Code.org
At first I thought this site was all about promoting "Bill Gates," and "Mark Zuckerberg," and other high-profile techies. I didn't really give it much thought, but as momentum grew, I looked more deeply...
Looking at the code.org/stats page the "untapped opportunity" numbers leaped out at me.
"1,000,000 more jobs than students by 2020"
This made me wonder if there really is a crisis. There certainly seems to be an opportunity, but do more kids really have to choose computer science as a major in order for these extra jobs to be filled?
Could these jobs be filled by taking an extra class in ... coding, web design, writing macros for spreadsheets... whatever extra class would fill that need.
OR can the right student fill an entry-level position and get on-the-job training to fill the position?
NOW I'm really interested.
I believe that no matter what kids major in, these jobs will need people who can understand some level of coding (diving into spreadsheet macro writing, creating a web page, or even writing a simple program). The great thing about code.org is that the whole site is designed for anyone at any level. I've seen a room full of non-technical administrators plow through the tutorials with electric enthusiasm. They were highly motivated to tackle the code.org challenges and get those "angry birds" and zombies to the parts in the maze they needed to be without getting blown up by the TNT.
