28 Nov 2023

ThinkYoung started the Coding School initiative alongside different partners in 2016, due to research showing the decline in jobs within the IT industry in Europe. This was mainly due to the fact that there was a lack in the necessary skills required to be able to efficiently carry out these IT professions. Additionally, from the research conducted, they were also able to identify that there was an overall gender gap in coding skills, as it was a mostly male predominant sector.

In fact, the European Commission posted that only 30% out of 7 million people working in IT are women.

Consequently, since putting into action the Coding School in 2016, ThinkYoung have been able to gather over 1400 students, which 60% where female students, which helped decrease the gender gap within the IT sector, as more female students were likely to study more STEM subjects, and continue this through to higher education.

ThinkYoung have conducted many coding schools across the globe. Including, Belgium, Ethiopia, Netherlands, and Rwanda. This has helped schools implement new skills and classes education students on these important skills and topics, as they are becoming the future of the world.

This allows ThinkYoung to unlock Europe’s digital potential, as they are planning on promoting their schools further, and reach more European countries, where there aren’t many schools teaching these important subjects. In fact, ThinkYoung in collaboration with Boeing launched a Coding School project for Ukrainian teenagers that were temporarily displaced to Poland. This was done, not only because it’s an important skill to have, but also to help students and countries which don’t have these opportunities and are going through tough times. Consequently, it’s crucial to teach coding skills, to get them to progress in their education, and choose subjects which will help them advance in the specific field.



by Diletta Chamba

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