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feat: 2026 content strategy — new posts, homepage filtering, blog page, tag pages, cover images
- Homepage now shows opt-in posts ordered by frontmatter (homepage: true, order: N) - New /blog/ page shows all posts; "Blog" nav link added - 12 new tag pages: codeclub, coolestprojects, pico-pathway, first, ftc, sapient-rocks, mars-yard, loco-auv, coderetreat, devdev, lean-startup-coffee, robotics - New posts: Code Club 2026, FTC, SAPIENT.rocks, Mars Yard, LoCO AUV, Pico Pathway, Lean Startup Coffee - Updated posts: devdev, volunteers-needed, coolestprojects2025, codeclub-resources, coderjourney, coderetreat - Cover images added for all initiatives - About page rewritten to reflect full initiative portfolio - permalink changed to /:title/ for clean URL serving Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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‎Gemfile‎

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gem "jekyll", "~> 3.7.4"
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gem "github-pages", "~> 192"
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gem "rake", "~> 12.3.1"
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gem "ffi", "< 1.17"

‎_config.yml‎

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google_analytics: UA-69281367-1 # replace with your GA tracking identifier
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# Permalinks
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permalink: /:title
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permalink: /:title/
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# permalink: /author/:author
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# permalink: /tag/:tag
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- changelog.md
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- "*.Rmd"
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- .git*
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- content-strategy/
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‎_data/tags.yml‎

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getting-started:
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name: getting-started
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description: False
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cover: False
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codeclub:
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name: codeclub
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description: "Free volunteer-led coding clubs for young people, aligned to the DBE Coding & Robotics curriculum. CoderLevelUp supports Code Club across the Western Cape."
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cover: assets/images/covers/codeclub.jpg
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coolestprojects:
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name: coolestprojects
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description: "The world's leading technology showcase for young people, run in South Africa since 2020. CoderLevelUp organises the annual edition, now in its sixth year."
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cover: assets/images/covers/coolestprojects.jpg
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pico-pathway:
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name: pico-pathway
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description: "The CoderLevelUp Pico Pathway Kit — an affordable hardware starter kit available from PiShop, built around the Raspberry Pi Foundation's Introduction to Pico pathway. Six projects, one kit, R199.90."
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cover: assets/images/covers/pico-pathway.jpg
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first:
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name: first
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description: "FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) runs world-class youth robotics programmes from Lego FLL through to the First Tech Challenge. CoderLevelUp supports the FIRST community in South Africa."
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cover: assets/images/covers/first.jpg
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ftc:
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name: ftc
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description: "The First Tech Challenge is a FIRST robotics competition for ages 12–18. CoderLevelUp supports FTC teams in the Western Cape — including 2024 World Champions Texpand — through IGNITE Robotics International."
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cover: assets/images/covers/ftc.jpg
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sapient-rocks:
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name: sapient-rocks
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description: "The South African Planetary Institute for Exploring Nature with Technology — a CoderLevelUp initiative bringing planetary science and robotics together to inspire learners and communities."
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cover: assets/images/covers/sapient-rocks.jpg
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mars-yard:
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name: mars-yard
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description: "The SAPIENT.rocks Mars Yard is a simulated Martian landscape in Cape Town where learners run code on real rovers. Backed by Gazebo simulation for distributed access, and connected to public science talks at the Iziko Planetarium."
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cover: assets/images/covers/mars-yard.jpg
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loco-auv:
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name: loco-auv
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description: "A Cape Town community building the LoCO AUV — a low-cost open-source autonomous underwater vehicle. Monthly build events, Gazebo simulation, and a learning pathway from Scratch to ROS. Communities build robots and robots build communities."
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cover: assets/images/covers/loco-auv.jpg
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coderetreat:
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name: coderetreat
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description: "Day-long deliberate practice events for developers — pair programming, new partners, no pressure to ship. CoderLevelUp has hosted coderetreats in Cape Town since 2012, including the global 48-hour event."
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cover: assets/images/covers/coderetreat.jpg
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devdev:
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name: devdev
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description: "A working group under IITPSA developing professional developers in South Africa — making it easier to employ and be employed in the software profession."
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cover: assets/images/covers/devdev.jpg
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lean-startup-coffee:
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name: lean-startup-coffee
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description: "A weekly agendaless, speakerless meetup for people working in startups — 536+ events since 2015, now online via WorkAdventure every Wednesday morning."
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cover: assets/images/covers/lean-startup-coffee.jpg
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robotics:
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name: robotics
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description: "CoderLevelUp supports robotics programmes across South Africa — from competitive FTC teams to underwater vehicles and Mars rovers."
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cover: assets/images/covers/robotics.jpg

‎_includes/navigation.html‎

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<ul class="nav" role="menu">
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<li class="nav-home" role="menuitem"><a href="{{site.baseurl}}">Home</a></li>
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<li class="nav-about" role="menuitem"><a href="{{site.baseurl}}about/">About</a></li>
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<li class="nav-blog" role="menuitem"><a href="{{site.baseurl}}blog/">Blog</a></li>
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</ul>

‎_includes/post-card.html‎

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{% for post in paginator.posts %}
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{% if page.current == 'home' %}
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{% assign display_posts = site.posts | where: 'homepage', true | sort: 'order' %}
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{% elsif page.current == 'blog' %}
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{% assign display_posts = site.posts %}
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{% else %}
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{% assign display_posts = paginator.posts %}
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{% endif %}
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{% for post in display_posts %}
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<article class="post-card {{ page.class }}{% unless post.cover %} no-image{% endunless %}">
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{% if post.cover %}
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<a class="post-card-image-link" href="{{ site.baseurl }}{{ post.url | remove_first: '/' }}">

‎_posts/2020-03-13-coderjourney.md‎

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homepage: true
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---
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# A coder's journey

‎_posts/2021-04-20-devdev.md‎

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---
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layout: post
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cover: assets/images/dilbert.jpg
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navigation: True
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title: About devdev
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title: "devdev: Developing Professional Developers"
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date: 2021-04-20 10:10:10
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tags: [devdev]
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class: post-template
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subclass: 'post tag-getting-started'
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subclass: 'post tag-devdev'
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author: campey
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homepage: true
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order: 10
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# devdev
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Is **dev**eloping professional **dev**elopers. A working group with IITPSA (SA professional body for IT professionals).
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devdev's primary goal is making it **easier to employ and be employed** in this profession.
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**dev**eloping professional **dev**elopers. A CoderLevelUp initiative in partnership with IITPSA - the professional body for IT professionals in South Africa, with over 60 years of history and global affiliation through IP3.
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The core idea is simple: make it easier to **employ and be employed** as a software developer in South Africa.
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<!--more-->
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| Audience | Professional software developers |
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| Local history | We were going to create new pro body, IITPSA perform this function, MOU signed to engage coders |
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| Supporting bodies | IITPSA, WesGro, Afrolabs |
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## Why This Matters
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South Africa has a genuine critical skills shortage in software development. At the same time, there are thousands of self-taught developers, bootcamp graduates, online learners, and career-switchers who can't easily prove what they know or get the professional recognition they've earned.
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devdev is trying to fix that - by working with IITPSA to make their professional framework relevant, accessible, and genuinely useful to coders at every stage.
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## What's Real Right Now
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**The IITPSA partnership** is live. We operate under an open MOU. The IITPSA Certified Member tier now exists - a concrete rung on the ladder.
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**The working group** is active. Kelvin Nhlapo and David Campey have been discussing what a modern, inclusive professional framework for SA developers actually looks like.
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**The SFIA framework** is our foundation - 102 skills, vendor-neutral, globally recognised. It gives us a common language for describing what developers do and at what level.
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**The membership ladder** we're working toward:
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| Tier | Description |
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|---|---|
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| Student | Learning, not yet in the profession |
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| Affiliate | Entering the profession |
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| Associate | Working developer, growing |
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| Member | Established practitioner |
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| Certified | SFIA Level 3 - proven professional |
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| Professional | SFIA Level 5 - senior practitioner |
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## What We're Trying to Build
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Three things:
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**1. Easier employment pathways.** Clearer definitions of what "junior", "mid", and "senior" mean in practice. Helps hiring managers and helps developers advocate for themselves. Relevant to critical skills visa pathways too.
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**2. Recognition of diverse learning.** Whether you learned via freeCodeCamp, edX cs50, AWS training, Google Digital Skills, or sheer persistence - that should count. devdev is working to make that recognition real.
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## Status
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**3. CPD that actually matters.** Continuing Professional Development points for things developers already do - attending conferences, mentoring, community involvement. Critically: **mentoring counts as first-class CPD too!**. That's how we scale the profession - getting experienced developers to invest back into the community.
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### Body
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## What's Not Yet Real
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devdev is a working group with the IITPSA to achieve our objectives by working with their professional body.
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We want to be honest. devdev has genuine potential but hasn't yet materialised as a fully delivered programme. The webinar series is planned but not yet running. The DevConf collaboration is in discussion. The full CPD framework is in progress.
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First objectives:
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1. defining scarce skill of software development, clarifying the "rungs on the ladder" of professional development:
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- simplifies hiring processes,
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- assists immigration, and
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- sets the bar for training programmes
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2. implement CPD points to encourage engagement of professionals:
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- in conferences and community events
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- in training courses
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- especially for mentoring
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3. Recognise online courses & MooCs
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This is a community initiative. It moves at the pace of the people involved, and we have limited bandwidth alongside everything else CoderLevelUp is doing.
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Coder:LevelUp have joined forces with the IITPSA under an open MOU to help them make their professional offering engaging to coders at all stages of professional development. This partnership has replaced our previous goal of creating our own professional body, neatly removing duplication.
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## Come Help Us Make It Real
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### Partner Engagement
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If you're a developer who cares about this - a professional who wants a framework that recognises how real developers grow - we need you in the conversation.
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Having established devdev, we are proceeding to engage with partner organisations to grow a representative working group.
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Get in touch: [info@coderlevelup.org](mailto:info@coderlevelup.org)
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Is that you? Please get in touch.
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**Useful links:**
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- [IITPSA](https://iitpsa.org.za)
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- [SFIA Framework](https://sfia-online.org)
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- [CodeRetreat](/tag/coderetreat/) - the community practice complement to devdev

‎_posts/2022-10-18-globaldayofcoderetreat2022-48hr.md‎

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date: 2022-11-07 09:30:00:00
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tags: [coderetreat]
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subclass: 'post tag-coderetreat'
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homepage: true
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Developers from around the world gathered online for the 48 hours of the "day" of CodeRetreat in our virtual space-station.

‎_posts/2023-07-28-volunteers-needed.md‎

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title: Volunteers needed at coding clubs
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tags: [codeclub, coderdojo]
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title: Volunteers Needed at Coding & Robotics Clubs
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date: 2026-03-22 09:00:00
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tags: [codeclub, ftc, robotics]
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subclass: 'post tag-codeclub'
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Helping young people develop new skills and explore their creativity is very
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Helping young people develop new skills and explore their creativity is very rewarding. Also, it's a lot of fun!
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Code Club & CoderDojo are free volunteer-led coding clubs for young people that are always looking for volunteers!
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CoderLevelUp supports free coding clubs and competitive robotics programmes across South Africa — and all of them rely on volunteers.
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# We need your help!
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You could become a mentor and help young people learn to code. To help beginners, you don’t even need technical skills!
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You could become a mentor and help young people learn to code. To help beginners, you don't even need technical skills — enthusiasm and a willingness to learn alongside the kids goes a long way.
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You could also help with setting up the space and recording attendance for the club sessions. You could help a club run its social media presence or website!
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You could also help with setting up the space, recording attendance, running social media, or supporting a club's operations behind the scenes. There's a role for everyone.
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# Venues in Western Cape
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Fill in the [CoderLevelUp Volunteer form](https://forms.gle/q9p7D1rM3CT7Upsj8) or mail [volunteer@coderlevelup.org](mailto:volunteer@coderlevelup.org).
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Code Club has been growing in schools thanks to the efforts of Anelisa together with WCED and SADTU and we now (May 2024)
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<!--more-->
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If you're curious to see if there is already a club near you, you can check out:
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* code club: [find a Code Club](https://codeclub.org/en/clubs?clubs_search%5Bcountry%5D=ZA&clubs_search%5Bq%5D=cape+town&commit=Find+a+Code+Club) (change the location and range to find more clubs)
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* CoderDojo: [find a Dojo](https://coderdojo.com/en/find?search=cape+town&distance=50&unit=miles&lat=&lng=)
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## Code Club
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Even more venues coming soon:
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* Schools: Our Region has has 1500 schools, 97% with computer rooms with internet, and we've partnering with WCED to train teachers to start clubs, so more schools coming soon.
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* Libraries: we're piloting [CoderDojo in the Library](https://help.coderdojo.com/cdkb/s/article/CoderDojo-in-the-library) with Cape Town City Libraries identifying an initial 5-10 libraries, which means any of the 104 (yep!) libraries in the city will be potential pilots, and ultimately we'd like to see them all running.
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Code Club is a free, volunteer-led coding club for young people aged 9-13. Clubs meet weekly at schools, libraries, and community centres across the Western Cape and Eastern Cape.
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# Volunteering
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As we're growing, and venues are opening up to be willing to host or starting clubs more volunteers are needed. More volunteers at clubs help get a better outcome for young people across the network.
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**What volunteers do:** Guide learners through Raspberry Pi Foundation projects in Scratch, Python, and HTML. No advanced coding knowledge needed for beginners — the projects are designed to be accessible.
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We're here to help you be a great volunteer, whether you're a coder, an educator, a parent or anything in-between.
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We now have 1,000+ clubs running across South Africa, with 400+ in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape. Read more in our [Code Club 2026 update](/codeclub-2026/).
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More info on volunteering:
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* <https://codeclub.org/en/volunteer>
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* <https://coderdojo.com/en/volunteer>
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If you're curious whether there's already a club near you:
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- [Find a Code Club](https://codeclub.org/en/clubs?clubs_search%5Bcountry%5D=ZA&clubs_search%5Bq%5D=cape+town&commit=Find+a+Code+Club)
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Training for 1st time volunteers:
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* Ideally please do this 30 min safeguarding e-learning module. <https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/projects/safeguarding-module/>
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**Ready to volunteer with Code Club?**
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- [Volunteer with Code Club](https://codeclub.org/en/volunteer)
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- 30-min safeguarding module (required): [Safeguarding e-learning](https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/projects/safeguarding-module/)
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- Mentoring guide: [Dojo Mentoring](https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/projects/dojo-mentoring/)
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Training for mentoring (helping young people with code):
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* a good one to review on how / where you'll be helping. <https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/projects/dojo-mentoring/>
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* Specifically, we'll start most newcomers on "space talk", the first step in the scratch pathway, that you can play through here: <https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/projects/space-talk>
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---
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Plus there'll be lots of friendly fellow mentors and teachers along on the journey.
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## FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC)
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<!--more-->
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FTC is a competitive robotics programme for young people aged 12-18. Teams design, build, programme, and operate robots to compete — including at the World Championship in Houston. Two Western Cape teams, Texpand and Autonova, are heading to Worlds in 2026.
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**What volunteers do:** Mentor a team (engineering, coding, strategy), or serve at events as a judge, referee, or field volunteer. FTC events only happen because of volunteers.
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You don't need to be a robotics expert — teams benefit enormously from mentors who bring project management, communication, documentation, or general engineering skills.
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**Ready to volunteer with FTC?**
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- [Volunteer with FIRST](https://www.firstinspires.org/community/volunteers)
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- [Read more about FTC](/first-tech-challenge/)
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---
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## Get Involved
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Whether it's Code Club, FTC, or something else at CoderLevelUp, we'd love to hear from you.
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If you want to volunteer, (or start a club at your school, or donate, or anything else you can imagine to help), please fill in this [Coder:Levelup Volunteer details](https://forms.gle/q9p7D1rM3CT7Upsj8) form or mail <volunteer@coderlevelup.org>.
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Fill in the [CoderLevelUp Volunteer form](https://forms.gle/q9p7D1rM3CT7Upsj8) or mail [volunteer@coderlevelup.org](mailto:volunteer@coderlevelup.org).

‎_posts/2024-07-17-codeclub-resources.md‎

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homepage: true
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Resources to support your club.

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