Mining Minds: The Path from Coal Mining to Software Development

What makes a good software developer and how do we bring new people with the talents that we need into our industry?

In this presentation we will talk about the programming training that we are providing in a rural town in Pennsylvania, which has been hit by redundancies within the coal mines, the dominant industry in the area. Many people aren’t aware that software development is an option for them, but when a real opportunity is given, we have the chance to develop a diverse group of programmers that are forward-thinking, language-agnostic, and that are versatile in their approach. We will discuss the skills we have been teaching, techniques that we have used, the people involved, and the many lessons that we have learnt along the way.

If you think it’s important to give something back to the community, and you see the value of inspiring and teaching people from diverse backgrounds, then this talk will be of interest to you.