Info for Participants

I’ve never coded before and it sounds hard: is everyone going to know a lot more than me?

Not necessarily: many of our participants had never coded before when they started coming to CoderDojo Brighton and we have a wide range of different skill levels at every session, plus our mentors will be on hand to help out if you have any questions.

If you haven’t coded before we’ll start you off in the Scratch programming environment that’ll help you get to grips with the basics of programming, then once you’re a bit more comfortable you can move onto learning other languages and developing your own websites or games. We also have a Resources page with loads of links to useful websites if you want to get a head start before coming to your first session.

I already know how to program: why should I come to a CoderDojo?

CoderDojos are a great place to meet like-minded people and to learn from other people who are passionate about coding. They provide an environment where you can develop their own interests, but where you can ask for help or advice if you need it.

If you want to you can also get together with other participants with different skills to work on group projects: if you’re a backend coder maybe you could pair up with a frontender and work together on a website – you might even pick up some CSS while you’re at it!

What do I need to bring to CoderDojo?

You’ll need a laptop to work on: it doesn’t need to be particularly powerful but it will need to be able to run Scratch and any other languages or applications you want to work in. You don’t need to install anything in advance: we’ll have flashdrives containing Windows and Mac versions of Scratch and a text editor for each operating system that we can install on your laptop. We’ll also have wifi access if you need to install anything from the internet during the session.

If you are aged 12 or under you will also need to bring a parent or guardian – let them know that they can bring a book to read during the session!

I have a friend who’s interested in coding too, can they come along?

Yes of course – if they’re aged 12 or under then their parent or guardian will need to come with them (or maybe your parent will offer to chaperone them during the session), but if they’re over 12 and happy to work without disturbing others then they’re welcome to come along on their own. Just ask them to register so we know how many people are coming.