Code First Girls

Based in London, UK, Code First Girls is an educational technology and recruitment platform that provides free coding courses to women and connects them with technology roles using a machine learning matching system. The organization generates revenue through subscription services offered to corporate clients seeking to hire female technology talent and meet diversity objectives. As of 2024, the platform has trained 150,000 women and operates with a team of approximately 26 employees. The enterprise raised $5.1 million in a 2022 Series A funding round backed by investors including Up Group founder Clare Johnston, former Not On The High Street executive Claire Davenport, and Peanut founder Michelle Kennedy. Under chief executive officer Anna Brailsford, the entity transitioned from a social enterprise into a profit-driven startup. Code First Girls was founded in 2012 by Alice Bentinck and Matthew Clifford.

High-Level Overview

Code First Girls (CFG) is a nonprofit organization, not a traditional company, dedicated to closing the gender gap in tech by delivering free coding education to women and non-binary individuals globally.[1][2][4] It offers courses from beginner to advanced levels, including the intensive 16-week CFGdegree in software, full-stack, or data engineering, equipping participants with skills for roles like software engineer, back-end programmer, cloud engineer, and DevOps.[1][5][7] Serving women and non-binaries often underrepresented in tech (where women hold ~17% of roles), CFG solves the diversity and digital skills shortage by providing hard skills, community building, and job placement—boasting a 96% job placement rate, 98% retention, and 130+ employer partners across Europe, USA, India, Middle East, and Africa.[1][2][6] With over 300,000 free learning opportunities delivered and partnerships with firms like Activision Blizzard and Capital One, CFG has scaled massively, training 13,000 women projected in 2020 after starting with 60 annually.[1][2][6]

Origin Story

Launched in 2015 in the UK as a woman-led initiative by tech industry veterans and educators, CFG emerged to address the stark underrepresentation of women in tech, forecasting only 1 qualified woman per 115 roles by 2025.[2][6] Founders drew from their lived experiences navigating male-dominated tech environments to create free coding classes combining skills training with confidence-building community activities, initially training 60 women yearly with 200k hours of education and ties to 40+ employers.[2] Pivotal growth came from explosive demand: within five years, it expanded to project 13,000 trainees in 2020 (surpassing a 20,000 goal), evolving into the world's largest free coding education provider for women, now with a global community from 100+ countries, full-time staff, contractors, and hundreds of volunteer trainers.[1][2][3]

Core Differentiators

• Free, Comprehensive Education: Unlike paid bootcamps or scattered online resources, CFG delivers all training—beginner taster courses to CFGdegree honorary qualifications—at no cost, funded by sponsors, totaling over £54 million in value and three times UK university undergrad output for women.[2][6][7]
• High Employment Outcomes: 96% job placement and 98% retention via 130+ global partners like Capital One (which hired interns and grads) and Activision Blizzard, directly linking talent to opportunities.[1][6]
• Holistic Support: Builds community, confidence, and belonging alongside technical skills in JavaScript, Python, C#, SQL, and more; woman-led team provides insider insights into tech barriers.[1][2][3][5]
• Scalable B2B Model: Empowers businesses via Code First Teams to upskill employees and attract diverse talent, fostering inclusive innovation.[1]

Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

CFG rides the wave of tech's digital transformation and diversity mandates, upskilling marginalized groups amid workforce shortages from automation and growth in software/data roles.[2] Timing aligns with post-2020 remote work booms and corporate DEI pushes, as firms face talent gaps—e.g., Capital One's success recruiting non-traditional candidates.[6] Market forces like global skills demand (Europe to Africa) and gender imbalance (~17% women in tech) favor CFG's model, influencing the ecosystem by diversifying pipelines: alumni fill critical roles, boosting innovation and equity while partners like gaming giants create inclusive cultures.[1][2][7]

Quick Take & Future Outlook

CFG's trajectory points to further global expansion, potentially hitting millions in trainees as AI and cloud demand intensifies skills gaps, with trends like hybrid learning and corporate upskilling amplifying its B2B arm.[1][2] Influence may evolve toward policy advocacy and advanced specializations (e.g., AI ethics for women leaders), solidifying its role as tech's diversity engine—transforming "only 1 in 115" forecasts into balanced workforces.[6] This mission-driven scaler exemplifies how free education unlocks talent, echoing its founding promise to rewrite women's tech futures.[2]