Rails Girls Summer of Code

Press Room

About Rails Girls Summer of Code

Rails Girls Summer of Code funds women around the world to work full-time over summer on open-source software projects. Modelled after Google Summer of Code, but with a focus on beginners and women wanting to go into programming full-time, Rails Girls Summer of Code aims to get women involved in open-source and is the first ever event of its kind in the world. It commences 1 July, 2013, and runs for three months.

Interview Opportunities

The Rails Girls Summer of Code community is home to dozens of students, coaches, developers and sponsors dedicated to the Rails Girls mission of making technology more approachable for girls and women. Contact us to discuss a variety of topics, including:

  • Women in Technology, especially computer programming
  • Open Education Movement
  • Informal Education and Coaching
  • Open-Source Software
  • Rails Girls Community

Rails Girls Student Applicant Quotes

“When I decided to become a developer, I spent months with online tutorials, Coursera and Code Academy. I was learning basics, but couldn’t imagine working on anything significant. Other Rails Girls and I were all thinking the same thing – project groups and online tools are great, but how can I make the next jump? Rails Girls Summer of Code is that chance. Women like me will be able to work full-time, learn to code, and at the same time make meaningful contribution to the world of open-source.” -- Laura, USA

“I studied interior design and never even considered programming could be something interesting or exciting. Only after I came to Berlin and started to explore its charms, I found out about Rails Girls workshops. Soon after that I applied for one, mainly out of curiosity, and that's when my fascination about Ruby and other hacky stuff started. It wasn't only the possibility of learning something new that motivated me to continue with coding, but also this amazing, encouraging community. Now it's my time to dive into and contribute to the community that generously shares the knowledge by working on open source.” -- Maja, Slovenia

“When I was a kid I wanted to try out everything I could - from gymnastics, scouts, music school to basketball, languages and even sewing. I couldn't decide what to study so I took languages and political sciences, but I felt like something was still missing. When I heard about the opportunity to try programming, I knew that was it. I love problem solving and somehow I realized that half of my brain was awake again! At the beginning, I just thought programming was something for guys. Rails girls opened my eyes. I thought I was the only one thinking like this, but when I saw there are a lot of us, I felt relieved and realized that it's not too late to learn. I joined Rails Girls 8 months ago and I am amazed that my love for programming is just getting stronger and stronger. I'm excited to apply to Summer of Code because this is my chance to make my developing dreams a reality.” -- Nina, Slovenia

Rails Girls Summer of Code Sponsors Quotes

"Rails Girls Summer of Code is a concrete initiative to get more women coding professionally. 140 applicants means 140 potential women software engineers entering our industry. That’s 140 new and different perspectives to tackling engineering challenges. And 140 more role models for women in technology. We can’t wait!" Duana Stanley, Soundcloud

“We are constantly working on increasing our female quota and believe that projects like RG SoC do great in supporting women to start coding, bringing technology to more people and even more women into tech jobs.” -- Maike Kronenberg, Wooga

“The open-source community relies on a small number of individuals to power the work and businesses of thousands. Getting more great developers involved in the hard projects is critical to everyone's success. I can't wait to see what kind of progress the RailsGirls SoC participants can make in building features and solving problems the rest of us are scared of!" -- Jeff Casimir, Jumpstartlab

“At Groupon we have groups like Women in Engineering and Employee Resource Groups like Women@Groupon and Pride@Groupon because we want to foster diversity at work, especially in the Tech Scene. Having heard great things about the Ruby Community and Rails Girls, we felt that this RG SoC initiative was one that aligned with our own core values and one that would definitely going to help increase the women and diversity quota in IT. We want to further encourage such projects and show women that there is lots of support for them! Keep up the great work and happy to support dreams coming true!” -- Sebastian Dietrich, Groupon

Rails Girls Summer of Code in the News

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