2017-July-06
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Cisco Code Camp
The school holidays offer a well-deserved break for children. However, they often pose a problem for working parents left to juggle work and childcare. Because of this, the school holiday periods can become additionally stressful as parents attempt to manage their work-life balance.
Cisco is a major supporter of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) activities in schools and communities across the globe. Earlier this year, the APJ+GC region began a major program in their offices to promote STEM development for the kids of Cisco staff, while helping working parents juggle the school holidays with the launch of Code Camp sessions.
Our offices in Sydney and Singapore kicked off the first Code Camps earlier this year providing classes for the children of our employees during the school holidays.
The program aims to provide the fundamentals and disciplines of computer coding and application development that they might not get in school. And it's done in a fun and exciting environment during the school holidays.
During the weeklong program, Cisco kids between the ages of 7 and 12, get the opportunity to use programming tools as well as share logic and problem-solving skills to develop their very own iPhone or Android game. They work on everything from character design, creation, troubleshooting and sharing—all on the Cisco campus while their parents are having a normal day at work.
This innovative program really does benefit everyone! Cisco kids obtain new skills in a fun and intuitive way, parents are able to continue working, and business stays on track. Overall, everyone wins as the kids who develop these skills are starting on the path to become the next generation of IT professionals.
So far, these Code Camps have been run in Sydney and Singapore to great success, with more planned across the company. We're also introducing a new program with a twist—Cisco Robotics Camp, which kicks off in July. Kids will learn to build and program a robot of their own design.
This is a great example of how we can take a challenge and turn it into a win-win opportunity in true Cisco style!
With the support from employees, we look forward to learning from this activity and continuing to develop similar programs for our Cisco employees in the future!
If you would like to set up a Code Camp in your local campus, the team in APJ+GC has built a playbook that can be shared, reach out to Nate Goyer of the APJ+GC Technical Services team for more details.
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