Welcome to the Jungle!
Have you ever been on an expedition to an unknown area? It takes a lot of courage and in some cases, it might be dangerous!
Some might imagine a jungle, a desert or high mountains, however, some don’t have to go that far. Our industry with all the ones and zeroes, symbols and brackets, frameworks and languages can be frightening to outsiders as well. We felt that this needed to change.
That’s why we decided to embark on our very own expedition — ReactiveExpedition. Our expedition team included our fearless leader-Veronika Zelinkova, a young and talented mobile developer and seven organizations that support education, diversity, or accessibility in IT. With our team in place, we were ready for our expedition.
Our main goal was to introduce our IT universe to underrepresented groups (you can read more about our reasons in this blog post). Amongst our explorers were six teachers, nine young aspiring high school developers, a university student and two participants who were just shifting their careers into IT. We gave them a one-day free pass to our conference and added additional programs.
How did their day look like?
Besides the main ReactiveConf program, our explorers participated in the following:
1. Meeting our rising stars
Having a role model or mentor is without a doubt really important, but having a peer that has the same responsibilities (mainly school) as you do and still knows how to excel in the IT world is priceless. That’s why our explorers got to meet first Veronika Zelinková (Expedition leader) and Ondřej Vrábel — two young talented developers that have already accomplished great things.
2. Meeting our shining stars
Learning about the way you can use tech knowledge in your future and for what purpose is crucial. Therefore, in the afternoon our explorers got to hangout and talk to Necoline Hubner, a software engineer at Development Seed in Washington, D.C. Necoline initially got into the tech field so she could design and build web apps for aid workers in refugee camps. They also got to meet David Nolen, who uses his knowledge of Clojure, JavaScript and Ruby, both for business and charitable purposes.
3. Meeting our full moon
Before meeting with another eight speakers of ReactiveConf that are stars of their companies and technologies, our explorers had a surprise expedition into Economia, a Czech publishing house. Here they got to learn interesting insight from the editor-in-chief of newspapers called Hospodářské noviny. Then they got secret tips and tricks from f.e. Brian Holt (Microsoft), Richard Feldman (Noredink) or Jessica Jordan (Simplabs).
Surprise at the end
Obviously, one day, with such a busy schedule, would not be enough, so we lengthened the one-day free pass to a free pass to the whole conference. Also, Brian Holt donated 6 months of free access to Frontend Masters to every explorer.
What our explorers said about their experience:
“I liked how much time we got to spend with the speakers. I had the opportunity to talk directly to them and ask them questions, which helped get rid off nervosity. I also appreciated the free entry for the next few days. It gave me more opportunity to learn new information. I was pleasantly surprised at the welcoming approach everyone had, even though we are not yet as experienced in the industry as they are“ said Katka, a university student.
Karel, a high school teacher said: “For me, attending the conference was a source of useful information — not only from the speakers but also from everyone who attended the expedition and other participants. I have gained an overview of what’s new, got new contacts and a free six-month subscription to Frontend Masters. And most importantly I got great feedback for my work. I realize that our students will benefit them in their future studies and professional life from what we are teaching them.“
What do the members of ReactiveConf think
“We are very excited about the positive feedback we have received from ReactiveExpedition.The explorers praised the possibility of meeting the speakers in person, while speakers enjoyed passing on their experience and sharing tips and tricks. But what I think the explorers enjoyed the most was the openness and welcoming atmosphere of our community. We are pleased that we have created a project and environment that provides participants with a safe environment and settings that push their motivation and limits in the right direction,” explains Michaela Vlčková, ReactiveConf CEO.
Pavla Umlaufová, leader of the project added “I was blown away by the positive attitude of everyone involved. I loved seeing how all the speakers got very excited in participating and talking to our explorers and on the other side seeing that our explorers had no idea that it can be so easy to get to talk to their role models and get a step closer to all of the opportunities this universe offers. My highlight was seeing several of the explorers approaching other speakers in the following days and having a private talk about what interested them the most!“
What we know for sure:
We are going to send out another expedition next year and we hope you will get involved in any way possible! We feel the need to continue supporting these amazing organizations, NGO’s and schools that are working hard every day to change this situation. Remember miracles don’t happen just around the holidays (although we are huge fans of the wave of holiday solidarity), but you can make them happen every day! Whether you are a company that can help these organizations through your CSR activities, a developer that can teach a course/workshop/class or mentor their own mentee, or HR specialist that can help juniors get connected with the right opportunities! Let’s make our universe more diverse and more welcoming!
Here are the organizations that sent their participants in the very first ReactiveExpedition:
Techsoup Czech republic — is a web site serving nonprofits that provides training webinars, community forums and other resources about the use of technology in nonprofit organizations and public libraries.
Green fox academy — is preparing over 160 students for their new career path in its classrooms in Budapest and Prague.
StarupJobs — is an internet job portal in the Czech republic
Techheaven — developer tech co-working centrum for young developers
Czechitas — is a non-profit organization made up of young women and men who all share one common goal — to increase diversity in the world of IT and to fight for a higher level of digital proficiency among women and in the new generation.
Nadání a dovednosti o.p.s. — helps children from orphanages and foster families to enter the labor market. They do it with the heart and give the wings to the children.
VSE — University of Economics in Prague
