Birmingham City University played host as a centre for Young Rewired State’s (YRS) Festival of Code last month, which saw a group of teenagers from the Midlands challenged to address real world problems through their self-taught hacking skills.
The Festival of Code is an annual event that encourages young people to create innovative technology applications.
Ardavan Amini, Head of Enterprise Systems Centre of Excellence at Birmingham City University, was the Centre Lead for YRS at Birmingham City University. He supported 17 young coders who produced a variety of projects using their skills in HTML, CSS, Javascript and PHP.
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The youngsters were given time to think about their ideas, develop working groups, and work with coding programmes that helped flesh out their projects. The level of coding experience within the group ranged from minimal coding practice to years of experience.
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The Festival of Code took place across the UK in July and culminated in a grand finale event in Plymouth, during which each of the centre’s young groups presented their projects to a panel of industry experts and advocates who are currently spearheading coding initiatives across the country.
One of the Birmingham City University groups have made it to the final three in the ‘Best Design’ category for their ‘SongSurge’ website, which helps users discover new music based on song popularity. The website was developed over the span of one week by a team of 16 young enthusiastic coders, including Tim Stallard, Lewis Wickes, Jasmine Sandhar and Dhaksha Vivekanandan.
The ‘Best Design’ category is now open for public vote.
The Festival of Code is organised annually by Young Rewired State, a not-for-profit organisation whose aim it is to find and foster a love of coding and a determination to learn complex technical skills in young people.
Charmaine Stint, YRS host centre co-ordinator at Birmingham City University said: “We’re delighted to have been able to open the doors of our University this summer to host the Festival of Code. This really is a fantastic event, and an invaluable one in giving the next generation a voice in helping them to harness their skills for the future.”
About the Festival of Code
The Festival of Code is open to any young person aged 19 or under with a basic understanding of coding. Young people with no programming experience are advised to visit www.youngrewiredstate.org to familiarise themselves with the necessary software. For more information, contact Laura Sprinks: laura.sprinks@workingword.co.uk or Kaitlin Dunning: kait@rewiredstate.org.
About Birmingham City University
With around 22,000 students from 80 countries, Birmingham City University is a large, diverse and increasingly popular place to study. We put students at the heart of everything we do, giving them the best opportunities for future success.
