Coding definitely isn’t a boy thing, says 13-year-old Niamh Scanlon

As we wave goodbye to EU Code Week for another year, we reflect on CoderDojo ninja Niamh Scanlon’s inspiring keynote at Inspirefest 2016.

Niamh Scanlon is just 13 years old, but she has already achieved more than most adults two or even three times her age.

In addition to having the title of EU Digital Girl of the Year 2015, Scanlon is a CoderDojo mentor, app developer, Coolest Projects and Eir Junior Spiders award winner, and graduate of the first class of Outbox Incubator execs. She has also spoken at global events, from GE’s Minds and Machines Europe conference in Paris to Accenture’s International Women’s Day gathering.

Scanlon took to the Inspirefest stage this summer to talk about the work she has done with organisations like CoderDojo, as well as the doors it has opened for her. Mostly, though, she spoke about the importance of getting other young people into coding in order to grow and build diverse tech workforces in the future.

Words by Kirsty Tobin