The skyrocketing demand for highly skilled software developers in the past few years has created great hiring challenges for the computer science and technology industry.  This crunch is compounded by the fact that these fields are predominately male, thus under-representing half of the population.  To help battle this gender inequity in software development and to fill the need for developers, the Ada Developers Academy (Ada) has announced a brilliant program: a tuition-free, year-long intensive programming school for women.  The program provides six months of full-time classroom instruction and hands-on learning with the Ruby on Rails stack, along with up to six months of internship at a Seattle-area tech company.  In order to qualify for Ada, applicants must go through a rigorous interview process, demonstrating their passion for programming and a determination to make the transition to a career in computing.

When I was first approached by Zillow CTO David Beitel and VP Kristin Acker about an opportunity to be involved with this program in 2013, I immediately jumped to get involved.  As a software engineer myself, I got the chance to represent Zillow as one of the corporate sponsors of Ada by acting as a mentor for the program.  Throughout the first six months, I have had the privilege of getting to know some amazing women, all from very different backgrounds.  Some are former accountants or teachers, and others have been students in medical or business schools.  Despite their background differences, all of them are completely thrilled about Web development and excited about a future in software.  Here are some of the women I’ve met through the Ada program.

• Melinda Mizuta – Melinda has an MBA and worked with local nonprofits over the last six years.  She has decided to transform her career because she finds software to be extremely exciting and creative, and wants to use her new skills to contribute to her beloved non-profit organizations by creating much-needed software tools.

• Elizabeth Uselton – Elizabeth comes from a house full of software developers and is a tenacious learner and investigator, always working hard to meet and exceed her goals.  Her passion for space and data led her to create an amazing Ada capstone project that combines Google News’ RSS feed, NASA’s location data, and a computer-modeled 3D orbiting solar system to provide up-to-date information on NASA missions.

• Shadae Homes – Having been exposed to e-commerce and social media in the past couple years, Shadae taught herself HTML and CSS.  Since participating in Ada, her specialized interest in front end development has opened a new door in her life, and she was the core front-end developer in her partnered Ada capstone project, creating a collaboration platform to connect artists around the world.

Now that the six-month Ada curriculum has concluded, it is time for these amazing women to head out to their corporate sponsors and start their six-month internship programs.  I am very proud to say that Zillow is hosting Sue White, a biochemistry researcher-turned-developer who has a keen interest in computer security and cryptography.  Her Ada capstone project was one of the most computationally intensive, parsing published PGP keychains to map out the Web of trust.  Her highly technical training along with her sharp mathematical mind positions her well for the months ahead to create solid and amazing features at Zillow.

I am extremely honored to have had a chance to be involved in Ada’s inaugural program, and admire the determination and thirst for knowledge these women have shown.  They have taught me a great deal about what a strong will can accomplish and they will undoubtedly excel in their respective internships and software development careers.  Kudos to the Ada staff for creating this dynamic program to prepare these students for a bright future.  Onward and upward!

Lastly, in case you’re wondering about the name Ada, it comes from Ada Lovelace (1815-1852), considered to be the world’s first computer programmers. She was considered to have a brilliant mathematical mind and worked with Charles Babbage on the construction and programming of the Analytical Engine.

For more information about Ada, take a look at this wonderful interview, or visit Ada’s official website.