Behind the Code: The University of Sydney tells Lena’s Story of Leadership and Innovation at CODE4FUN

At CODE4FUN, every parent knows Lena, the co-founder and marketing director who has been the backbone of our community for the last nine years. Since the inception of CODE4FUN‘s first classes in April 2015, Lena has dedicated herself to the welfare of our families, essentially available 24/7.

Lena not only sends out class reminders each morning but also manages all parent inquiries—whether it involves changing a class day, time, or course level. She acts as the vital link between parents and teachers, provides feedback to educators, and writes reference letters for students applying for scholarships.

Recently, the University of Sydney Business School featured Lena’s journey on their website. In the article, Lena Sveshnikova, CODE4FUN co-founder and marketing director, reflects on her time at the University of Sydney where she completed her Master of Marketing in 2014. She shares the story of how CODE4FUN was created and discusses the main drivers behind this innovative startup.

Here is a brief excerpt:

“Elena explains that the program is not just about teaching technical mastery but also about equipping the younger generation with invaluable skills to empower them and shape their future. ‘Coding fosters logical thinking, analytical abilities, and a structured approach to problem solving,’ she says. ‘These skills are not only relevant in the field of technology but also transferable to various aspects of life, nurturing critical thinking and innovation.'”

Enjoy the read!

The NSW Government is helping kids get creative with the new Creative Kids initiative.

Parents, guardians and carers receiving Family Tax Benefit are welcome to apply for a Creative Kids voucher. The $50 voucher is available twice a year to use towards sport, creative and cultural activities.

Voucher 1 – 2024: Available from term 1 

• Applications open: 1 February 2024
• Apply for and use the voucher by: 31 December 2024

Voucher 2 – 2024: Available from term 3 

• Applications open: 15 July 2024
• Apply for and use the voucher by: 14 July 2025

At CODE4FUN, we are very excited to be a part of this NSW Government program as a registered Creative Kids provider. It’s a great opportunity to let kids find their passion and learn new skills.

How you can get $50 back on your child’s enrolment with CODE4FUN:

Step 1: 

APPLY FOR YOUR CREATIVE KID’S VOUCHER

Please navigate to Service NSW website and follow the instructions on how to apply for a $50 voucher

Step 2

ENROL YOUR CHILD WITH CODE4FUN

Check out our weekly classes:

and camps:

When enrolling, you will need to enter your child’s name exactly as it shown on your voucher, your child’s date of birth and the voucher number.

Step 3

RECEIVE YOUR CREATIVE KID’S $50 REFUND

We will refund you the voucher value of $50 within 10 days (normally it takes about 2-3 days). Please keep in mind your refund will be transferred to the exact same account that was used to make the enrolment.

If you have already enrolled your child in for any of CODE4FUN courses or camps, you still are able to claim your Creative Kid’s refund from us. In this case, please simply send your Creative Kids 16-digit voucher code, your child’s date of birth and your child’s name exactly as it shown on your voucher via info@code4fun.com.au with subject Creative Kids / your child’s name (Creative Kids / John Smith).

We are very proud of Max Forbes, a CODE4FUN alumnus, who won the Northern Beaches Youth Volunteer of the Year award! As a CODE4FUN student, Max always has been showing his passion and dedication to coding and computer science. We’re absolutely thrilled to witness how he continues to pursue his passion, while generously sharing his knowledge with others. At Willoughby City Library, Max helps children in a free after school program to learn about coding, computer literacy and problem solving. Max’s dedication is not just inspiring; it’s a testament to the transformative power of education and mentorship. We couldn’t be prouder of his achievements and the positive impact he’s making in our community. Let’s applaud Max Forbes for his outstanding contributions and for being a shining example of how one individual’s passion can ignite the spark of curiosity in countless others!

A huge Thank You to the Australian of the year Michelle Simmons, Alison Taylor, Gabrielle Green and all the team at the Centre for Quantum Computation & Communication Technology UNSW for inviting CODE4FUN students to visit, learn and explore one of the best Quantum Computer Research Centres in the world.

What an exceptional opportunity the CQC2T Team gave our coding students to see potential future pathways with the coding skills they are learning now. No doubt that this hands-on experience of cutting-edge computer science and technology has widened our students’ understanding and inspired them toward the array of careers that are now open to them.

Last week, Microsoft Reactor – the biggest Microsoft Startup Hub in the Southern Hemisphere – hosted the top 45 students of the CODE4FUN Christmas Coding Challenge. It was an incredible opportunity for our students to meet, learn and be inspired by Annie Parker, who is Microsoft’s Global Head of Startups; Dave Glover, Regional Developer Advocate; Lynn Dang, Head of Talent Acquisition; Dr Neil Roodyn, VR Advocate and Michael Watson, Microsoft Reactor Program manager.

The students learnt about cutting-edge technology such as AI, Machine Learning and Virtual Reality. Dave Glover helped our students to try machine learning for themselves and they taught a computer how to distinguish a banana from other fruits. It was so much fun to see how the machine did exactly what it was programmed to do and pick the banana from a table of many objects.

The students also had the opportunity to experience Microsoft’s ‘Mixed Reality’ headsets. During the experience, they learnt about space and saw the connection between virtual and real reality.

One of the main takeaways from Annie Parker is that it’s never too late to start to learn to code. She was confident that many of the talented CODE4FUN students would one day become Microsoft Developers and use their skills to make positive change.

Thank you very much to all the Microsoft staff for inspiring our students and encouraging them to continue their coding journey. Our students are more excited than ever about the endless possibilities of coding and the opportunities this important skill will create for them in the future.

The 2018 CODE4FUN Christmas Coding Challenge is proudly supported by Officeworks and ASUS.

We will be announcing the details of the next CODE4FUN Coding Challenge in early March 2019. We invite all our students to participate in the next challenge for their chance to win fantastic prizes, visit a leading tech company and of course, learn and have lots of fun along the way!

Check out some of the photos from the day below:

The resume as we know it may become a thing of the past thanks to the
imagination and inventive skills of Sydney coding students in the CODE4FUN
Christmas Coding Challenge 2018.

With employers spending an average of six seconds scanning a resume, and
companies like Microsoft receiving over two million applicants a year, knowing how
to stand out in an increasingly competitive and tech-driven world will be essential
for the next generation of jobseekers.

To help prepare them for the jobs of the future, CODE4FUN’s Create an
Interactive Resume Challenge saw over 280 students from 43 schools across
Sydney create a digital resume highlighting their skills, interests and achievements.
And after months of hard work, the impressive results show the future is in good
hands.

Judged on their creativity and originality, as well as their coding, design and
animation skills, students turned the traditional resume on its head by incorporating
gaming elements, animation and music to spark engagement and interest for the
user. The judging panel was impressed with the breadth of inventive submissions
that included an underwater submarine journey and an intergalactic space battle.

Thanks to the challenge supporters, Officeworks and ASUS, every participant took
home a prize and the three first place winners each took home an ASUS laptop.
The top 45 students were invited to visit the Microsoft Startup Hub Microsoft
Reactor Sydney and met with Annie Parker, Microsoft’s Global Head of Startups.

“I was surprised to learn how competitive it can be to get a job at places like Google
and Microsoft,” says Cooper Heriot, a student at The Forest High School, who won
first prize for his submarine journey resume that demonstrated his love for
animation and underwater photography. “The challenge really made me think about
how I could stand out from the crowd.”

“I had so much fun thinking of new and creative ways for me to share my skills and
passions with other people rather than just sticking with the traditional paper
resume that everyone else does,” says Kai Ishikawa from St Ives High School, who
won a top place for his cosmic space game resume that reveals his interests along
the way.

“The challenge really made me think about how I can do things differently to get
noticed and make my resume interesting and engaging for others to read,” added
Rafael Deubler from Rose Bay Secondary College who also took out a top prize for
his interactive resume that cleverly mimics the Microsoft desktop, complete with a
trashcan icon containing his ‘hopes and dreams’.

The challenge was the latest CODE4FUN initiative aimed at inspiring the next wave
of innovators and change makers, encouraging kids to develop valuable analytical
and presentation skills. Digital literacy is fast becoming a critical workplace skill with
coding one of the most vital languages of the new knowledge-based economy. The
more kids are equipped with the confidence and knowledge of technology and how
to use it, the better positioned they will be in their future careers.

Co-Founder and Director of CODE4FUN, Grigory Punanov says, “We had an
overwhelmingly positive response to this challenge because the students were
given the opportunity to not only showcase their passions and talents, but to also
think outside the box and challenge the way resumes are traditionally presented.
We continue to be amazed by the inventiveness of our students, the quality of work
continues to improve with every challenge.”

You are welcome to check the winners’ resumes below:

Cooper – First place & ASUS laptop in Unity 3D category, Pro coding class in Mosman

Project link: https://adiggins.itch.io/cooper-heriot-resume

Rafael – First place & ASUS laptop in Java & Processing category, Pro coding class in Bondi Junction

Project link: http://raf-resume.herokuapp.com/

Kai – First place & ASUS laptop in Scratch category, Advanced coding class in Glenhaven

Project link: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/247640805/

Each year CODE4FUN runs a Christmas Coding Challenge, and the entries and prizes keep getting better!

This year a theme was ‘Time Machine’, so our students used the skills they learned in a class to create apps, games, and animations about time travel. There were two categories: the first category was for the younger students who developed original stories and games in Scratch,  and the second category was for senior students who used a professional 3D game engine Unity to build their own individual projects.

The jury had a tough time picking the winners as the work submitted was at such a high quality. All participants demonstrated solid coding skills and endless creativity – we hope our students are as proud of their work as we are.

Three students were awarded The Programmer of The Year Award: Finn, Patrick, and Renata. They each took home a new laptop.

In addition, our top 40 participants had an opportunity to visit Atlassian headquarter, Australia’s leading technology innovator! We are so thankful to Atlassian’s team for having our students and for sharing their passion for innovation and technology in such an inspiring manner. There is no surprise, most of our children are certain now – they want to work at Atlassian.

We hope all the students had a great time participating in the challenge, it is extremely popular amongst our students! If your child has missed out on the CODE4FUN coding challenges this year or can’t wait to get stuck into it again – we will announce our next big Challenge theme on the first week of the Term 1. 2018. As usual, we invite all the students to take part in the next challenge.

In the meantime, we encourage you to take a look at the excellent work produced by our students this semester here.

Here are the top three award winning projects: