hack.her

We are hacking, computer science girls in code.

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Inspiration

The founders were inspired to create this project when they noticed how scared they felt to talk to anyone in their classes, and how few women they encountered. hack.her ensures that no woman will feel alone, matching them up with mentors and creating a safe space to talk to their peers.

What it does

hack.her is the official hacking hub for girls who like to code. The website offers girls with the ability to grow their computer science skill set, find resources to learn more about different coding languages, gain information about hackathons, and connect with other girls with the same passions. The resources that hack.her provides on hackathons, coding classes, and coding related majors allows for easily accessible information to further academic development. Although hack.her is centered around people identifying as women, it is open and helpful to anyone regardless of gender identity.

The organization of our web app can be organized into three main areas: our resources, our coding Tinder, and our coding LinkedIn. Our

How we built it

We used a Python framework called Streamlit to be the platform on which we build our web app. We added to it the Google Sheets API in order to connect the research to our web app and also to store the profiles. We also added an AppWrite API for profile authentication and a Twilio API for sending messages to people who have new matches.

Challenges we ran into

The largest challenge was the Google Sheets API. In the past, we'd used it within a virtual machine, but were unable to create a virtual machine and had to find a workaround which included a lot of hardcoding.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are most proud of our idea. Our web app would be a place were women in computer science, regardless of their journey, can find help, find a community, and find the support to continue pursuing what they find interesting. All of the different aspects of the web app came together as a group effort, one we were all passionate about and excited about making happen.

What we learned

We learned how to use APIs, specifically multiple APIs in one program. This was especially difficult since most of us hadn't used an API or didn't know what they were used for, and we had to learn to code it while learning what it did in the first place. While most of us had known how to use Streamlit, some of us still had to get used to coding in Python after doing Assembly Language or C++ in our classes. Thankfully, with the help of each other, YouTube, and Google, we were able to persevere!

What's next for hack.her

We want to make sure that the profiles are properly loaded, and then assign levels to each of the profiles depending on number of hackathons and CS classes. If we can get this functional, then our coding Tinder will be a success for mentors and mentees!

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