Impact

App Lab has really helped me with my coding skills. I've learned so much from that.

I've been improving my teamwork and communication skills. Before, I was quite nervous to talk to strangers and different people, but I've learned that it's not really anything to be afraid of.

I think we've developed as a team … we've learned that working together is better than working alone.

I've become better in communication, and got more confident. Before, I didn't really like talking, now it's actually becoming a skill.

The Y7 students have really blossomed in terms of their confidence, their aspirations, and their ability to work collaboratively and handle problems.

[I liked] the fact that our Year 9s have to collaborate, communicate and most importantly compromise!

[Students] take responsibility, they build leadership skills, they analyse strengths and weaknesses. It's refreshing to give them ownership and make them accountable … There's a lot of collaboration happening.

I've always looked at computing as something that doesn't interest me … but being able to actually see the process behind making apps has given me a better insight.

We used a lot of problem solving skills because there were some bugs with our app and we were able to fix them when we worked through it together.

It was fun to use [App Lab], and I discovered I was better at it than I thought.

[I enjoyed] the coding and the designing because it's such a new thing to us … if we were to do something like this in the future, we have a better understanding of how it will work.

I really enjoyed meeting new people, making new friendships and building my confidence. My confidence has grown so much since I first joined Apps for Good, so I'm really happy with that.

Pitching the idea to the judges helped me increase my confidence in speeches.

[The Industry Volunteer] that gave us the advice really helped us a lot because we got to evaluate our app idea and make it much better.

People that work in technology have a lot of experience and they know what they're talking about … With their ideas and their suggestions, their complaints and critiques, we got to improve the app a lot more.

[Our Industry Volunteer] was a great speaker and made a career in IT seem very appealing.

It just makes me feel so good for the future to know that the world is in very capable hands with the kids that come through the program.

Dialling into the classrooms to see and hear what the students have been working on is always a highlight. The ideas themselves are great and I love the enthusiasm, the confidence and the willingness to learn.

It's been so uplifting to understand the knowledge and enthusiasm of the young people involved - a really positive reminder about the fact that the future is in good hands!

At EPAM, we believe every individual deserves the opportunity to succeed in the digital world...We’re proud to support the next generation of changemakers and look forward to seeing how their ideas make a real difference in the world.

I was just a kid from Deptford in South East London. I never would have imagined that I would be able to have interaction with these kinds of people within these kinds of industries.

[The volunteers] gave us really great, positive feedback on what we were doing well, what they wanted to see more of … For a 15 year old girl who's doing that for the first time, whether you're excited to present or not, it's really boosting for your confidence.

I liked that we weren’t just being told what to do. It felt more creative and fun.

I've always felt passionately about the environment and nature, so it's been really good to actually do something with that passion.

We definitely had more creative freedom. I enjoyed being able to think of our own app idea because it's like something that's personal to us. We feel better about making it.

I don't think we would have enjoyed it that much if we’d been told to do it. When we create our own idea, we have more fun.

You get to do what you want how you want … it feels empowering because you have full control.

[Students] enjoyed being able to have independence with creating their own app ideas and starting from scratch rather than following a narrow theme/topic.

I wasn't a big fan of computing, I didn't really like the lesson … I’ve definitely got more of a liking towards it because I'm taking it for my GCSE now as well … The Apps for Good course has really given me a new perspective of what different types of things you can do or new skills you might learn. I think that it did play a key part in what I was thinking about doing.

I had an original idea [about choosing Computer Science], but doing the Apps for Good course really helped me in the coding aspects. I really would love to do this because it helps people and I love the idea of helping people and making their lives better with technology.

After we made our app for Apps for Good … we all thought that we should follow our passion, which led to us choosing computer science for our GCSEs.

It’s important for girls to study computing and technology subjects because there’s nothing girls can’t do ... We can be interested in anything, just like anybody else ... whether it be engineering, whether it be computing, we can do it all.

[The course] has influenced my liking of coding and technology, I think it would be a very useful skill in the future with the rise of AI.

It’s so important that students see computer science and technologies thread through every single career path possible. They need to see that it’s not all about ones and zeros and binary, but how it impacts on life as a whole.

I was one of the first ever students that trialed the Apps for Good course in a school in Bow in East London when I was 15 years old. It quite literally changed the course of everything I then went on to do.

Apps for Good influenced everything I did from when I took the course in Year 7 until now. It was my first proper step into coding and technology and sparked a passion I never knew I had. It opened me up to so many opportunities and showed me you can always achieve your dreams in any field, as long as you set your heart and mind to it.

My learnings from Apps for Good really came back when I moved from university to the workplace.