CodeDay (formerly StudentRND or SRND) is a non-profit organization created to promote STEM education for high school and college students. The organization is headquartered in Seattle, Washington and runs several programs for 55,000 students in 50 cities around the world focusing on "providing welcoming and diverse opportunities for under-served students to explore a future in tech and beyond."

History

CodeDay was founded in 2009 by Edward Jiang as "Student Research and Development" (which is still the organization's legal name), and was initially a

makerspace A hackerspace (also referred to as a hacklab, hackspace, or makerspace) is a community-operated, often "not for profit" (501(c)(3) in the United States), workspace where people with common interests, such as computers, machining, technology, sci ...

for students and high school accelerator, helping to start several successful companies. The early days of the organization were profiled in the book, ''Be a Changemaker: How to Start Something That Matters.'' The original mission of CodeDay was to "create the next generation of technologists" through makerspaces, however CodeDay closed its makerspace in 2013, citing lack of attendance and high costs, and began focusing entirely on CodeDay. Around the same time, CodeDay adopted a mission of increasing interest in

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

, as well as focusing on attracting diverse students. Despite this focus on diversity, it does not promote to any single demographic, reporting a combined diversity of 68% women, low-income, African American, and Latino students (compared to the industry norm of 14%). As of 2020, 36,594 students without experience had taken part in CodeDay's programs, and 25,681 continued to code.

CodeDay (event)

CodeDay started its core event program in 2012, a series of 24-hour programming competitions run across the US every few months, usually on

long weekend A long weekend is a weekend that is at least three days long (i.e. a three-day weekend), due to a public or unofficial holiday occurring on either the following Monday or the preceding Friday. Many countries also have four-day weekends, in w ...

s. CodeDay is currently hosted in 48 cities, focusing on regions without robust tech sectors. All cities run CodeDays simultaneously, and are hosted at local tech companies or

co-working space Coworking is an arrangement in which workers for different companies share an office space. It allows cost savings and convenience through the use of common infrastructures, such as equipment, utilities and receptionist and custodial services, a ...

s, and funded by local donations, sponsorships, and a $10 entrance fee, which some consider controversial. Events are 24-hours-long with pitches at the beginning and presentations at the end. Many students do not sleep and program for the entire event. During the events, there are workshops on various subjects, as well as a CTF called CodeCup. Many students who attend CodeDay have little or no experience before attending. The goal of CodeDay is to get these students to continue to pursue Computer Science after they leave. In response to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

, CodeDay began hosting online CodeDay events in April 2020, called Virtual CodeDay. CodeDay started hosting its in-person events again in November 2021, but continued to host Virtual CodeDay. In early 2022, CodeDay expanded into Asia with the introduction of events in Singapore and Mumbai. In 2023, CodeDay hosted its event on Lucknow, Amritsar and will host events on Kolkata, Durg, Bangalore and many other cities.

CodeDay Labs

In 2013 CodeDay launched a summer program called StudentRND Labs which taught students skills of

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. In 2017 the organization relaunched the Labs program as an entirely online program with focused on technology education and providing an experience similar to an internship, working on open-source software. The program runs from June through August and pairs college students up with full-time programmers from the technology industry to contribute to open source software. Though the program claims to try to replicate a traditional technology

internship An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used to practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and g ...

, some differences include that only 20 hours per week is required to participate, students are not hired by a particular company, and most students are not paid. There is also a "beginner track" which pairs high school students up with college interns.

Other programs

CodeDay also runs several other programs: * a computer science fair with workshops and demonstrations called CS Fairs * cybersecurity and data science challenges for schools * an online community for students

References

{{Reflist

External links

CodeDay Website
DIY culture Non-profit organizations based in Seattle American science websites