(Jackson, Miss.) – Innovate Mississippi announces the launch of the new Code Mississippi program (www.codems.net), a strategic initiative that was created to help organize coding resources and bring coding leaders together within the state. Through the program’s initiatives, key partnerships, innovation and creativity, Code Mississippi can lead to an unprecedented tech boom across the state.
Coding, which is problem-solving using and/or creating computer programming and instructions, is “the problem-solving methodology of the future,” said Tony Jeff, president and CEO of Innovate Mississippi. “We want to make sure that anyone interested in coding – or who is already coding – is connected to other coders, jobs and resources within our state.”
“There are already significant coding resources and activities in Mississippi, and more are on the way,” added Jeff. “Cultivating a vibrant coding community that is closely connected with the state’s technology startup companies is not only crucial to building the ecosystem for technology startups, it’s also a vital component to keeping our best and brightest job seekers here in Mississippi.”
Code Mississippi was first unveiled last week at a press conference held in Downtown Jackson at Coalesce Co-working Space. The press conference was led by Tony Jeff and immediately followed the 1 Million Cups presentation, a weekly gathering hosted at Coalesce where new startup companies, nonprofits and projects are pitched. The 1 Million Cups speaker was coder J.C. Hiatt, founder of Jackson-based Good Design & Code and member of the Code Mississippi Leadership Team.
Innovate Mississippi is a nonprofit organization with the mission to drive innovation and technology-based economic development for the State of Mississippi. Visit www.innovate.ms to learn more.
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PHOTO – Members of the Code Mississippi Leadership Team at the press conference, from left: Tim Mask of Maris, West & Baker Advertising and Fast Forward Mississippi; Randy Lynn of Maris, West & Baker Advertising and Kids Code Mississippi; Matthew McLaughlin of Coalesce Co-working Space; J.C. Hiatt of Good Design & Code; Tony Jeff of Innovate Mississippi; and Nader Dabit of Jackson Web & App Developers Meetup Group.