by Lucia Capon
March 30 and my friend was hurrying me: “dale dale dale dale”.”
“I have to attend” “midterms” “work” “deliveries” “what if I can't make it?” “what if I fail the girls?” etc etc etc etc.
Countless excuses and barriers I used to put in my way to avoid doing something I had been wanting to do for a long time!
I already knew Girls In Technology (CET), and had read about the program. Programming A Better World (PUMM). The first time I saw it, I wished I was old enough to participate, and when I found out that the program not only seeks to encourage women developers, but also technology promoters, it closed me from all sides.
It is no news that the world of technology is expanding, creating new options for the future and modernizing the current ones. But there is still a lack of people who want to incorporate, exploit and reinvent it. It happens to all of us that we lose some creativity when we grow up, we become more square. By participating, exploring and getting to know new initiatives we expand our horizon, we “re-connect”. And with organizations like CET, not only do you grow, you also help others.
For those who are perhaps a little lost, PUMM is a program for teenage girls, who, forming a team of 3, develop an application that solves a problem in their community. To do so, they have the CET team, their mentor, and software to help them:
- Discover the problem they want to attack (if they have not already identified it).
- Search and design a solution
- Develop and present the developed solution.
And all this in 2 evenings and a weekend!!!!
After several internal debates, I convinced myself and applied for mentoring, beyond my fears and thinking that “the Lu of the future would take care of it”... And it was one of the best things I did in the semester.
On May 22nd, I finally received the invitation to be a mentor for the June issue of PUMM (yes, the answer was desired), and all my fears were reborn! After the first meeting, with Caro (Carolina Hadad) and Consu (Consuelo Lopez), where they answer questions, and help mentors get organized and prepared, I relaxed a bit. But it wasn't until I met my team that I knew everything was going to be okay.
They are Agus, Macu and Mili, 16 years old, they came from EEM Nº1 “Rodolfo Walsh” to PUMM to find a solution to their eating problems, and accompanying them inspired me a lot:
- Macu was hard at work when we were finishing the day and tired, so that everything would be ready for the next day: “Let's do this one more little thing and we'll have everything ready”.
- Agus took every detail into account, without losing the objective, so that everything would be consistent with what we had planned.
- Mili is always open to help in everything and super responsible! The last day she wrote me at 6AM that she had the flu, but that she was going to do her best to go: she arrived on time, worked all day without missing a beat at any time.
At the beginning they were a bit shy and unsure (the first thing they said to me was “I don't know if it will be right”, “I don't know if it will work”), but when we started brainstorming it was amazing how the ideas escalated. They grew, and they looked for more faces to tackle the problem. They found things they wanted to do, without knowing how (neither did I, hehe), and they faced them without hesitation. They never looked for “the easy way out”, and despite being a super intense program (with only 2 days for the whole development), there were smiles and endurance.
The final result was the prototype of Yo Chef, an app to suggest healthy meals that fit your diet and tastes. If you want to check it out, you can see the presentation y download the app. Also, take the opportunity to see the projects of the other teams in the PUMM page!!
If you are evaluating to be a mentor at PUMM, and you are like me in March, I leave some answers to questions you may be asking yourself. I hope it will encourage you to participate and share with someone else everything you know 😀.
What is expected of me in the program?
That you accompany a group of 3 girls who are motivated to do something better for someone else. Guide them, help them, and be part of their PUMM experience.
Do all girls know how to program?
They don't have to know how to program. In the program they do a workshop with AppInventor. What is AppInventor? Google it... But it's a block programming software. It's super simple. You drag components (buttons, labels, etc), and then add actions and behaviors. You'll get it fast 😉 (maybe the girls before you).
If I am not a teacher, am I going to be able to teach them to elbow?
AppInvetor is very simple and intuitive, and there is no need to explain everything. Depending on what you need!
In our app the most complex thing was a random and conditionals. Be patient, think of different ways to explain it, and look for examples.
We had enough stuff mocked up, it wasn't worth messing with the complexities of making a database, or super crazy variables - although AppInventor can do it.
If it still does not work, seek advice from the CET team, and the other mentors!
How can you make an app in 4 days?
First of all, it's only 2 days of development (!!!!). The idea is to make a prototype, to try to show the heart of what they designed. It doesn't have to be a fully functional application, it just needs to be be proud of what they achieved 😀
What happens if we don't finish?
Nothing is wrong. Again, the important thing is to be proud of what you have achieved! Show the work you did, and what you want to do next!
In our case, the girls had about 10 screens, over 3 large application flows, and more.... We focused on making the happy path of just one of the flows, and that they chose to do. It seems to me that this is the biggest function of the mentor: help the team stay focused on an achievable goal.
In addition, you can then follow the app on the community, where it can go from being a prototype to a fully functional app, database and all 😀.
What if I don't know the answer to something?
Better! Teach by example how do you get something when you don't have it served! Learn together, as a team.
Besides, the whole CET team is right there, there is always a hand. It happened to me that the girls were designing the logo, they had 2 images that they wanted to put together, change the colors, etc... I really have no idea about image editing! And Mariana (Varela) majestically appeared to save the day and lend us her computer with photoshop (and more than one extra hand to use it).
Finally, I want to say that participating as a mentor was great, and I try to convey it in this short note. I had an incredible experience, I met a lot of great people, and I learned more about myself. And as if that wasn't enough, the girls at CET bring you closer to unmissable opportunities. In my case, I found myself with the possibility of applying for a scholarship to go to the GCH, and I was chosen!
