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

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.

"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.

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.

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

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