SNCF Connect & Tech renews its participation in Hour of Code

The aim: to introduce children, especially young girls, to digital business lines and the basics of computer programming, to promote diversity in digital business lines and encourage them to project themselves into business lines where women are still under-represented.

Since this initiative was launched within the company in 2023, some 50 sessions have been set up in around 20 schools around the Lille, Nantes and Saint-Denis sites. This year, some thirty sessions are scheduled.

Hour of code: a way of promoting digital inclusion

Today's digital landscape is evolving at an unprecedented pace, driven in particular by the meteoric rise of generative artificial intelligence. In this ever-changing context, raising awareness and supporting the younger generations, in particular through Hour of Code (a worldwide initiative aimed at democratizing learning to program by enabling schoolchildren, especially girls, to discover the basics of coding through fun and accessible workshops) is becoming a major challenge. Barely a quarter (24%) of jobs in the digital professions are held by women, a sector that is still highly gendered.

True to its raison d'être - to innovate to make sustainable mobility accessible to all - 
SNCF Connect & Tech enables all its employees to devote part of their time to solidarity actions. Year after year, Hour of Code has become the most popular initiative among our teams, with a commune objective: to pass on their passion for digital technology to the younger generation, to introduce girls to tech business lines and to show that digital technology is accessible to all.

"We've deliberately chosen to target primary school pupils to arouse their curiosity from an early age and give them a chance to familiarize themselves with programming. The commitment and mobilization of SNCF Connect & Tech employees means we can take action to promote greater gender diversity in the IT sector by raising awareness of coding among pupils, especially young girls, from an early age. A socially responsible approach that echoes our raison d'être," she continues.

Depuis 2023, grâce aux collaborateurs SNCF Connect & Tech ...

Hour of code: a human and collective adventure

The Robespierre elementary school in Saint Denis (93) was a partner from the outset. The initiative has become an eagerly awaited event:"I found the idea and the project very appealing and interesting for the pupils," confides Morgane Saint-Cast, the school's headmistress. "The school's role is also to educate children about what surrounds them and open them up to concrete, current topics like digital technology and the business lines of the future. I've had very good feedback from the interventions made, both from students and teachers, so we're repeating the adventure!" Among the students who took part in a session in 2025, the approach is having a concrete impact. Aylan, aged 10, exclaims:"It was good, the explanations were very clear for us". Zakaria, aged 9, joins him and adds:"Maybe when I grow up I'll program artificial intelligences". Yasmine, aged 9, says she really enjoyed the workshop, finding it both fun and interesting.

Mamadou Sarr, design and development engineer at SNCF Connect & Tech, who has been involved in the program from the outset, is delighted to "share this hour of code with the students, who were involved throughout the session!