This prompt reminds me of how I began my coding journey three years ago while at the University. My big sister was bent on her siblings taking a course on technology, particularly in the area of coding and programming, because, to her, that’s the new thing and a way to earn money in the tech industry. She forgot that everyone isn’t the same.
Tech was something easy for her because that was her field and discipline, same with my younger sister, but I only studied Guidance and Counseling. Well, you could say it’s possible to switch careers, and with much time learning and practising, you’d gain your feet in the industry and make your way into earning millions of dollars.
But as much as the pay is enticing, there is a limit to what an individual can do or what one’s capacity can carry.
After much persuasion and insistence, I gave in to her demand and because I had a laptop, it was easier. I zoomed into action, and with her help, she provided me with resources to start with at first, it was getting interesting, and I’d thought that was how it would be going till I could confidently beat my chest that I am a tech person with those basics in coding and programming.
I would like to tell you guys that I eventually gave up after almost a month of rigorous study and training myself with the examples provided. It got to a point, I told myself no one should push me into something that wasn’t in my line.
I developed a severe headache, especially when the stuff was now moving up to the hard part. My sister laughed when she heard I gave up. I told her it’s not my way and I can’t continue.
I wished I’d learnt coding and programming at an earlier stage. Whenever I visit my sister or when she comes home during December, the way she handles coding and programming stuff makes me envy her. She built some apps when she was part of the Google developer team, and when I heard the pay, I knew there was money in it.
It always pained me that I didn't learn this when I was very young. The only thing we were taught in primary school was the use of computers and how to operate and after a while, they stopped because there was no teacher to continue teaching us.
Coding/programming is an excellent skill and it’s better if one could learn it early enough. I wouldn’t mind that these skills are made compulsory in schools for children because it will definitely come in handy for them when they grow up.
Teaching these children how to code and do programming at a young age would be the best because these skills take a lot of time, patience and continuous practice to be learnt and gained. If they start early enough, they’d be good at it.
Everything is now technology, and people are definitely moving towards the tech industry because of the advantages found in it. Although, just as @vickoly said in his post, making a child learn coding or programming does not make him or her become a programmer in the future, gaining those skills at hand is something good.
Also, having those skilled and knowledgeable in the field to train these kids would be best and ensuring they sacrifice their time into their lives by making sure they learn all that needs to be learned without keeping away the vital part.
I wouldn’t mind allowing my kids to take up the skills while in school because it’s definitely something beautiful and advantageous to own for oneself, and it’s much better learning them at such a young age so they become masters at it.
One thing I would suggest is making sure they don’t use it for the wrong purpose, especially with the rampant amount of hackers taking advantage of such skills for the wrong intent. That would not be good at all.