Photo by Mohammad Rahmani on Unsplash
Are you a student at UBC or another secondary education program interested in accessing programs and software for free? What student isn’t, right? Well, check out this cool resource: GitHub is a code hosting platform that has partnered with over ninety companies in order to be able to provide students receiving a secondary education access to a variety of programs for free. Eligible students include those currently registered in an undergraduate program, a masters program, or any of the other programs offered by the University of British Columbia.
The GitHub Student Developer Pack, provides access to the two different packages: the Intro to Web Design and the Virtual Event Kit.
Both packages provide free access to different programs and services focused on teaching students new skills. One item included in the Intro to Web Design package is a free credit for TwilioQuest, a developer platform that teaches users how to code in a video game format. The Web Design package, while including resources to make learning code more fun, also allows users to access website building programs, such as Polypane.
Alternatively, the Virtual Event Kit provides access to programs such as Canva Pro, a powerful tool for those interested in creating things like graphics, promotional materials, or even resumes.
The GitHub Student Developer Pack also contains other resources including: tutorials for web design, helping students learn how to build IOS applications, how to understand and utilize analytics for websites, free subscriptions to cloud platforms, and much more.
Since part of my job here at the CLC is to create promotional materials, when I discovered this resource I registered on GitHub to use the free one-year subscription to Canva Pro! I found that using Canva Pro gave me a lot more creative freedom. As I started to learn more about GitHub, I realized it had so much more. I could utilize my subscription to learn new skills and enhance my existing ones. I’ve always wanted to learn how to code in Python and JavaScript at my own pace and now have the ability to do so!
I recommend checking both of the packages to see what is available under each category. If you, like me, wanted to give these resources a try, click on the “Sign-up for student developer pack,” and the system will walk you through the sign-up process!
Some tips for registering:
- Use a student email when registering for verification, it can make the process faster.
- Use a Proof of Enrollment Letter for the verification steps. This prevents a leak of personal information. You can access your Letter by logging into your SSC under the “Grades & Records” tab on the top menu. Under Grades & Records you’ll see “Proof of Enrollment Letters” listed as one of the options and then you will be able to download your enrollment letter for the current academic year.
All you have to do after this process is wait for your account to be verified. You will receive an email from GitHub Education that activates your access to the different free subscriptions and programs. Your benefits will last for an entire calendar year rather than till the end of the school year! So even if you can’t find time to dig into these cool programs before finals, you know you’ve got your summer projects all set!
