At Interject we have chosen to help kids and professionals master technology around them. It is an area that we have a passion for and comes easy to us. I am not talking about learning how to use your iPhone, sending a tweet, updating your facebook profile, or leveling up in the video game of the day. Everybody uses technology, but little understand how to create it or even know how it works behind the scenes. It is this part of technology that should be considered as a required second language in every school.
The terrific thing about technology is that it typically compliments whatever you do for a living. This company was founded on the concept of colliding expertise from both technology and business. We are a real life example of the benefits multi-discipline experiences can provide and it makes your days much more fun and engaging.
When you have a multi-disciplined background you are more able to have those simple, practical ideas that are often missed if you don’t have all the right people in the room. It can help you make the difference between success and failure for the next big software project since you can see challenges that others may not see. And with your understanding of how data works, you could be the catalyst to keep the business and software aligned so the right data is always available.
There is already a code literacy movement that has been hitting the headlines and backed by the White House administration. See www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2016/01/30/computer-science-all. Writing code can surely be interesting to some, but not everybody will be a programmer. Code is a window to sharing more important concepts like data modeling, process planning, project management, quality assurance and how data is stored, retrieved and logistically provided to the user. If you find a manager that has experience to many of these areas, he will likely be quickly climbing the corporate ladder and will be the one that will be invited to the meeting and the agenda won’t start until they arrive.
For kids, learning to code is a great place to start. There are tons of free resources that make it fun and creative. And studies show that learning another language as a child is so much easier than later in life. Many kids won’t end up as programmers but that doesn’t limit the value it may have in their careers. Most kids won’t become professional athletes, but we still try to encourage them all to be fit and athletic to help them live a better life.
We started a kids coding club last year using a variety of online free resources. The response has been wonderful and the experience is very rewarding. We see improved confidence in the kids. We see them grasping logical concepts and sharing how easy it is do things that just before was daunting for them. We see kids helping other kids and becoming the teachers. We see kids that have had little access to computers get quality time with them outside social apps and playing games. It is just the start.
We are looking for people that want to join the cause and collaborate with us. If you have a love to share practical application of technology to professionals or any type of coding to kids, we would love to hear from you. Let’s do something for the community around us and give our kids a brighter future.
Jeff
Keep learning, never stand still.
