Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
While the IT field may not be a worthy goal in and of itself any more - and while I personally think kids should not even be introduced to 'coding' (well, even to computers to be honest) till they have a good grasp of their native language, reading, writing, arithmetic, etc. - the basics - programming is simply 'another language' in a way - another way of thinking that teaches more than just itself - and a good one TO learn even if you don't use it much. The thought processes behind programming and the ability to translate every day activities into the IFs, THENs, ELSEs, loop statements, etc. are very useful to understand and 'speak' for many reasons.
At the very least you may 'get' the mind of that silly young person in his/her first internship who was sent to do what no one else wanted to do - design an interface that absolutely has NO chance of ever being 'user friendly' for anyone without a coding background. It is kind of a secret language that excludes one's elders and you can frustrate them to no end by speaking it.
I am not sure every teen 'enjoys' coding but it is probably a good idea if they all learn at least some before they go out in the world.
I don't know about 'tons', but yeah it's pretty popular, says the parent of a computer engineer major. When my kid was in middle school there were plenty of nerdy kids who enjoyed turning their TI30 whatevers into rudimentary games and playing around with robotics and stuff in extracurricular programs, etc.
I don't know about coding specifically, but I hear a lot of overgeneralizations about how great young people are with computers. When I worked in schools I met a lot of kids who were NOT great with computers.
Some kids are willing to just let go and ride the abstractions. Some are willing to click around until the computer does what they want. Some really need serious step by step instructions/practice. (Just like anything else!) And the truth is, computer technology education is poor in many schools. Teachers don't know how to use it or teach it, or don't have the equipment or the time. Since they're assuming that kids are confident, we are raising kids into a technology gap.
I see it at work all the time, too. people of all ages who don't know how to use computers. Can't even fill out an online job app or type up a resume. Very sad.
My son has said he WANTS to learn coding, and I've signed him up for a few free sites that offer free courses on it. But he has yet to actually do it, so I don't know that he really is interested so much as he THINKS he should be interested. But I think he'd much prefer to DESIGN a game versus actually building one (as in, he wants to create the story and activities within the game but have someone else actually create the game based on his ideas).
It doesn't really matter. Most of these jobs are outsourced now anyway. IT is one of the worst fields to go in to. Many employers want to save money so they hire H1B visas or outsource. Anyone can learn to code and it is becoming a very common skill, which will make the employment outlook even worse. Being computer savvy is no longer thought of as "brainy" as it was twenty, thirty years ago.
I don't know if these kids enjoy it or not, though. Hard to say.
Being good at coding is not a universal skill - you may be able to do it poorly and inefficiently but that doesn't mean you could do it for a living - that's a slap at good coders!
And being "computer savvy" means knowing how to USE computers to do what you need to do - not necessarily knowing how to program or how to solder a motherboard! That's like the old arguments on needing to know how a tv works to turn it on or how the modern combustion engine works just to drive.
Do you know how to use spreadsheets with formulas and to make charts? Can you format different kinds of documents? Can you put together a powerpoint presentation?
Like others, my kids learned some low-level coding in school. My daughter loves it. My sons, not so much. My daughter does not plan to be a computer engineer. She's all about acting or singing or being a teacher or being a vet or....
I have one child who really enjoys it and one who could take it or leave it. But it is something that kids need to learn nowadays. That doesn't mean I make my kids sit down and code, but it does mean they need to be knowledgeable. My kids hate math, but that doesn't mean they don't need to know it.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
