Code Girls United’s App Challenge is a Virtual Event taking place on the last Saturday in April.

Participants include 4th-8th grade girl teams. Teams all participate in year-round, afterschool Code Girls United programs throughout the state of Montana.

The girls compete for scholarship prizes given to the top six teams. Each team splits the scholarship prize awarded to the team.

The girls are tasked with choosing a community problem to solve with an app. They write a business plan that includes marketing research and a competitive analysis, create requirements documents, design a product logo, create the app design, code the app, and present their project in what we formally called “minnow tank – the kinder gentler shark tank” format. The project itself is a real-world simulation of a software company’s conception, development, and sales cycle.

Throughout the project, the girls learn practical career skills such as:

How to work in a team and be a reliable, productive team member
How to make decisions as a team
How to work with people you may disagree with to reach your goals
How to set goals
How to manage time
How to divide up tasks
How to account for tasks
How to organize your work together
How to make a good presentation
How to create a Google Slide presentation
What bullet points are and how to use them
The skills the girls learn as a part of their projects can be transferrable to any type of career path. The combination of technical and business skills are extremely valuable in today’s workforce, and this early exposure assures that they will gain confidence in both their technical and business skills.

Please consider Sponsoring or Volunteering your time as a judge for Code Girls United’s App Challenge.