Canada’s largest free learn-to-code event is in London all day Saturday at the Convention Centre. The HTML150, billed as a celebration of digital literacy, brings Canada’s top technology companies together to teach participants the basics of HTML and CSS.
In London, nearly 200 aspiring coders are learning how to create their own landing page while networking with fellow attendees and recruiters. Developers are donating their time, expertise and resources to deliver the tech education. The London event runs concurrently with Toronto and Vancouver’s HTML500.
After a successful inaugural run in February of 2014, the event expanded to four cities but still left 7000 people on the waiting list. Participants ranged in age from 7 to 75, with women comprising 50 per cent. This year, the event is being held in nine major cities across Canada between February and April. Nationwide, over 2500 people will participate.
Lighthouse Labs is behind the HTML150, with a mission to empower the next generation of developers, and make coding accessible to everyone. Several London-based partners are also involved.
Organizers predict that the high industry demand and a shortage of skilled coders will affect 200,000 jobs by 2020.
