This talk is about the journey of a former incarcerated prisoner who went from Coding in the Clink to his transition on the outside, coding out the clink. What started as a program in 2009 at Marion Correctional Institute as the Agile Factory with a few old Pentium 3 machines peaked the interest of not just men inside, but also volunteers and community members beyond the scope and purpose for which the program was intended. This collaboration between prisoners and IT tech professionals led to our prison conference know as Coding in the Clink. With such programing like this who needs prisons, after part of your rehabilitation brings a skill set that’s very much in demand and could possibly make you a living! However the majority of prisons are still inadequate in programing and resources. And while the Agile Factory provided a valuable skill set that men could take to college or possibly use on the outside, nonetheless with exposure to software craftsmanship prisoners still face barriers to employment. This talk will present personal experience navigating this nontraditional route to a difficult modern industry.

You can and should follow Ahmed on Twitter at @AhmedJalloh614.