All TechGirlz workshops are different from one another, and our one on October 27—Building Web Applications—was no exception. The girls found that out quickly as Ameet, CEO of  Conigent, had them all doing burpees. Nothing like a little exercise to get the girls energized for the workshop!

Ameet, Nicole and Justin from Conigent spent the rest of the workshop helping each participant follow step-by-step as they created a sample web/mobile app. Ameet also told his own personal story to getting where he is today. He said that when he was younger he wanted to be a programmer, but he was afraid people would think he was too much of a dork or nerd.

He encouraged all the girls to “embrace your inner nerd.” He added, “Don’t wait 38 years to be honest with yourself. Do what you love.” A valuable lesson.

The Conigent team introduced the girls to applications by showing the class their Wodify app that was built for the fitness sport CrossFit. Entering the number of burpees performed by each participant gave a glimpse into what a web or mobile app can be used for.

From there, the group lesson began as Ameet and team introduced the “Star Gazer” app the group would be constructing together, using a spreadsheet full of celebrity names and addresses, a cloud platform, wireframes and Google Maps.

Within a few hours, the girls completed the app and were able to test it out on smartphones. They were also offered a free trial on the cloud platform Outsystems in case they wanted to go home and build their own app.

Special thanks goes out to Ameet, Nicole and Justin of Conigent for putting on this free workshop.

Conigent is a process improvement and business management consulting firm focused on finding cloud-based technical solutions for their clients.