We are a panel of 3 Scala enthusiasts, some of us at the start of our programming journey, and some very experienced! Yifan and Noel are code wizards, whilst Elissavet has just got her first dev role. All of us are passionate about bringing Scala to people from diverse backgrounds. We want to tell you how to bring Scala to more people, in and out of the workplace!

Bringing Scala to a Diverse Group of Students

All of us had to learn Scala at some point, and many of us will find ourselves teaching Scala; perhaps to junior developers at our workplace or perhaps at an organisation such as ScalaBridge.

In this talk we’ll describe our experiences at ScalaBridge London, where students ranged from those with no prior programming experience to those who held a PhD.

We’ll discuss what worked and what didn’t work, and give guidance that applies to anyone who finds themselves teaching or learning Scala.

ScalaBridge London brought together students from underrepresented groups with a shared goal of learning Scala. At the end of our first 12 week course some students secured interviews and even jobs as junior Scala engineers.

Although some aspects of ScalaBridge are unique, the majority of what we did applies to anyone learning or teaching Scala. In this talk we will describe the teaching and mentoring approach we took at ScalaBridge. Students will discuss how the experience shaped their view of the Scala community, how much their knowledge and confidence with Scala grew, and the opportunities that presented themselves because of the course. Mentors will elaborate on teaching methods, mentoring approaches, and potential issues, to help other senior Scala engineers teaching juniors at work or in a course like this.