From clicks to code: Resources women use to learn to code in apex

One avenue of entrée into the coding arena is by end user programmers who wish to increase their computing skills and/or employment opportunities by teaching themselves to program. Administrators who work on the Salesforce platform have access to an Apex programming language and environment that can-at first-help them to increase the functionality of their company´s software products and-later-open up a whole world of development and employment possibilities. Salesforce provides a slew of resources to users wishing to learn to code- from online tutorials to virtual communities-but two barriers can be found to novice developers: the chasm between administrator and coder can be too large for novice programmers to bridge using the resources available, and-for women-the predominance of males in the coding world can be intimidating. This study investigates these two barriers and reports how women overcome conceptual barriers to learning to program with the guidance and support of other women. This work has applicability beyond the Salesforce platform, as difficulty in understanding coding concepts applies to all novice programmers and feelings of intimidation can be prevalent in many contexts where beginners work with or ask questions of experts.