick up our phones is not the phone itself. It’s what’s on the phone.” @GDufault, the App Association 📱 pic.twitter.com/ENIe5uP8MV
— ACT | App Association Members (@actmembers) March 1, 2023
Our panel featured speakers from local businesses and academia who discussed how students could leverage the skills they are learning into a career in tech, while also highlighting additional skills needed in the app economy and its workforce. Their insights ranged from technical advice around coding and development to developing soft skills and the importance of finding and building community as folks create a career in the app economy. Panelists included BPCC CITO Wesley Bange, SCILS Region 8 LaSTEM Center Director Cathi Cox-Boniol, Ruby Shore Software Web Designer Jasmine Flores, Xentient Tech Founder and CEO Cesar Marrero, and Ruby Shore CTO Nicholas Phillips.
“fail and fail fast. if you fail fast enough and make decisions quick enough, no one notices your mistakes. the quicker you fail, the faster you can learn something.” -Wesley Bange, BPCC on valuable soft skills in the tech industry. pic.twitter.com/GUU5cSwHtO
— ACT | App Association Members (@actmembers) March 1, 2023
“communication skills are huge. just because you code doesn’t mean you don’t have to talk to stakeholders or clients. being able to communicate and back up your decisions is important.” -Jasmine Flores, Ruby Shore pic.twitter.com/pdyVo8kZtn
— ACT | App Association Members (@actmembers) March 1, 2023
The Coding a Career panel was followed by lunch, where attendees connected with panelists to ask questions and learn more from our lineup of amazing speakers before kickstarting our coding demonstration.
that’s a WRAP on our panel! special shout-out to Nicholas, Cathi, Wesley, Jasmine, and Cesar for creating such an interesting and insightful conversation. 🤩 pic.twitter.com/xvtu0WYIkM
— ACT | App Association Members (@actmembers) March 1, 2023
and we’re ending our day with a #Coding demonstration @BPCCCavs!! huge thank you to our amazing partners, speakers, and attendees for making this event great 🤩 #CodingACareer pic.twitter.com/p0eww7kSmp
— ACT | App Association Members (@actmembers) March 1, 2023
Until Next Time
The App Association, along with Apple and BPCC, was proud to host our third Coding a Career event in Louisiana, and we’re excited to continue to work with communities across the United States to promote a vibrant app economy.
While you can’t find this event on our YouTube channel, you can get a tl;dr in our Twitter thread here.