By Friday, May 26th: Contribute to mission statement draft, then we'll discuss and vote!

[LearningNerd]

By Friday, May 26th: If you want to be involved in refining our mission statement, please share your ideas in a comment on this thread. Thanks! Then we will discuss and vote on our top choices, and our next step after that will be the new logo design process! (I will send everyone an email update on this too.)

Suggestions to consider when proposing a mission statement:

• What sets us apart from all the other similar meetups/organizations out there? What do we do differently?
• What makes Learn Teach Code special to you? What about our community inspires you to be involved?
• You could also share a couple examples from organizations that you really like, with a note about why you like their mission statement.

Our big goals for Learn Teach Code (which might need to be narrowed down):

• Increase diversity in the tech industry.
• Increase technical literacy in the general public and expose more people to the benefits of tech skills (regardless of whether they want to work in tech, because these skills are useful in every industry!)
• Help people transition into technical careers, if they do want to make a career change.
• Empower more people (beginners and experts alike!) to run their own study groups to develop their leadership and teaching skills, not just their coding skills.
• Create a community where anyone who wants to learn can easily find study partners, both in person and online. (Nobody has to be alone on this journey!)

Our current meetup description:

Below is the initial description I wrote when I created the meetup, without too much thought. Still pretty accurate but I figured it would help to have a more official-sounding version, and I want to make sure our team is on board with the updates! :)

Whether you're a total beginner or a coding ninja/guru/Jedi Master, we're here to learn about computer science and programming in a fun, informal environment -- and also to provide moral support to fight the fears and frustrations that come with learning a new skill or transitioning to a new career.

Stuff we do at Learn Teach Code:

• Learn programming fundamentals through a variety of languages and platforms together in small groups or pair programming -- everything from short tutorials to day-long hackathons/learnathons!
• Workshops -- build something tangible and learn new skills in our structured group classes!
• Co-working and casual learning -- work on your own projects independently while enjoying the company of like-minded people.
• Discussion groups for language-agnostic topics (book club, anyone?)
• Project show-and-tell -- get feedback, generate ideas, or just show off your mad skillz!
• And other random, fun activities like geeky movie nights and joint events with other meetups!

[LearningNerd]

Here's my current proposal for a short version of our mission, which is pretty much what I tell people these days when they ask me what our meetup does:

Learn Teach Code is a volunteer-run organization that empowers people to learn and teach computer programming together through informal study groups, collaborative projects, and events both in person and online.

Main issues/questions I have right now with this version:

• Not sure if "computer programming" is the right term. Alternatives might be: computer science, coding, technical literacy, tech skills... Trying to find the right balance between specificity and brevity!
• Not sure how specific or how long we should make our list of things we do. For example: workshops, social/networking events, guest speakers, group projects, hackathons, informal and formal mentorship, etc etc.
• Not sure how to incorporate our other goals like increasing diversity in tech, helping people transition into tech careers, helping people with leadership skills and encouraging more people to run their own study groups, helping non-tech people feel more welcomed even if they don't want to work in tech... So just leaving all of that out in my first draft right now.

I want to make a longer version of our mission statement too which would outline those bigger goals. But maybe we should include something about diversity in our 1-sentence statement as well, since I think that's a pretty big part of what we do. Curious what you all think!

[TheBeege]

• I think "technology skills" may be a good alternative to "computer programming." This is broad enough to cover things like Linux and hardware while not including random things like music or hiking.
• I don't think we should include how we accomplish the goal. My understanding of a mission statement is what we want to accomplish, leaving us free to determine how to best accomplish the goal as time goes on.
• Hmm, tricky... For diversity, I think we can toss "inclusive" in there. It's pretty short, simple, and clear.

A longer version sounds more like a manifesto. Sounds like a good plan, but one step at a time?

---

Also, I'm super late on this.

Back in March, the Seoul group threw together a mission statement: To foster a[n inclusive] community for both building and sharing skills and knowledge in programming and technology

I added "an inclusive", since I think the point you brought up is super important. But maybe we should find a copywriter xD

[ghost]

I think “Computer Programming” is very concise; even more so than something like “Coding”. From day one, or as close to it as can be referenced, the focus of the group has been the facilitation of curriculums to teach that very skill. “Computer Programming” is the base upon which the group’s other activities (hardware, soft-skills, tech-talks, etc.) are built.

Alternatives to the term may come across, now or in due time, as inaccurate or imprecise.

[ghost]

"Technology" has always been a tricky word for me. It denotes something much broader than the inference of the current use of the word; to mean computer technology.

[ghost]

I like it in its current form. I'd add the word "formal" to the statement, as well.

"Learn Teach Code is a volunteer-run organization that empowers people to learn and teach computer programming through formal and informal study groups, collaborative projects, and events, both in person and online."

[armaneous]

How about "modern computing"? I understand and kind of align with @TheBeege on how we're actually covering more than just programming. From UX to DevOps to general CompSci, which itself is much more than just programming.

[TheBeege]

I'm still really not a fan of "through...". I think the "how" should be omitted; otherwise, we constrain ourselves to certain methods. Sure, we can always change it, but having it there at all has an impact - causing people to default to those methods without trying anything new.

[ghost]

Your worry of constrain is noted, but if we look at the reality of the how the group actually manifests itself, in the past and in the present (and, I would theorize into the foreseeable future) we would see that your groups in Seoul and the groups in California actually meet for study groups, talks and projects. This is fairly close to the base truth of the organization, if not at the very base of the organization.

We could try and look at it, as follows:

What do we do? Teach coding. (CHECK) How do we do it? Meet in groups. (CHECK) Who are we? People who want to learn or teach coding. (CHECK) Why? Cuz itz heeeeella cheaper than a bootcamp, vocational school or college. (?)

We're only missing that last piece, if we even want to mention that.

[rouzbeh84]

Learn Teach Code is a community driven effort to empower people with programming skills through live or virtual study groups.

Thoughts?

[LearningNerd]

Thanks for all the feedback! :) I like "modern computing" @x2adrew :) But I also like "technical skills" in general.

@rouzbeh84 - I like the "community driven" part... I really wanted to emphasize the learning and teaching part though.

Shorter version, based on @TheBeege's feedback on leaving out the "how":

"Learn Teach Code is a volunteer-run [organization / community] that empowers people to both learn and teach [modern computing / technical skills] together."

I'm OK with that short version right now. I mean, the wording will change over time I'm sure. But right now, I'd love to get your feedback on our list of goals too. Does that list at the top of this thread ring true to you all?

[ykcab]

I would like to see a concise version of the mission statement which can emphasize the non-profit side as well as motive for those new to Computer Science and iterating from @TheBeege bullet point-3 which I strongly agree, and from @LearningNerd comment above I would draft the statement as such:

"Learn Teach Code is community that empowers people learn and teach modern computing"

Note: A mission statement should be simple-short-focused. Community vs volunteer : usually it get into mind that community can be seen as group of volunteers

[ghost]

@LearningNerd Everything looks good to me with the mission statement. Just wanted to confirm my support.

[TheBeege]

(on mobile, so please pardon the lack of formatting)

Yooo @ykcab is on it (missing a "to", so don't copy/pasta). I'd be super happy with this. I'd be happy with either "modern computing" or "technical skills". I slightly lean towards "technical skills". I'm also find of the "inclusive" (or some equivalent) bit, but it's not the end of the world if left out.

All that said, I guess my ideal version would look like Learn Teach Code is an inclusive community that empowers people to learn and teach modern computing

Copying goals so i don't have to keep scrolling

Increase diversity in the tech industry. Increase technical literacy in the general public and expose more people to the benefits of tech skills (regardless of whether they want to work in tech, because these skills are useful in every industry!) Help people transition into technical careers, if they do want to make a career change. Empower more people (beginners and experts alike!) to run their own study groups to develop their leadership and teaching skills, not just their coding skills. Create a community where anyone who wants to learn can easily find study partners, both in person and online. (Nobody has to be alone on this journey!)

Huh... I'm really happy with these as they are. Could maybe even take that last one and turn it into the vision, but maybe once I'm not on my phone.

Good stuff ^^ 화이팅!

[LearningNerd]

That's a good point @TheBeege, that last goal could be a way to phrase our mission statement for sure! I'm also with you in leaning more towards "technical skills", and I like the idea of using the word "inclusive" somewhere in there.

So here are a couple more variations that emphasize the fact that we help people find study partners. This version leaves out the "learn and teach" emphasis but maybe it reads better because of its simplicity:

Learn Teach Code is an inclusive community where anyone who wants to learn technical skills can find study partners both in person and online.

Or this version, which keeps the focus on "learn and teach":

Learn Teach Code is an inclusive community that empowers people to learn and teach technical skills together, connecting study partners both in person and online.

Or same as above, but switching the order:

Learn Teach Code is an inclusive community that connects study partners both in person and online, empowering more people to learn and teach technical skills together.

Another quick note, a bit off topic but I wanted to jot this down before I forget: probably each of our main programs/initiatives will have a mission statement of its own, if we find that we have more than one big focus.

Examples of big projects that we've discussed previously:

• A mentorship program focused on project-based learning, pairing up beginners with more advanced learners and volunteer project managers (what @x2adrew already did remotely, for a 3 month pilot program!)

• A platform (maybe even a competitor to Meetup?) focused on helping people organize ongoing study groups, and/or content supporting that (like a how-to guide for new study group hosts, an FAQ, maybe some sort of starter kit to encourage more people to run small study groups of their own, either in person or online or both

• The UnBootcamp idea, which I'm currently iterating on, which I imagine as being quite similar to The Recurse Center in New York, but our version would start out as a series of weekend hack days that connect a group of intermediate/advanced programmers with some beginners to build projects together.

• Connecting any of the above initiatives with other nonprofits so that instead of just working on our own practice projects, we could contribute back to some real-world projects! (Examples: working with Hack for LA on civic tech projects, or creating websites for other nonprofits that don't have one yet, or contributing to really ANY existing open-source project.)

• Creating our own open-source curriculum and teaching tools to go along with any of the above initiatives -- especially creating curriculum collaboratively, inviting students to help create the curriculum themselves too! (I love how meta that is, haha)

• Outreach projects like a podcast or videos or any sort of campaign that helps raise awareness of the importance of technical literacy and gets attention from a more general/mainstream audience (people outside of the tech community and people outside of our meetup).

So those bigger ideas are just to give an idea of possibilities I envision for us in the future, as ways we can work towards achieving our mission :)

Any more thoughts on the mission statement? I'll take a couple of these variations and put it up to a vote next week I guess, and then we can get the ball rolling on the logo design process next.

[jbazalar]

Great to see all the collaboration going on for this. I see how passionate everyone is with regards to the group we hold in high regard.

My only thought is to consider the perspective of newcomers (or first-time coders) to the group. If they read this, would they feel intimidated in joining? Does 'technical skills' have the same meaning for them if all they wanted to do is how to learn to 'code' (having not talked to us first, of course)? Does it mean the same to them as it does to our seasoned programmers/developers?

Other than that, I'm glad to see this moving forward. Great job everyone!

[TheBeege]

I like the last one, @LearningNerd

@jbazalar brings up good points. "Code" versus "technical skills" could be confusing for newcomers. My gut reaction is say to "coding and other technical skills", but that's getting lengthy.

I do have a minor concern about "study partners", as it suggests a more one-on-one style. (This is why I'm not a fan of including the how - ambiguity and misinterpretation; however, those are a risk with any communication... so.. I dunno.) Maybe "study groups" would be more apt?

[mehemken]

I'm late to the party, but I've got a couple cents to give :)

It seems like the "how" is a point of concern? We do what we do in a lot of ways, but I think the common denominator is a social setting. The whole reason we exist is to teach and learn and not do it alone. Perhaps we can work in the phrase "friendly/inclusive social setting" somewhere?

For example:

Learn Teach Code is an inclusive community that empowers anyone to learn and teach technical skills in a friendly/inclusive social setting.

@jbazalar and @TheBeege bring up a good point with the "technical skills" terminology. That term may be confusing to a newcomer. But keep in mind the name of the group is Learn Teach Code. I think it is pretty clear that we deal in code. Perhaps we can elaborate on our area of interest in a companion text to the mission statement.

I'm not particularly fond of the term "technical skill". I prefer "modern computing". Or perhaps "software & computing"?

Learn Teach Code is an inclusive community with a primary focus in the world of software & computing. We empower people to learn and teach code in a friendly social setting.

Does it have to be a single sentence?

[ykcab]

@mehemken a best mission "statement" should be short. Check TED's version (https://topnonprofits.com/examples/nonprofit-mission-statements/) may be we can forge and integrate the idea into our vision. Yet I do understand we are not at perfection but the sooner we set our fondation consize and coherent the better it would leave us with less work in the near future. The less content it has the easier it will help to produce our logo. I agree on keeping "modern computing" because the term technical skill already implies into the context.

(Excuse my typo - am using my mobile phone)

[TheBeege]

Good point @ykcab

Maybe we should use a version of @mehemken 's:

To empower anyone to learn, teach, and write code

This may be too short, but... I dunno. It's a thought.

EDIT: Really... Our name is our mission. I think that actually sums it up.

[mehemken]

@TheBeege I like that. It compares well to the list linked by @ykcab.

To empower anyone to learn, teach and write code.