Announcing a Bootcamp for Women in Science and Engineering

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

On June 24-25, 2013, Software Carpentry will run a computing skills bootcamp in Boston for women in science, engineering, and medicine. With three rooms and six instructors, it will be one of the biggest events we've ever done.

bootcamps alternate short tutorials with hands-on practical exercises. Learners are taught tools and concepts they can use immediately to increase their productivity and improve confidence in their results. Topics covered include the Unix shell, version control, basic Python programming, testing, and debugging—the core skills needed to write, test and manage research software.

This bootcamp is open to women at all stages of their research careers, from graduate students, post-docs, and faculty to staff scientists at hospitals and in the public, private, and non-profit sectors. Registration is only $20; to sign up, or find out more, please visit the registration page or email {{site.contact}}. And if you would like to volunteer to help during practical sessions on either or both days, please contact us as well.

This bootcamp has been made possibly by support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Mozilla Foundation, Microsoft, Intel, the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, the Python Software Foundation, NumFOCUS, and several generous individuals.

Armed with a single introductory C++ course, I did a master's degree and several years of consulting work on spatial simulation models before taking Software Carpentry. Long, slow, frustrating experiences left me well prepared to appreciate this course. What has changed? I work more quickly, and re-use my own code; I find more errors, and spend less time fixing them; I trust my results more; I don't mind revisiting and revising old work; collaborators and potential employers are more impressed; and I'm happier.

— Josie Hughes develops models of mountain pine beetles and other outbreaking forest insects