Programming for Primaries week and an interview with our head web developer
Monday marked the start of this year’s ‘Programming for Primaries’ week. The week aims to raise awareness of the need to introduce programming skills to children at an early age, whilst aiming to shine a spotlight on the support and resources available both directly to children and to help schools and teachers deliver great programming classes in primary schools.
Due to the nature of the event, we decided to interview our head web developer, Nad, on his thoughts about the week, when he discovered his passion for programming and what he feels are the benefits in teaching young children the subject.
1) What do you think about the ‘Programming for Primaries’ week?
I Definitely think it’s a good idea to put some emphasis on programming in schools and especially at a young age. What I find more interesting is that the scheme that ComputerXplorers are carrying out is not focusing purely on the pupils but is trying to emphasize that the need for programming is not only limited in children but also in the staff. By ComputerXplorers going into schools to teach teaching staff as well as pupils will be a huge benefit for the next generation as we should hopefully see a huge culture change in relation to computer and programming knowledge across many generations!
2) When did you discover your love for programming?
I would not say I’ve ever had a love for programming but more a personal joy to solve problems whether they be car issues, DIY around the house or trying to make my life easier by optimising the way I do things. I first discovered programming in my first year of college back in 2003.
This started off in the form of basic HTML and CSS, which then moved onto C and C++. I thoroughly enjoyed the web development aspect in college and the amount of freedom you could get over canvas that we call the Internet. The programming aspects of college enticed me enough to study computer science in the video games technology at degree level and it was there that I discovered a whole different world of programming in the form of 3D space, physics and the ability to create graphical elements and control them with the utmost precision.
3) What skills do you think you’ve acquired during your time as a programmer?
There are obviously the typical academic skills of learning a particular language such as PHP, HTML, CSS, PYTHON, C++, C#…the list goes on. I would say the primary skill would be that of finding solutions to problems and attention to detail.
Programming is primarily problem solving and creating something out of nothing, because of this, the skills of studying how different variables and predicting outcomes along with making decisions is tested to the utmost degree. When I speak to people or people ask me about a typical programming scenario, the one thing I hear more than anything is “how do you find the patience, it sounds so hard I would just give up if I couldn’t fix it”.
What I realised is that over time the other most important skill that it taught me was patience. Programming takes a lot of patience and a lot of time. Building up this patience over the years on solving problems translates over very effectively into day-to-day life. This usually means that you will spend that extra 5 minutes or hour on something to gain that extra bit of knowledge compared to giving up on the final hurdle because it was too hard.
Software breaks… it breaks a lot, and it is this breaking, diagnosing and fixing loop which translates into day to day life and before long you realise that you can come up with solutions for many of normal day issues you wouldn’t think would be related to your programming experience.
4) Why will programming skills benefit the youth of today?
Well I might have a bit of a bias here but I would say it would aid massively with the ability to make decisions, connect the dots to solve problems, improved patience, improved creativity and attention to detail.
Programming uses logic, some say in its purest form. Computers are dumb. Really dumb! So if you are going to make it do something then you need to tell it pixel-by-pixel and action by action, what to do. What this logical way of thinking does is help the youth make informed decisions in all aspects of life. Also, having the ability to create functionality, seeing how something works and improving it is extremely beneficial and empowering to the creativity of an individual. Also the fact that the youth of today are being exposed to programming at a young age will have the option to choose if it is something for them and if not, can move onto something more beneficial to them, whilst taking with them skills they have previously learnt.
5) Do you think you would have benefited from a similar programme?
Yes, definitely! I discovered programming at college but always knew it existed but the technology was just not up to scratch and the teachers were just not qualified to teach it back then.
Also with the internet being so young in 1995 as well as slow there was just not enough options to teach yourself programming either, not to mention the most basic PC being thousand of pounds. The youth of this generation and going forward have such a wealth of information readily available to them and now with smart phones and smart watches, the youth have the ability to learn new skills at any time. With enough passion and Perseverance today’s generation will probably be part of creating the next big App, Smartphone or smart watch before we know it.
If you wish to learn more about ‘Programming for Primaries’ week and the work that ComputerXplorers are doing, then you can visit their website here.
Monday marked the start of this year’s ‘Programming for Primaries’ week. The week aims to raise awareness of the need to introduce programming skills to children at an early age, whilst aiming to shine a spotlight on the support and resources available both directly to children and to help schools and teachers deliver great programming classes in primary schools.
Due to the nature of the event, we decided to interview our head web developer, Nad, on his thoughts about the week, when he discovered his passion for programming and what he feels are the benefits in teaching young children the subject.
1) What do you think about the ‘Programming for Primaries’ week?
I Definitely think it’s a good idea to put some emphasis on programming in schools and especially at a young age. What I find more interesting is that the scheme that ComputerXplorers are carrying out is not focusing purely on the pupils but is trying to emphasize that the need for programming is not only limited in children but also in the staff. By ComputerXplorers going into schools to teach teaching staff as well as pupils will be a huge benefit for the next generation as we should hopefully see a huge culture change in relation to computer and programming knowledge across many generations!
2) When did you discover your love for programming?
I would not say I’ve ever had a love for programming but more a personal joy to solve problems whether they be car issues, DIY around the house or trying to make my life easier by optimising the way I do things. I first discovered programming in my first year of college back in 2003.
This started off in the form of basic HTML and CSS, which then moved onto C and C++. I thoroughly enjoyed the web development aspect in college and the amount of freedom you could get over canvas that we call the Internet. The programming aspects of college enticed me enough to study computer science in the video games technology at degree level and it was there that I discovered a whole different world of programming in the form of 3D space, physics and the ability to create graphical elements and control them with the utmost precision.
3) What skills do you think you’ve acquired during your time as a programmer?
There are obviously the typical academic skills of learning a particular language such as PHP, HTML, CSS, PYTHON, C++, C#…the list goes on. I would say the primary skill would be that of finding solutions to problems and attention to detail.
Programming is primarily problem solving and creating something out of nothing, because of this, the skills of studying how different variables and predicting outcomes along with making decisions is tested to the utmost degree. When I speak to people or people ask me about a typical programming scenario, the one thing I hear more than anything is “how do you find the patience, it sounds so hard I would just give up if I couldn’t fix it”.
What I realised is that over time the other most important skill that it taught me was patience. Programming takes a lot of patience and a lot of time. Building up this patience over the years on solving problems translates over very effectively into day-to-day life. This usually means that you will spend that extra 5 minutes or hour on something to gain that extra bit of knowledge compared to giving up on the final hurdle because it was too hard.
Software breaks… it breaks a lot, and it is this breaking, diagnosing and fixing loop which translates into day to day life and before long you realise that you can come up with solutions for many of normal day issues you wouldn’t think would be related to your programming experience.
4) Why will programming skills benefit the youth of today?
Well I might have a bit of a bias here but I would say it would aid massively with the ability to make decisions, connect the dots to solve problems, improved patience, improved creativity and attention to detail.
Programming uses logic, some say in its purest form. Computers are dumb. Really dumb! So if you are going to make it do something then you need to tell it pixel-by-pixel and action by action, what to do. What this logical way of thinking does is help the youth make informed decisions in all aspects of life. Also, having the ability to create functionality, seeing how something works and improving it is extremely beneficial and empowering to the creativity of an individual. Also the fact that the youth of today are being exposed to programming at a young age will have the option to choose if it is something for them and if not, can move onto something more beneficial to them, whilst taking with them skills they have previously learnt.
5) Do you think you would have benefited from a similar programme?
Yes, definitely! I discovered programming at college but always knew it existed but the technology was just not up to scratch and the teachers were just not qualified to teach it back then.
Also with the internet being so young in 1995 as well as slow there was just not enough options to teach yourself programming either, not to mention the most basic PC being thousand of pounds. The youth of this generation and going forward have such a wealth of information readily available to them and now with smart phones and smart watches, the youth have the ability to learn new skills at any time. With enough passion and Perseverance today’s generation will probably be part of creating the next big App, Smartphone or smart watch before we know it.
If you wish to learn more about ‘Programming for Primaries’ week and the work that ComputerXplorers are doing, then you can visit their website here.
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