WeCoded Challenge: A Celebration of Voices and Code

This is a submission for the WeCoded Challenge: Echoes of Experience Hey there! I’m so excited to walk you through the WeCoded Challenge on DEV.to. This isn’t just another coding contest—it’s a heartfelt push to celebrate diversity and inclusion in tech, especially for those who don’t always get the spotlight. It started as SheCoded and has grown into something bigger, welcoming all underrepresented voices. In 2025, it ran from March 5th to April 6th, with two cool prompts: Echoes of Experience and Celebrate in Code. Let me break it down for you step by step, like I’m chatting with a friend! Step 1: What’s the WeCoded Challenge All About? Imagine a space where people like me or you—maybe someone who’s felt out of place in tech—can share their stories or show off their skills. That’s WeCoded! It’s about making tech more inclusive, giving underrepresented folks a chance to shine, and helping allies understand our journeys. This year, it had two parts: one for storytelling and one for coding. Simple, right? Let’s dive into the first one. Step 2: Echoes of Experience—Our Stories Matter The Echoes of Experience prompt was all about opening up. They asked us to share personal tales from our tech journeys—think challenges, wins, and big lessons. The idea? Inspire others like me who might feel alone and teach allies what it’s really like. Breaking Stereotypes: One person wrote about unconscious bias—like how people assume CEOs are guys. She shared five lessons: question assumptions, lift up diverse role models, use neutral words, know skill isn’t about gender, and teach kids better. It made me think about how sneaky bias can be! A Nigerian Woman’s Journey: Another story came from a woman in Nigeria. She had no tech role models growing up, faced bias online, but still crushed it—graduating top of her class and building stuff like a Transport Fare Guide. Her advice? “You are enough.” That hit me hard. From Doubt to Determination: Nashrah shared how she escaped a tough situation, learned to code, and built cool projects like a Women’s Safety App. Her grit was so inspiring—she turned pain into power. History Makers: Abbey wrote about tech pioneers like Evelyn Boyd Granville and Alan Emtage, showing underrepresented folks have always been here. It’s a reminder we belong. These stories? They’re raw, real, and show how tough—but amazing—our paths can be. They judged them on style, clarity, and originality, and boy, did they deliver! Step 3: Celebrate in Code—Building Something Awesome Now, Celebrate in Code was for the tech wizards. The task? Create a landing page for dev.to/wecoded using the DEV Articles API to show off past entries. It had to be frontend-only, and they judged it on accessibility, usability, creativity, and code quality. Here’s what some folks made: A Colorful Page: One guy built a page with WeCoded’s colors—purple, green, and more. It had a slick slide-out menu, animations, and a “Winners” section. He even shared a demo and the code on GitHub. I loved how alive it felt! A Game Twist: Someone else made an interactive game-like page. People called it “so fun!” with a lesson: “Build your own door.” It was quirky and cool—he really thought outside the box. React Magic: Another coder used React and TailwindCSS, adding diverse illustrations. Time ran short, so it wasn’t perfect, but she still shared a demo. It looked modern and welcoming. These projects weren’t just code—they were celebrations of who we are. Teams of up to four could join, and AI was okay if you followed the rules. How neat is that? Step 4: Extra Goodies Under #wecoded Beyond the prompts, people posted other stuff with the #wecoded tag: A tech post about ConfigurationBuilder—maybe he tied it to his own story. A reflection template to jot down goals and pledges to help minorities. I might try that! A list of 70+ free web dev resources—perfect for newbies like me. A shoutout to the coding prompt as a fun frontend challenge. These extras show how the challenge sparked all kinds of ideas! Step 5: Why It All Matters So, what’s the big deal? WeCoded showed off our resilience—how we push through bias and doubt. The stories taught me we’re not alone, and the coding projects proved we’ve got skills and creativity to share. It built a community where everyone feels included. The deadline was April 6th, 2025, winners announced on April 17th, and it was open worldwide (18+ only, no purchase needed). Non-English posts got a badge but no prizes—fair, right? Wrapping Up: Let’s Keep It Going! I loved seeing how WeCoded brought us together. The stories moved me, the projects wowed me, and it all screamed: diversity matters. We need more of this—spaces where she, he, or I can shine. So, let’s keep sharing, coding, and cheering each other on. Tech’s better when we’re all in it—don’t you think?

Mar 16, 2025 - 11:36

WeCoded Challenge: A Celebration of Voices and Code

This is a submission for the WeCoded Challenge: Echoes of Experience

Hey there! I’m so excited to walk you through the WeCoded Challenge on DEV.to.

This isn’t just another coding contest—it’s a heartfelt push to celebrate diversity and inclusion in tech, especially for those who don’t always get the spotlight.

It started as SheCoded and has grown into something bigger, welcoming all underrepresented voices. In 2025, it ran from March 5th to April 6th, with two cool prompts: Echoes of Experience and Celebrate in Code. Let me break it down for you step by step, like I’m chatting with a friend!

Step 1: What’s the WeCoded Challenge All About?

Imagine a space where people like me or you—maybe someone who’s felt out of place in tech—can share their stories or show off their skills. That’s WeCoded! It’s about making tech more inclusive, giving underrepresented folks a chance to shine, and helping allies understand our journeys. This year, it had two parts: one for storytelling and one for coding. Simple, right? Let’s dive into the first one.

Step 2: Echoes of Experience—Our Stories Matter

The Echoes of Experience prompt was all about opening up. They asked us to share personal tales from our tech journeys—think challenges, wins, and big lessons. The idea? Inspire others like me who might feel alone and teach allies what it’s really like.

Breaking Stereotypes: One person wrote about unconscious bias—like how people assume CEOs are guys. She shared five lessons: question assumptions, lift up diverse role models, use neutral words, know skill isn’t about gender, and teach kids better. It made me think about how sneaky bias can be!
A Nigerian Woman’s Journey: Another story came from a woman in Nigeria. She had no tech role models growing up, faced bias online, but still crushed it—graduating top of her class and building stuff like a Transport Fare Guide. Her advice? “You are enough.” That hit me hard.
From Doubt to Determination: Nashrah shared how she escaped a tough situation, learned to code, and built cool projects like a Women’s Safety App. Her grit was so inspiring—she turned pain into power.
History Makers: Abbey wrote about tech pioneers like Evelyn Boyd Granville and Alan Emtage, showing underrepresented folks have always been here. It’s a reminder we belong.

These stories? They’re raw, real, and show how tough—but amazing—our paths can be. They judged them on style, clarity, and originality, and boy, did they deliver!

Step 3: Celebrate in Code—Building Something Awesome

Now, Celebrate in Code was for the tech wizards. The task? Create a landing page for dev.to/wecoded using the DEV Articles API to show off past entries. It had to be frontend-only, and they judged it on accessibility, usability, creativity, and code quality. Here’s what some folks made:

A Colorful Page: One guy built a page with WeCoded’s colors—purple, green, and more. It had a slick slide-out menu, animations, and a “Winners” section. He even shared a demo and the code on GitHub. I loved how alive it felt!
A Game Twist: Someone else made an interactive game-like page. People called it “so fun!” with a lesson: “Build your own door.” It was quirky and cool—he really thought outside the box.
React Magic: Another coder used React and TailwindCSS, adding diverse illustrations. Time ran short, so it wasn’t perfect, but she still shared a demo. It looked modern and welcoming.

These projects weren’t just code—they were celebrations of who we are. Teams of up to four could join, and AI was okay if you followed the rules. How neat is that?

Step 4: Extra Goodies Under #wecoded

Beyond the prompts, people posted other stuff with the #wecoded tag:

A tech post about ConfigurationBuilder—maybe he tied it to his own story.
A reflection template to jot down goals and pledges to help minorities. I might try that!
A list of 70+ free web dev resources—perfect for newbies like me.
A shoutout to the coding prompt as a fun frontend challenge.

These extras show how the challenge sparked all kinds of ideas!

Step 5: Why It All Matters

So, what’s the big deal? WeCoded showed off our resilience—how we push through bias and doubt. The stories taught me we’re not alone, and the coding projects proved we’ve got skills and creativity to share. It built a community where everyone feels included.

The deadline was April 6th, 2025, winners announced on April 17th, and it was open worldwide (18+ only, no purchase needed). Non-English posts got a badge but no prizes—fair, right?

Wrapping Up: Let’s Keep It Going!

I loved seeing how WeCoded brought us together. The stories moved me, the projects wowed me, and it all screamed: diversity matters. We need more of this—spaces where she, he, or I can shine. So, let’s keep sharing, coding, and cheering each other on. Tech’s better when we’re all in it—don’t you think?