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Zuck, Bill Gates, Jack Dorsey In Short Film To Inspire Kids To Learn How To Code

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Re: Zuck, Bill Gates, Jack Dorsey In Short Film To Inspire Kids To Learn How To Code

#41

Post by sreyaNotfilc »

steveinator wrote: post #5

I really wish people didn't spread this kind of message. Think job security guys! Come on!

I say "bah-humbug" to job security. That means that you just don't know or care about your craft. If you were really "1337" job security would be the last thing on you mind. You would actually be running the show and working on amazing products/solutions.

I'm a senior developer and I teach my methods to my colleagues all the time. It doesn't hurt me, but helps the team and the cause immensely. It makes going to work much more enjoyable when everyone is on the same page and pushing each other.

Re: Zuck, Bill Gates, Jack Dorsey In Short Film To Inspire Kids To Learn How To Code

#42

Post by michaelochurch »

mike_herrera wrote: post #35
michaelochurch wrote: post #4

The gap between CS majors and software jobs is misleading. You don't need a CS degree to become a decent programmer. Still, if there's such a shortage of good programmers (and I agree that there probably is) then why aren't we playing this to our advantage? A senior engineer can't afford a house in the Bay Area or New York, and our status is low-- we still work for managers; we're a defeated tribe in this way. Most o…

Autonomy within an organization sounds novel for morale, but it's a major shift from today's business culture. Strategy would also be incredibly difficult to execute. Organizational leaders need to be able to align their people down a common path. If autonomy is the end-goal, start a company or go freelance.

I agree that people who want outright autonomy will need to go off and start their own companies, but right now, typical employment terms for software engineers are outright bad in comparison to what they could be:

* mediocre compensation, especially considering the horrific costs of living in the places with the strongest economies.

* low autonomy, respect, and opportunity for advancement due to a scope-of-work defined to commoditize rather than grow engineering talent.

* low job security or transfer opportunity, which is the main reason for working for a large organization.

I believe that this arrangement exists because most software engineers lack the skills to negotiate for better terms.

Realistically, we need to improve organizational and independent employment at the same time. Market dynamics will corrupt one if the other is bad. Fixing one while giving up on the other is not a workable strategy.

Re: Zuck, Bill Gates, Jack Dorsey In Short Film To Inspire Kids To Learn How To Code

#43

Post by klepra »

11001 wrote: post #27
klepra wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is wrong attitude.

Honest question - why? How getting more people into automation business will benefit people who are in it now (us), or the economy (arguably automation makes jobs and whole industries redundant). I am all for encouraging people to study science and mathematics, but I don't understand the value of getting more people to just "code".

People should be educated enough to know what they can expect from a computer - by learning coding they would get a deeper view into those things - not everyone would become a professional coder. And even then, every good professional create even more jobs - you can't do everything by yourself even if you know how too. Also it is for greater good - I think it is a step to happier society with more decent life.

Re: Zuck, Bill Gates, Jack Dorsey In Short Film To Inspire Kids To Learn How To Code

#44

Post by rimantas »

mich41 wrote: post #40

School courses will do nothing if people don't have access to programmable computers. And they don't have - Windows doesn't ship with Visual Studio, OSX and Linux are irrelevant, iOS and Android don't come with SDK CDs and demos. Now, of course, you know that these tools exist, and I know too. But most people don't and to them programming simply doesn't exist. Teaching these people quicksort in school won't be of muc…

  > School courses will do nothing if people don't have
  > access to programmable computers
I was taught to program exactly in this way: in the classroom, without access to computers—our school did not have any.

When I finally had access to a computer and a real programming language (not some pseudo code) I just needed the syntax to write my programs in.

The tricky part is not to teach kids the syntax of language X, it's to teach them to operate abstract structures, and that is much much harder.

Re: Zuck, Bill Gates, Jack Dorsey In Short Film To Inspire Kids To Learn How To Code

#45

Post by michaelochurch »

mike_herrera wrote: post #39
michaelochurch wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First, the shortage of good programmers has more to do with the scarcity of high-quality work than a lack of access to knowledge. More autonomy for programmers means more high-quality work is done, which generates higher returns already but also means that programmers improve. Second, if programmers take the decision-making roles back from smooth-talking executives, that means that smarter and more competent people w…

> More autonomy for programmers means more high-quality work is done, which generates higher returns already but also means that programmers improve. I disagree. The self-motivated path may be "more productive" for that one person, but it does nothing to guarantee returns or value for the larger organization. Any employee should leave a company if they believe that their executive team is consistently shown to be ine…

I disagree. The self-motivated path may be "more productive" for that one person, but it does nothing to guarantee returns or value for the larger organization.

I don't think you've been in software for very long. Most software is terrible. Code and software quality are serious issues. Unmanaged complexity costs companies millions of dollars. This is a direct result of the low average competence of software engineers, which follows from their inability to get good projects on which they would improve.

If engineers had better working terms, there would be a much larger number of decent software engineers out there, and the productivity of the software industry would improve massively.

Any employee should leave a company if they believe that their executive team is consistently shown to be inept.

Bad idea. 95 percent of companies have executive teams that are either incompetent or malignant. If you have a bad immediate manager, leaving is a good idea. Leaving a company because it has worthless executives is not, because that's the norm. You'll just end up job hopping in the search for something incredibly rare. Better is to assume that most executives are harmful and minimize your career exposure to their incompetence and malice.

Re: Zuck, Bill Gates, Jack Dorsey In Short Film To Inspire Kids To Learn How To Code

#46

Post by rimantas »

lifeisstillgood wrote: post #11

FOr me the reasoning is simple: * reading and writing code is basic literacy for the information age * One generation hence, any company that is literate (almost all employees write code, the use of code runs through all its processes) will have enormous competitve advantages. Or rather any company that is illiterate will have enormous competitive disadvantages * So Software will eat the world. * but in the process f…

  > reading and writing code is basic literacy for the
  > information age
No. Just like everyone being a car mechanic is not the basic literacy of the automotive age.

"Everyone learns to code" is a pipe dream.

Re: Zuck, Bill Gates, Jack Dorsey In Short Film To Inspire Kids To Learn How To Code

#47

Post by vellum »

mich41 wrote: post #40

School courses will do nothing if people don't have access to programmable computers. And they don't have - Windows doesn't ship with Visual Studio, OSX and Linux are irrelevant, iOS and Android don't come with SDK CDs and demos. Now, of course, you know that these tools exist, and I know too. But most people don't and to them programming simply doesn't exist. Teaching these people quicksort in school won't be of muc…

I don't see how this is an issue.

Day 1: Learn how to setup the language on your computer.

A lot of books, like Learn Python the Hard Way, make this the first step.

Re: Zuck, Bill Gates, Jack Dorsey In Short Film To Inspire Kids To Learn How To Code

#48

Post by Dove »

11001 wrote: post #27
klepra wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is wrong attitude.

Honest question - why? How getting more people into automation business will benefit people who are in it now (us), or the economy (arguably automation makes jobs and whole industries redundant). I am all for encouraging people to study science and mathematics, but I don't understand the value of getting more people to just "code".

Large, skilled populations bring great advances. In a world with hundreds of programmers, you get FORTRAN and specialized computers solving defense problems. In a world with hundreds of thousands, you get everything from smartphones and video games to industrial robots.

I'm not worried about job security. But I am excited about what armies of coders can invent.

Re: Zuck, Bill Gates, Jack Dorsey In Short Film To Inspire Kids To Learn How To Code

#49

Post by jkeesh »

Make sure to check out CodeHS. We are the little demo shown in the video using "Karel the dog." We work on making it fun and accessible to beginners, mostly in high schools and middle schools, but also have all ages of students. More than other "learn to code" sites, we focus on problem solving rather than syntax, and also provide help from real people to students along the way. http://codehs.com

It's exciting to see a video like this highlight the real need and current lack of computer science education in high schools. That is exactly what we are working on, and have high schools all around the country! If this is an issue you are interested, in please contact as at team@codehs.com

Re: Zuck, Bill Gates, Jack Dorsey In Short Film To Inspire Kids To Learn How To Code

#50

Post by foryoublue »

wes-exp wrote: post #33

Personally I think the world is drunk with "code fever". We are creatures of overreaction. Not too long ago it was "no one learn to code! it's all going to be outsourced to India!" Now, "I'm starting a non-profit to spread the gift of coding to children. Coding is our future". Give me a f-ing break.

Thank you.
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