Putting tech front and center: CodeOp connecting programmers with businesses.

• Author: Kelly, Lindsay
• Position: DESIGN-BUILD

Renee Higgins was on track for a career in biology until a chance discovery of the field of computer science altered the course of her future.

After signing up for an elective computer science course in university, she found she really enjoyed the challenges and rewards of coding and programming.

"I loved it because it was math with a practical, tangible outcome, and I was building algorithms and seeing something happening right away because of it," she said. "It was so interesting to me."

That initial interest flourished, and Higgins is now a web designer and developer for the City of Greater Sudbury.

"I wish someone had introduced the field to me sooner, because I spent a year in a field it turned out I wasn't as passionate about," she said. "I think if I had discovered coding at a younger age, I would have known right away."

Educating youth about careers in the tech field is one part of the mandate of CodeOp, a new, not-for-profit Sudbury organization aimed at bringing together professionals in the city's emerging tech sector.

Another of CodeOp's primary goals is introducing programmers and coders to businesses seeking their expertise.

Mike Daoust, who co-chairs CodeOp, said over the last few years, the tech sector in Sudbury has grown substantially, but even people in the industry were unaware of just how many people were working in the field.

Daoust, who organizes the annual Sudbury Game Design Challenge, said he and some fellow programmers realized a forum was needed to bring together tech professionals and local business owners to explore their common interests.

"We have all these employers that are looking for these jobs, but they can't find them," said Daoust, lead programmer at AdvanceWorx. "At the same time, we have these people that are looking for jobs who can't find that employment. So it seemed to me that we needed to create some kind of bridge to connect those two spheres together."

With technology advancing at a rapid pace, the demand for programmers and developers is increasing as companies realize they require more than just basic IT services, he said. And the need spans sectors.

Local success stories include Time Hero, Minalytix, and Symboticware.

Daoust said he believes the tech industry could be the city's next developing cluster.

"It's our hope to turn Sudbury into the technological hub of the North, and it's our hope that if we're able to do that, then we'll see a very real cluster of developers here that merge into...