For the majority of us normal-tons, the world of computer programming has been a skill that we have accepted to be something we will never obtain or indeed, require. However, with the rabbit reproducing rate at which the internet has expanded since the not so distant days of the early 90’s, it is becoming increasingly more clear that lessons in coding are more and more likely to be on our ‘things to do in 2015’ list.
However, the thought of geeking out to code in our spare time feels not so far off taking a cold bath full of undissolved baths salts and a strobe light in substitute of scented candles. Yes, just get us to glimpse a page of code and we’d have the sudden rush of uncomfortableness, confusion and overall, fear.
But according to Zuckerberg, things don’t have to be that way. He, along with a mixed group of celebs and high positioned geeky intellectuals, created the film ‘What Most Schools Don’t Teach’ for company code.org to promote its ease, importance and tangibility. The film was, in short, a load of people enthusiastically telling you about the time they made a red ball or a line appear on a screen, and then emphasising how ‘cool’ that was – all intercut with a load of ‘cool’ looking things. Which makes it ‘cool’, right?
But it would be unfair to say that the film didn’t also manage to perhaps open our eyes to the possibilities that computer programming could offer our future generations.
We think it was Steve Jobs who said, “Everybody in this country should learn how to program a computer, because it teaches you how to think.”
That being said of course learning to coding isn’t for everyone! “I would no more urge everyone to learn programming than I would urge everyone to learn plumbing” – Jeff Atwood (co-founder of StackExchange). Which lead to a rather amusing response from Douglas Rushkoff (media theorist, writer), ‘If we don’t learn to plumb, we risk being plumbed ourselves… Plumb or be plumbed”.
But for young kids who know more about working an iPad than the entire 30-100 age bracket, they really could be on to something. And believe it or not there’s already a growing number of organisations that encourage kids to learn how to programme. Black Girls Code is a great example of this, offering free tuition to children, helping to give them an invaluable skill to see them into the beginnings of a well-paid career.
“By launching Black Girls Code, I hope to provide young and pre-teen girls of colour opportunities to learn in-demand skills in technology and computer programming at a time when they are naturally thinking about what they want to be when they grow up.” – Kimberly Bryant , Founder of Black Girls Code
And when we say well paid, we mean WELL paid. Starting out you might make £24,000 a year, but experienced programmers up to around £60-70K a year. Not bad ey!
So the future seems good for everyone. If you can’t be arsed to code then have no fear, soon you’ll be able to ask your little sister/son/nice/nephew to help build your website from scratch for a pack of cookies. And if you CAN be arsed to code, well then you’ll be able to build a website from scratch for less than a pack of cookies! And you’ll probably be earning quite a bit whilst you’re at it. Mmmmm, cookies.
