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Saudi Arabia is looking forward to a digitalized future, and many in the private sector are preparing the youth of the nation to get involved in the Kingdom’s fast-growing tech industry. In fact, Code for Girls is one such organization helping girls and women to take part in the nation’s economic transformation.
Considered to be the first of its kind in the Kingdom, Code for Girls was established in 2018 by Nora Al-Nashwan alongside her friend, Deema Alamer. The organization was set up to help empower women with the skills necessary to be part of the tech industry. With the motto "Bring your idea to life," it does this by building a community of talented girls from all disciplines, and helping them to polish their coding skills on both personal and professional levels.
A fellow course instructor at Code for Girls, Al-Nashwan is a software developer with years of experience in both the private and public sectors, and a senior consultant for IBM. Her past experiences include working as an app development specialist at Microsoft, and mobile app developer at the Kingdom's Ministry of Civil Service. Currently, she holds a bachelor's degree in computer science at Al-Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University.
To date, over 2,400 students in Saudi Arabia have benefited from courses provided at Al-Nashwan’s Code for Girls, with impact made with several organizations such as the Kingdom's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, MiSK, IBM, and Cisco, amongst others.
As the world heads into what is being called the fifth industrial revolution, Geek Express is one of the game-changing K-12 schools offering a hybrid learning model accessible to all.https://t.co/uA217qdzic
— About Her (@AboutHerOFCL) May 10, 2021
Aside from the important work she does with Code for Girls, Al-Nashwan is also an advocate for software development who often blogs about tech. In 2019, she was even awarded the Top 50 Tech Visionaries Award from Intercon. She also has experience in volunteering, serving as organizer in Science and Technology at MiSK Foundation in September 2018, and mentor in Science and Technology at the Saudi Digital Academy in June 2021.
