Why I taught myself to code – and why you should too
I was born in 1999, around the peak of the dotcom bubble. But like most other young people out there, by the time I got to secondary school, my ICT lessons still just consisted of creating a presentation on PowerPoint and writing about it on Word – hardly the best training in the world. Our computer education is lagging far behind society’s needs, and the consequences will affect everyone. This is why I taught myself to code.
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Coding is becoming as mainstream as maths and English. As Mark Zuckerberg says, “In 15 years, we’ll be teaching programming just like reading and writing ... and wondering why we didn’t do it sooner.”
In September 2014, traditional ICT lessons in England were replaced by more useful computing classes. Now, children as young as five years old are taught to code. But the next Zuckerberg isn’t necessarily a college nerd in a dimly lit room eating a Pot Noodle – it could be a kid who hasn’t even done GCSEs yet.
Just as basic ICT skills are essential for any job, coding will soon be a requirement of many industries. And teenagers already realise that their computer skills will outstrip the technology available at most workplaces: according to a survey of 13- to 17-year-olds, 88% think their future employer “will have to update devices and access to ICT to support their needs”.
‘Just as basic ICT skills are essential for any job, coding will soon be a requirement of many industries.’ Photograph: Alamy
Emily, 17, is looking to study publishing at university. She doesn’t want to be playing catch-up with younger people a few years down the line. “A more advanced computing education would definitely help,” she says. “To do publishing, I would need extra training at the start of a job to get me up to speed.” It won’t be long before people like Emily will be competing for jobs against young people fluent in code. “Everyone from my generation is in the same situation,” she adds.
So you know that coding is going to be a huge factor in making yourself employable. But for years, the education system has not provided the skills it should have. If, like me, you’re in the generation that missed the switch from ICT classes to computing classes, there’s only one thing for it: teach yourself. I want to get myself ahead now for what employers have already started looking for.
Don’t worry if you’re not a kid immersed in the language of coding – it’s easier than ever to learn by yourself. I’ve found that Java, run on 15 billion devices worldwide, is a good base to start with. I’m currently doing a free 14-week introduction to Java programming on Udacity. Apps like Lrn and Hakitzu are alternatives for mobiles or tablets.
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Udacity starts where every coder begins, teaching the nostalgic “Hello, World!” Java function. From there you learn about objects, classes, variables and strings. It may sound complicated, but if you make plenty of notes and pay attention in the mini-quizzes at the end of each course, it’s really not that difficult.
Dan, 15, is also learning with the tutorial. “Science is my future,” he says. “Things like collecting and processing data, or something more advanced like sequencing cells or genomes, all require an advanced level of computing – and that’s just the start of its benefits towards science,” he says.
One thing is for sure: coding is easier to learn than ever, so there are no excuses. As demand for digitally literate graduates is bound to increase, it’s time to get with the program.
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