Yang | mentoring the tech talent of tomorrow

YANG: If there are some female role models, I think for a little girl growing up, that means so much. Because if they can see somebody thrive in this industry, they will see themselves there one day. And that's inspiration.

My name is Yang Liu. I am originally from China, but now I live here in London. My current role at EY is a manager in technology consulting, Microsoft and business apps team. I grew up in the city called Zhengzhou in the centre of China. I studied journalism back in China,

So after that, I did an internship in a technology related news outlet and I just felt like it is quite amazing working in tech. I often visit museums when I have spare time and I know one of the museums, they have a CoderDojo running. And I think, oh they... this is a good opportunity for me because I want to volunteer in the museum and I also want to utilise my skills.

That's where I started to explore where else I can run a CoderDojo, and that's where essentially I started. At EY, I think our first event went really well. They had...I think they had like roughly 15 families attend. That was one of the highlights of my whole life. I feel amazing, I just feel that I can't believe this actually happened. And I feel...I feel really lucky every time I run the session because I see calm before.

We have so many volunteers who are actually helping, it's not only me, it's a collective effort from everybody.

IMAN: Yang is my direct manager at EY and she was always kind of advertising CoderDojo trying to get people to volunteer. So I did the first one when I joined and had a great time, and I just kept coming back. And this is my fifth or sixth one thus far.

YANG: And then, we are like a rolling snowball. And now we have over a hundred volunteers who have at least volunteered once. We do try to focus on getting more girls involved with technology. For example, we run the International Women's Day special and Ada Lovelace Day special this year, where we actually got over 70% like, girls' registration. And then the mentors, I think we probably can hit 80...70 to 80% of female mentors.

When I grew up, I see my mom and not a lot of other females doing the job. I want them to think they are the best and that they can do this, be more confident.

ELIZABETH: I'm going to talk about Yang. I mean, it's hard not to talk about Yang. As a young girl, having a role model like her, I couldn't even imagine what it would be like. I'd love...I would love to have had a role model like her when I was younger. She's just...she's so inspiring. She's so full of energy.

YANG: I think, first of all, it helps me to get out of my comfort zone because this is...Facing a lot of children is a huge responsibility. I am by trade a consultant, but it's in a professional setting. Talking to children and teaching them how to code is something totally different. I'm not very naturally extrovert. I like talking to people and I do sit in my comfort zone a lot. And I'm Chinese, English is not even my first language. It helps me to really challenge myself to do something bigger than I could imagine. I would like to be a role model for young girls now because if they see I can do this, they will have a stronger belief that they can do it and they can do better.