Tag Archives: education

Young Professional Using Coding to Double Salary in a Year

A coding career can be life changing. Black Enterprise explores this in a recent article titled “How Coding Helped This Young Professional Double Her Salary in One Year.”

Courtney Connley of Black Enterprise writes, “As a high school student who enjoyed HTML and CSS coding, Jayana Johnson discovered her love for tech at an early age but had no clue how to establish a career within the industry. After dropping out of Long Island University as a broadcast major, she went back to the drawing board on what she wanted to do professionally and eventually landed a job as an events coordinator forCitigroup. After eight months at the company, Johnson then went to work as an assistant in the tech department at Weber Shandwick, and it was there that she solidified her decision to get more involved in tech. Now, as a UX Designer for MasterCard, the 27-year-old shares how coding school helped her to double her annual salary to $100,000 in just one year… It’s definitely something I was always interested in, but it was always just an interest and not something I pursued or was told there was a possibility to have a career in. I never saw anyone who looked like me that was doing what I wanted to do. I didn’t even know how to go about it until later on in life. Now, it’s easier to ask about programs instead of going to a four-year university and having to spend so much money… What I do is a little bit different than what most of my peers do. One of the reasons I wanted to go with MasterCard is because not only do I do Web design, but I also do user experience design, including front-end development… Other skills, besides actual tangible skills, are soft skills in terms of being able to network, because a lot of this has to do with who you know at the end of the day. So just getting yourself out there and becoming a part of the community and being involved not only in taking in the skills but giving back a lot. People will get to know you, find out what you’re about, and be willing to help you.”

When it comes to customized coding education, your best bet is CodeRev Kids. At CodeRev Kids, our lessons focus on computational thinking, which encompasses a wide variety of programming languages and concepts.

Our lessons build upon one another and we adjust starting points to each student’s level of expertise. Thus, the entire curriculum is customized. We are known for saying we are the most educational tech camp out there, but we also keep the focus on having fun. As a result, students stay engaged while learning to blend creativity with technology.

Sign up for one of our camps today!

Coding Education in Singapore

Sometimes it is easy to forget why there is so much urgency to improve coding education in this country. Throughout the world, children are exploring aspects of coding that would put some of our country’s schools to shame. Consider a recent article for the Nation Multimedia titled “Computer coding classes for kids in high demand in Singapore schools.”

According to the author of the article, “SINGAPORE parents see programming, computing skills as essential for their future in a Smart Nation. Forget traditional enrichment classes to learn ballet or play the piano. More children are being sent for computational thinking and coding lessons as parents increasingly see the value in starting them early in a manpower-hungry industry. Coding schools said they have seen more parents signing their children up for such classes over the past three years, and that demand continues to grow steadily. Miss Juliana Ung, who runs The Kid Coders, said: ‘Parents recognise that coding is useful and important, as the world and future will be driven by more and more computing technology. There is also the appreciation that technology helps children with schoolwork. It’s the latest education trend.’ Mr David Lee, founder and principal trainer of Computhink, said more parents want their children to be better prepared for the future, especially one in which the government has envisioned Singapore to be a Smart Nation, where technological skills will be highly sought after. ‘There are many parents who understand the importance of programming and they want their children to be prepared for the future,’ he said. IT project manager Ng Chee Wee is among those who subscribe to the view. The 43-year-old sent his two daughters, aged eight and 10, for holiday coding classes last year. ‘Programming lessons train them in logic and clear thinking. It’s a valuable skill that helps in everyday life and any industry that deals with computers; they don’t necessarily have to become programmers to benefit from classes,’ he said.”

If you’re looking for the best in hands-on coding education, there is no substitute for great mentorship. When it comes to customized coding education, your best bet is CodeRev Kids. At CodeRev Kids, our lessons focus on computational thinking, which encompasses a wide variety of programming languages and concepts.

Our lessons build upon one another and we adjust starting points to each student’s level of expertise. Thus, the entire curriculum is customized. We are known for saying we are the most educational tech camp out there, but we also keep the focus on having fun. As a result, students stay engaged while learning to blend creativity with technology.

Sign up for one of our camps today!

Hackathon Aims to Strengthen Conservation

Coding provides the potential solutions to many of the world’s problems. This includes conservation. Consider a recent article for Mongabay WildTech titled “Coding for conservation: Hackathons generate apps and ideas.”

Sue Palminteri of Mongabay WildTech writes, “The general goal is to quickly develop a product that solves the challenge presented at the start of the event. Products generally take the form of websites, mobile apps, and robots, which can be created on the spot with limited time and resources. The Facebook ‘Like’ button, for example, was apparently designed at a hackathon. Participants also seek less tangible outcomes, including the chance to meet like-minded people, learn new skills, and use these skills creatively to build something new that addresses a particular challenge. The challenge proposed for the Hackathon for Wildlife was to ‘Develop innovative approaches and business models to connect 20 million people worldwide with wild animals, through a combination of technologies that include GPS hardware, data, games, and social media.’  The challenge built on the worldwide outrage about the killing of a lion named Cecil in Zimbabwe. Once people knew his name, he gained celebrity status and the concern of many thousands of people.  Might games or social media be venues for generating this kind of compassion for other wild animals?… Participants are typically technology developers, designers, programmers, and user-interface experts.  A themed hackathon might also attract subject-matter experts. At the Hackathon for Wildlife, attendees included 13 tech and wildlife specialists from companies including ESRI, BRCK, and Amazon, and seven local and international wildlife organizations. Among the 65 participants were also wildlife enthusiasts, computer science students, teachers, and working professionals… Participants mainly work furiously to complete a project that was likely proposed and agreed upon hours before. After a brief introduction to people and objectives, teams of 3 to 8 people, who often have just met one another, self-select to work collaboratively toward a particular idea or solution to the hackathon’s challenge. (Hackathon for Wildlife participants formed 10 teams.) They spend the next 24 to 48 hours (usually a weekend) brainstorming, designing, coding, and learning new technologies, with the goal of producing a prototype for that concept. They also might attend one or more short training sessions.”

Looking for the best in customized coding education? You can’t go wrong with CodeRev Kids. At CodeRev Kids, our lessons focus on computational thinking, which encompasses a wide variety of programming languages and concepts.

Our lessons build upon one another and we adjust starting points to each student’s level of expertise. Thus, the entire curriculum is customized. We are known for saying we are the most educational tech camp out there, but we also keep the focus on having fun. As a result, students stay engaged while learning to blend creativity with technology.

Sign up for one of our winter camps today!

The Importance of Quality Mentorship in Coding Education

One key to great coding education is flexibility and quality mentorship. Consider a recent article for the Independent titled “Ireland’s coding teachers plead for more mentors.”

According to Jane O’Faherty of the Independent, “The call was made by CoderDojo, the country’s leading volunteer-led organisation in teaching coding, which is looking to expand. The charity, which was founded in Cork four years ago, has provided free classes in coding for up to 70,000 people both in Ireland and abroad. Now, it is calling for volunteers to help address a growing demand for classes across Ireland. The classes cover programmes such as Scratch, TouchDevelop, HTML, Javascript and Project Spark. Mary Moloney, CEO of CoderDojo, said that the charitable organisation had reached an additional 40,000 children around the world this year. ‘As of this week, we are in 63 countries around the world,’ she told the Irish Independent. ‘There are 180 dojos currently in Ireland, with 5,000 kids coming in on a weekly basis,’ she added. ‘All of them need mentors to help out.’”

Slate also explores coding in the classroom in a recent article titled “Can Coding Make the Classroom Better?” Chris Berdik of Slate writes, “There are two other STEAM labs in this school for third-, fourth-, and fifth-graders, which South Fayette opened in 2013. They’re in the center of each floor, with regular classrooms on either side, a layout that reflects a philosophy transforming the entire district. In the past five years, South Fayette has leveraged grant funding, new school construction, and creative scheduling to give nearly 3,000 kids, from kindergarten through 12th grade, dedicated spaces for hands-on projects—coding, 3-D printing, computer-aided design, and robotics—as part of their regular curriculum. The STEAM labs, STEAM coordinators, and technology education teachers are part of a districtwide embrace of ‘computational thinking.’ Computational thinking is intimately related to computer coding, which every kid in South Fayette starts learning in first grade. But they are not one and the same. At its core, computational thinking means breaking complex challenges into smaller questions that can be solved with a computer’s number crunching, data compiling, and sorting capabilities. Proponents say it’s a problem-solving approach that works in any field, noting that computer modeling, big data, and simulations are used in everything from textual analysis to medical research and environmental protection.”

When it comes to customized coding education, your best bet is CodeRev Kids. At CodeRev Kids, our lessons focus on computational thinking, which encompasses a wide variety of programming languages and concepts.

Our lessons build upon one another and we adjust starting points to each student’s level of expertise. Thus, the entire curriculum is customized. We are known for saying we are the most educational tech camp out there, but we also keep the focus on having fun. As a result, students stay engaged while learning to blend creativity with technology.

Sign up for one of our winter camps today!

Making Up for Lost Time with Coding

Later in life, many people realize they missed out on an opportunity by not learning coding early on. Consider a recent article for Quartz titled “Coding bootcamp grads boost their salaries by 40% on average.”

According to the author of the article, “A comprehensive study examining the outcomes of coding-school alumni found they, on average, boosted their salaries by 38%, or $18,000, after completing their programs. In a report released today (Oct. 26), the Course Report, which tracks the learn-to-code industry, found participants on average paid $11,852 for tuition, with programs typically lasting three to four months. A third of them said their schools guaranteed jobs to students after completing their programs. But 21% of the 665 students who graduated between 2013 and 2015 reported being unemployed. When the employment rates are broken out by graduation date though, 89% of students who were 120 days out of school found full-time jobs, Course Report cofounder Liz Eggleston tells Quartz. While the makeup of students who attend coding schools still largely skews white and male, there are encouraging signs these so-called bootcamps are helping diversify the industry by encouraging people in their early- to mid-careers (on average, participants were 31 years old) to become programmers. The survey found 36% of bootcamp grads were women, compared with the 14% of women who were awarded bachelor’s degrees in computer science in 2013-14. They also saw a bigger increase in salary following the completion of their programs, a lift of $25,283 compared with men’s $14,839, and reported higher salaries overall.”

Readwrite also takes a look at this in a recent article titled “How Much English Majors Earn After Coding Bootcamps.” Gregory Ferenstein of Readwrite writes, “Silicon Valley is racing ahead with its own alternative to college and new research from bootcamp review site Course Report suggests that graduates are out-earning some of their diploma-wielding peers. Nicknamed ‘coding bootcamps,’ these offerings have become a cottage industry of fast-track private vocational schools for graduates looking to enter the competitive tech industry as software engineers, data scientists, and other in-demand jobs. Many graduates hold college majors notorious for slim earnings potential (like English Majors,) and are now fully-employed in the tech industry making a lot more money.”

When it comes to providing youth with a customized coding education, we’ve got you covered at CodeRev Kids. At CodeRev Kids, our lessons focus on computational thinking, which encompasses a wide range of programming languages and concepts.

Our lessons build upon one another and we adjust starting points to each student’s level of expertise. Thus, the entire curriculum is customized. We are known for saying we are the most educational tech camp out there but we also keep the focus on having fun. As a result, students stay engaged while learning to blend creativity with technology.

Sign up for one of our fall classes today!

Chicago Mayor Gives Big Endorsement to Coding

Coding is becoming a major priority for schools across the country. Chicago recently made a bold statement when the Mayor suggested that all high schoolers should code. Consider a recent article for Ubergizmo titled “Chicago Mayor Thinks All High School Grads Should Know How To Code.”

Tyler Lee of Ubergizmo writes, “Should everyone young person learn how to code? As technology becomes more integrated in our lives and with more jobs and industries relying on technology more than ever, the answer might be a ‘yes’ for some. Over in Chicago, the city’s mayor Rahm Emanuel seems to think so as well. According to a report from The Hill, Emanuel expressed his opinion that every high school graduate should know how to code, to the extent that he thinks such classes should be made a requirement in schools. Emanuel was quoted as saying, ‘Just make it a requirement. I am fine with Common Core. We adopted it in the city, one of the first cities to do it. I’m great. [But] you need this skill — national policy. Make it a high-school graduation requirement.’ Emanuel has been a huge proponent of making coding a requirement in schools. Ever since becoming mayor in 2011, he has made several steps towards that goal and by 2018, computer science is expected to become a requirement in high school graduations, at least as far as Chicago is concerned.”

Slash Gear also explores this in a recent article titled “Chicago mayor calls for national coding graduation requirement.” Brittany Hillen of Slash Gear writes, “The call was made by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who made the proposal this past Thursday. He pointed out that kids need to have this knowledge to thrive in the present and future world. Chicago itself already has plans in place to get its high schoolers on the coding path, moving to have computer science sources as a graduation requirement. According to The Hill, in a statement at a Washington Post-sponsored event, he said, ‘Just make [coding classes] a requirement. I am fine with Common Core. We adopted it in the city, one of the first cities to do it. I’m great. You need this skill — national policy. Make it a high-school graduation requirement.’ While a noble effort, there are some big barriers in place — namely, finding individuals with both the tech credentials and the teaching credentials to teach such classes. As it stands, and as many critics have pointed out, those qualified to teach the classes can earn much higher salaries taking their skills elsewhere, giving them little incentive to become a high school instructor.”

With coding education becoming increasingly sought after, taking advantage of customized coding curriculum is even more valuable. When it comes to custom coding education for youth, your best bet is CodeRev Kids.

Our lessons emphasize computational thinking, which encompasses a wide variety of programming concepts and languages. These lessons build upon one another and we adjust starting points to each student’s level of expertise.

We are known for saying we are the most educational tech camp out there, but we also keep the focus on having fun. As a result, students stay engaged while learning to blend creativity with technology.

If you’re looking to take your child’s coding education to the next level, you can’t go wrong with CodeRev Kids!

White House Presents Award to Inspirational Young Coder

Coding is a serious need for students in the United States. By 2020, one million computing jobs will go unfilled in the United States due to a lack of appropriate preparation of our future workforce. Right now, students are graduating from excellent universities without the ability to obtain positions that utilize their expertise, yet someone who graduates from college with a computer science degree is very likely to obtain a desirable and high earning position immediately.

The White House is well aware of this. Recently, President Barack Obama honored a teenager working hard to inspire more young girls to code. The Washington Post took a look at this in a recent article titled “White House honors teenager who inspires girls to do computer coding.” T Rees Shapiro of the Washington Post writes, “Swetha Prabakaran dreamed of becoming a physician, using the power of medicine to heal the sick and to are for the ailing. She studied biology in middle school, but the course of her life changed during her freshman year at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, in Virginia. She took an introductory class on computer science and learned about programming, becoming fascinated with coding and the intricacies of how to teach computers to make life easier for people. ‘I learned I could help people in the same way with computers and not just a stethoscope,’ said Swetha, 15, a junior from Ashburn, Va. Earlier this month, Swetha was honored at the White House as one of 11 young women named ‘champions of change,’ for her work as the founder of Everybody Code Now! The nonprofit operates in 12 states and has partnerships in India and Ghana to help elementary school students, from kindergarten through fifth grade, learn how to code. According to a White House statement, the Champions of Change program ‘was created as an opportunity for the White House to feature individuals doing extraordinary things to empower and inspire members of their communities.’”

At CodeRev Kids, we understand the potential for empowerment that coding and tech careers can offer to communities. We customize our lessons to serve all students, no matter their level of expertise.

Our lessons focus on computational thinking, which encompasses a wide variety of programming languages. In addition to being highly informative, our lessons put an emphasis on fun. As a result, our students stay engaged and internalize coding concepts and creativity in the process.

If you want to give your child a quality coding education, your best bet is CodeRev Kids!

National Coding Week Was a Blast!

Coding enthusiasts rejoice! National Coding Week just happened in the UK. Electronics Weekly takes  a look at the event a recent article titled “National Coding Week aims at adult learners.”

According to the author of the article, “Taking place over September 21-27, there will be free-to-attend training sessions across the UK, where people will be taught the basics of coding alongside other beginners with little or no previous knowledge. There is a clickable event map on the National Coding Week website. ‘The key aims of National Coding Week are to encourage adults of any age to learn an element of computer coding, to encourage digital experts to share their skills, and to collaborate, share, learn and have fun,’ said event co-founder Richard Rolfe. ‘If I can learn to code at age 51 then anyone can.’ According to organisers, 52% of adults in the UK said they would feel ‘extremely or very daunted’ at the prospect of learning to code, while 41.3% believed that the older they are, the harder it is to pick up a skill like coding.”

The Bend Bulletin explores the rise in adult coding camps in a recent article titled “Adult coding camps boom as employers seek tech-savvy workers.” Kathleen Gallagher of the Bend Bulletin writes, “With eight employer requests for every student currently accepted into its computer coding classes, Milwaukee-based DevCodeCamp is expanding the amount of space it leases and the number of students it will train. It’s all part of an educational coding surge that is happening in many other cities, as well. This school — the first of its sort in Wisconsin — is taking an additional 2,500 square feet in Ward4 Milwaukee, a co-working space just south of downtown Milwaukee, said founder Jim Brent. The expansion will nearly double the space it occupies. DevCodeCamp, which since June has been running intensive computer coding boot camps here that last for months, rather than years, is attracting pilots, teachers, sales reps and others from a range of occupations, Brent said. All of them are seeking the same thing: good-paying technology jobs with employers who are begging for this type of talent.”

With so many adults trying to catch up with coding, it’s clear that young people who got their education early have a decided advantage. To give your child an advantage in the future job market, your best bet is personalized coding education.

At CodeRev Kids, we customize your child’s lesson plan. Our curriculum emphasizes computational thinking, which encompasses a wide range of programming languages.

While our customized lesson plans provides a thorough education for your child, we also like to focus on having fun. As a result, your child leaves both highly educated and motivated.

For more information, check out our afterschool programs and fall classes!

Why Do Parents and Schools Disagree About Coding?

While parents across the country are pushing to get more coding in schools, recent research shows there is a serious disconnect between their sentiments and those of the schools. USA Today explores this in a recent article titled “Should students learn coding? Students, schools disagree, poll finds.”

Marco della Cava of USA Today writes, “Parents across the U.S. are eager for their children to learn coding and other computer-science skills, but their message hasn’t yet hit the in-box of school administrators. That’s the finding of a new Gallup study commissioned by Google that spotlights a potentially perilous economic disconnect as tech companies struggle to enlarge their engineering talent pools. In the works for 18 months, the survey, called ‘Searching for Computer Science: Access and Barriers in U.S. K-12 Education,’ polled 15,000 people ranging from students to superintendents. Among key and contrasting findings: while 90% of parents see computer science, or CS, as ‘a good use of school resources’ (and 67% say CS should be required learning alongside other core classes), fewer than 8% of administrators believe parent demand is high. They also cite a lack of trained teachers as a top barrier to offering CS courses. Three quarters of principals report no CS programs in their school.”

Meanwhile, in Kentucky, one businessman is certain that teaching coding isn’t just important for students’ skills; it’s necessary for our economy. WYMT 57 takes a look at this in a recent article titled “President of company says coding is a solution to the economy.” According to the author of the article, “The president of bitsource says that the company focuses on the technological needs of other entities, but also men and women in need of a job. Bitsource is new to Pikeville. The owners discovered a need for it when they were forced to search for business outside of the mountains. One co-owner, Rusty Justice, says it started with the need for a website, but then turned into something more. ‘We’ve always made our business in the coal industry and so we were looking for something to do to help these wonderful people we’ve worked with. We knew how talented and capable they were.’”

If you’re looking to provide your child with a quality coding education, your best bet is CodeRev Kids. At CodeRev Kids, we customize our lessons to fit your child’s specific needs.

Our students learn Computational Thinking, which encompasses a wide range of programming concepts and languages. Although we are known for saying we are the most educational tech camp out there, we also keep the focus on having fun. As a result, our students stay engaged while learning to blend creativity with technology.

With CodeRev Kids, students can choose from five different tracks, each of which begins with introductory concepts which then lead to intermediate and advanced topics. These tracks include everything from creating games to making apps to building robots.

If you think CodeRev Kids could be right for your child, get signed up today!

From Low-Wage Worker to a Six-Figure Income Coding

Transitioning to a career in coding can literally transform a person’s life. The Tampa Bay Times takes a look at this in a recent article titled “Low-wage workers turn to coding to find lucrative jobs.”

Steve Lohr of the Tampa Bay Times writes, “After Paul Minton graduated from college, he worked as a waiter but always felt he should do more. So Minton, a 26-year-old math major, took a three-month course in computer programming and data analysis. As a waiter, he made $20,000 a year. His starting salary last year as a data scientist at a Web startup in San Francisco was more than $100,000. ‘Six figures, right off the bat,’ Minton said. ‘To me, it was astonishing.’ Stories like his are increasingly familiar these days as people across a spectrum of jobs — poker players, bookkeepers, baristas — are shedding their past for a future in the booming tech industry. The money sloshing around in technology is cascading beyond investors and entrepreneurs into the broader digital workforce, especially to those who can write modern code, the language of the digital world. Internet giants like Google and Facebook have long fought over the top software engineers in the country, and that continues. But now, companies in most every industry, either by necessity or to follow the pack, are pursuing some sort of digital game plan — creating lucrative opportunities for computing-minded newcomers who, like Minton, want to reboot their lives.”

WSOC examines jobs in the coding industry in a recent article titled “9 Investigates: Companies seek computer coding knowledge.” Stephanie Maxwell of WSOC writes, “Some of the highest-paying jobs in the country are going unfilled, because not enough college graduates possess the skills to fill them. Computer programming jobs are growing two times the national average and in North Carolina there’s more than 18, 000 vacant positions. John Sutton is president of the digital unit at Red Ventures, a technology company in Indian Land, South Carolina. Sutton said despite explosive growth in the past few years, Red Ventures struggles to find employees to fill their coding jobs. ‘The coding and engineering market is probably the hardest market out there today in the USU.S. Specifically in the Southeast, we’ve found it really difficult to attract good talent,’ Sutton said.”

When it comes to providing a quality coding education, we’ve got you covered at CodeRev Kids. With our customized curriculum, your child will receive a solid foundation in coding and have plenty of fun in the process.

At CodeRev Kids, we emphasize computational thinking, which encompasses a wide range of programming concepts and languages. With us, students have the opportunity to use their newfound skills to create apps, games, robots, and much more.

Furthermore, while we are known for saying we are the most educational tech camp out there, we also keep the focus on having fun. By doing this, our students stay engaged while learning to blend creativity with technology.

When it comes to quality coding education, no one does it better than CodeRev Kids!