Meet the YaaW + Educative Technical Writing Competition winners
The Educative Technical Writing Competition is an opportunity for developers to learn, compete, and improve their writing skills.
Participants submit technical articles that are thoroughly reviewed and copyedited by the Educative team. The articles are then published, and the winners are announced.
For this competition, Educative partnered with the nonprofit organization Yielding Accomplished African Women (YaaW). The competition began on August 5, 2021.
YaaW provides a variety of resources and programs that prepare young women for careers in fields such as technology and finance, where technical writing is a key component.
Well-rounded developers must be able to communicate and explain their ideas, including complex technical concepts and processes. This competition is an opportunity for participants to polish these crucial skills, in alignment with YaaW’s mission to empower young women pursuing careers in tech.
By taking part in the competition, developers gain valuable experience that enhances their ability to write, research, and communicate effectively. These skills are invaluable in a tech environment.
What is YaaW?#
YaaW is a globally recognized nonprofit founded by Diana Wilson. The organization provides academic and professional resources that empower young African women and prepare them for future leadership roles.
YaaW’s mission is to provide the “skills in finance or technology, mentorship, and leadership development” that will lead to career opportunities for young women.
The YaaW program includes “comprehensive certification courses, extensive online training software, and experience with hands-on social impact projects, constructed to ensure every participant masters the fundamental skills requisite for employment at top financial and technology corporations.” This technical and professional experience empowers young women to shape their future careers, as well as drive economic development and innovation on a larger scale.
Meet the winners#
Below are some teasers from this year’s winning Answers, as well as some background on the winners.
1. Miracle Ugorji#
Miracle Ugorji has been learning to code for a year and 4 months now. She describes herself as a beginner in frontend web development, and is currently “learning frontend frameworks and libraries.” Her career goal is to be “a renowned expert in full stack development and technical writing.”
Miracle enjoys coding because it “keeps [her] engaged”, as she is “the type that easily gets bored.” Boredom is not a problem for her when coding, however, because “with every new challenge during coding, my interest and curiosity is constantly aroused.”
Along with her interest in coding, Miracle also “love[s] to write.” In her words, writing “helps me share what I’ve learned with others from my own perspective.” She also says that writing “makes the things [she] learns stick better,” making it a tool for learning as well as teaching.
Read a snippet of her winning Answer below:
What is getDate() in JavaScript?#
The getDate() method is one of the date methods available in JavaScript. It is used to get the day of the month for the specified date.
Syntax#
getdate()
Return value#
The getDate() method returns a number, from 1 to 31, which represents the days in a month. The value returned depends on the value stored in the Date object. It could either be the current date or user-specified.
To learn about how the
getDate()method is used and see some examples, click here to visit Edpresso.
2. Ethel Esenam Klu#
Our next winner, Ethel Klu, is also “a beginner when it comes to coding.” She is interested in coding as part of her larger career goal, which is to use “machine learning in analyzing biological data.”
In addition to these interests, Ethel also loves to write. For her, writing is “when [she] capture[s] a reader’s attention.” After that, the reader is then able “to understand and visualize a subject matter from [her] point of view.”
Read a snippet of her winning Answer below:
How to use bidirectional search implementation in Python#
A graph is a network of nodes connected by arcs or edges.
The two basic graph search algorithms, Breadth-First Search and Depth-First Search aim to find a path between 2 nodes (preferably the shortest) and determine cycles in the graph.
A graph search is done in one direction, either from the source/initial vertex to the goal/target vertex.
To search from both ends simultaneously, a bidirectional search is implemented.
Bidirectional search#
Bidirectional search is a graph search algorithm that finds the shortest path from a source vertex to a goal vertex.
To learn more about bidirectional search implementation and see some examples, click here to visit Answers.
3. Lateefat Salami#
Lateefat Salami, our third winner, started learning programming about 3 years ago. Her largest project thus far is a Tea Research inventory that keeps a record of tea leaves. She is also interested in UI/UX design as an “opportunity to combine [her] love for visuals with programming.” Her career goal is to become both “a full stack developer and a professional creative writer.”
Lateefat’s interest in programming began early. She says: “As a young girl, I was fascinated by computers and what they could do.” Programming provides a challenge and “pushes [her] to try things out.” She is also motivated by “the thought of creating something that people [can] use.”
Lateefat is also passionate about writing. She engages in a range of genres, including “fiction, creative nonfiction, technical writing, and sometimes research writing.” She enjoys writing because it is an effective way to “communicate and share [her] thoughts and imaginations.” Technical writing especially “helps [her] to document [her] learning” and share it with others.
Read a snippet of her winning Answer below:
How to use the Abs() method in JavaScript#
What is the abs() method?#
From mathematics, we know that the absolute value of a number is the distance from zero that a number is on the number line without considering its direction.
The abs() method works the same way in JavaScript. It returns the absolute value of the parameter (number) that is passed into it.
Syntax#
// 1. Math.abs(parameter);
Note: The
Mathobject allows the use of mathematical functions. So, theabs()method is called using this object.
To learn more about how to use the
abs()method and see some examples, click here to visit Answers.
#
Meet the newest winners#
After the success of the first competition, Educative and YaaW partnered once again to give more developers an opportunity to participate. This competition began on September 15, 2021.
Read on to meet the winners and see a sneak peek of their winning shots.
1. Nana Akua Opoku#
Nana Akua Opoku describes herself as an intermediate developer who is “building [her] strength” at coding. She first took a Python course two years ago and recently returned to coding after taking a break.
Nana enjoys coding because of the “sense of accomplishment” it gives her when she is able to “solve problems and find good solutions.”
She also values writing as an important skill to “educate others and [herself]." Writing is also a way for her to “open up [her] thoughts and space to the whole world.”
In her future career, Nana hopes to “help solve problems faced by financial institutions through the use of Machine Learning.”
Read a snippet of her winning Answer below:
ML-Rainfall prediction using linear regression#
Rainfall prediction#
Rainfall prediction is the application of scientific knowledge and technological resources to determine the volume and inches of rain for a particular period of time and location. Rainfall prediction is vital to plan power production, crop irrigation, and educate people on weather dangers.
Linear regression#
Linear Regression is a method that describes the relationship between a dependent variable and a set of independent variables. The equation of the line is given as
To learn more about rainfall prediction using linear regression, click here to visit Edpresso.
2. Lois Badu-Nkansah#
Lois Badu-Nkansah is new to coding and began less than a month ago. In that time, she has developed a love for coding “because of the many fascinating things I can create and program using code.”
She also loves to write. She describes it as her passion, and says she enjoys it “because [she] finds it easy to do.”
Lois’ career goal is to become a corporate lawyer. She also wants to become “very skilled in coding and technology, to the extent that I can have a career option in that field as well.”
Read a snipper of her winning Answer below:
What is Recovery Testing and what do you need to know about it?#
Recovery Testing and all you need to know#
Recovery Testing is the burgeoning face of data recovery in Software Engineering! Just like how a warm, sizzling bowl of comfort food resets your mind and body after a busy day, or how grandma’s grits and hot biscuits revitalizes you, Recovery Testing goes all out to ensure software can recover important data in the face of crisis.
What is recovery testing?#
Software failures are inevitable. While some software failures do not extensively affect the Operating System, others are utter disasters! To salvage disastrous effects of a software or system hitch, we use Recovery Testing. Recovery Testing is a technique for software testing which determines a software’s ability to recover from a software failure or hitch. Some of these unpleasant malfunctions include software crashes, hardware crashes and network issues.
To learn more about recovery testing and see some examples, click here to visit Edpresso.
3. Angela Amengor-Kwapong#
Read a snippet of her winning shot below:
What is the CSS placeholder selector?#
CSS rule is the combination of one or more CSS properties that targets HTML elements and make changes to their style. The CSS rule consists of a CSS selector and a set of CSS properties.
A CSS selector is that component of the CSS rule that determines contents to be styled.
The CSS selector tells the browser which html element’s content should be targeted in order to have the CSS property values applied to them within the rules.
Categories of CSS selectors#
The different categories of CSS selectors are:
-
Simple selectors
-
Combinator selectors
-
Pseudo-class selectors
-
Attribute selectors
<style>
h1{
color:blue;
background-color:white;
}
</style>
To learn more about the CSS placeholder selector and see some examples, click here to visit Answers.
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