This month marks the 5th Birthday of CoderDojo Limerick! The third ever CoderDojo in the world and with over 1000 dojos across 60 countries that is something to be proud of! LIT and the startups in the Hartnett Enterprise Acceleration Centre partnered with the founding CoderDojo team early in 2011 and we kicked off our 1st Dojo that September. We celebrated our 5th Birthday with over 140 youths attending a jam-packed Dojo session at LIT on Saturday. We believe also that LIT is the longest continuous supporting host of CoderDojo in the world with CoderDojo Limerick being hosted by LIT since its launch. At our party we also announced that we will be running a MegaDojo for 1024+ new youths learning to code for free in Oct. There will be workshops, competitions and showcases to give attendees an insight into the many aspects of technology.
Dr. Liam Brown, VP of Research, Enterprise & Development at LIT who was previously Head of Technology Centres for Enterprise Ireland attended the event on Saturday and encouraged all parents to think outside the box when it comes to extracurricular activities for their children saying ‘Technology is all around us and has transformed the way we do everything not least the way we educate our children but while our youth learn how to use it and benefit from it, they rarely get the opportunity to really learn how it works!’
But on Saturday it was time to party. Over the past 5 years, we have supported more than 100 children and teenagers weekly to learn to code in a relaxed and fun environment. Unsurprisingly the party started as a normal Dojo event with youths learning to code and about technology right across the spectrum. Many beginners at CoderDojo Limerick start with Scratch, a programming environment developed by MIT to teach the basics of programming and logical problem solving. However, we also have children and teenagers working on projects spread across Web Development, Java, Python, App Development and the Internet of Things with Arduino and Raspberry Pi.
After the coding session, the party was held in the LIT canteen with 30 12” pizzas demolished in 9 minutes flat! There was also some more healthy food as coders don’t only eat pizza 
A great time was had by the 140 youths and nearly 60 adults including parents and CoderDojo Volunteers at the event.
MegaDojo 2016
At the birthday celebrations in LIT on Saturday CoderDojo Pioneer, Barry Kennedy announced that ‘MegaDojo 2016 will be run on the 15th of October as part of Europe Code Week, a Europe-wide grassroots initiative which aims to bring coding and digital literacy to everybody in a fun and engaging way. You do not need to know anything about coding or have ever come to a coder dojo to take part on the day. This is open for all with activities for all new coders right up to the experts with challenges on the day’
‘MegaDojo 2015 was a great success with over 512 youths attending and this year, CoderDojo Limerick, working with their sister Dojos in Ennis and Nenagh, aim to double the size to over 1024 youths learning to code, with 30 existing Dojo youth attendees helping as mentors and 60+ youths across two age brackets taking part in a youth Hackathon where they will be asked to create a project that will have a social impact.’
Local technology companies will be taking part in the showcases to show the youths attending what they actually do in their companies as well as startups taking part in Enterprise Ireland’s New Frontiers programme. This is aimed at helping young people to see what the possibilities of technology are. It also helps them to prepare for CAO and making a choice between programmes as this helps them to gain a greater understanding of the industry and the matching skillset. Talks on the day will also help to demystify this choice for them and parents and teachers are all welcome on the day.
If you or your company would like to get involved please contact the team behind the event at limerick@coderdojo.com.
Booking for the free event is now open at http://www.coderdojomidwest.com/megadojo/.
