Refugees on Rails

Refugees on Rails Cologne is the Rhineland branch of Refugees on Rails in Berlin.

We started in late 2015 and first organized some individual weekend workshops. We since moved to a regular rhythm of having mentorship meetings with the coaches and students every 2nd Thursday evening.

For the refugees/students our meetings are an opportunity to use the “downtime” that they currently have (because they are not permitted to work yet) to learn a new skill that will be helpful for them in the future. In addition it’s a also a lot about networking and cultural exchange, it’s a good way to get to know new people form the local tech community.

For us the coaches, organizers and the local tech community it is a way to help refugees by doing what we like and what we are good at. It enables close contact with our new fellow citizen. And it might help to bring new talent to our industry.

In addition to the mentorship we are also providing donated laptops, which we source from local companies and individuals, to the refugees so that they can continue learning to code at home.

Our mentorship meetings are meant for all interested refugees from the Cologne region.

You should have decent English/German skills and a strong interest in computers. Programming experience is very helpful and welcome, but not required. Everything else (laptops, location, drinks, etc.) will be provided by us.

We meet every other week on Thursday nights at 19:00. Join the current/upcoming events. We are looking forward to meet you!