Want To Learn To Code? Women Get a “Square” Deal

Lots of Silicon Valley companies talk a good game about bringing more women into the tech fold. Square is using its headquarters to prove it.

These days, an article about Square's HQ will typically focus on how stylish it is (just named one of the most stylish, in fact, by Inc. Magazine), or how many employees are being hired by its (also stylish) CEO Jack Dorsey.

This one, though, is about code. Specifically, how Square - a mobile payments company - plans to host a coding camp for women.

The San Francisco company just announced plans to host its Code Camp for women in January. You can register on the Square website. It's open to women 18 and older, who are currently studying full-time at a university. Applications are due Nov. 2.

Square follows Twitter in launching initiatives aimed at female engineers. TechCrunch reports Twitter supports a group called Girls Who Code, a New York based initiative designed to help teach girls to code.

As someone who regularly uses Square to conveniently buy coffee (and expects to use it for much more in the not-too-distant future), it makes sense that Square wants to find more people to help it grow. Specifically, more women to help diversity the workforce. And, what better way to make people love you as a company (other than making it easy to buy coffee...)? Teach them to be qualified to work for you.

There will be prizes for the best coders, and that sort of thing. But mostly, hats off to Square for seeing a need, and addressing it in a cool, nerdy way.