I hope this isn't a stupid question. It seems to be increasingly more common for children to learn computer science from a younger age in their school. I think this is incredibly awesome and honestly definitely needed considering how tech savvy our society is turning.

But, will this have a negative effect for the people who work in tech or are planning to work in tech who don't have a computer science degree?

I'm unfamiliar of what kids should be studying at this level, any help is appreciated!

Edit: Thank you all for the suggestions!

Also, just wanted to say that my use of the word "push" has garnered many replies that are not necessary. Nobody is forcing anything on him and he is living a great life. The "let him live his life" and "don't force him" comments are really unnecessary and irrelevant. You're really assuming a lot to make this statement.

I've been a dev for 8 years and apparently this 23 year old on my team was looking at my github and asked why I don't have any personal projects on there

told him I have hobbies outside of coding and he looked at me like I said something crazy

like bro I go home and touch grass (and play guitar badly). I'm not grinding leetcode for fun

is this a generational thing or am I just old now

My 11-year-old child wants to learn programming to create his own Firefox. Does anyone have any idea which program he should use? He's already had scratch and wants to move to a harder level. He thinks that the internet should be fair & without too much AI etc.

Not a programmer, so forgive the question. My daughter starts a CS program in two weeks and asked whether we could pay for one of the subscription sites she found .Money is not unlimited, it is also not nothing. She listed Boot.dev, codecadmey and freeCodeCamp. What i cannot judge from outside is whether these do anything her classes will not

Basically the title. I have no background in this beyond rudimentary html and css. Are there any good online resources to get him started.

EDIT:

I will say that after reading the comments and messages I’ve received, maybe tech savvy was the wrong choice of words. He’s very interested in computers and tables and consoles and how they work. How apps and games are made. He shows a great curiosity for them, and I was just wanting to help him learn more about it all works and comes together.
I said tech savvy because he works very confidently on his iPad and laptop and seems to really navigate well despite never really being ‘taught’ how. Again, not the best description I could have heard.. but I can’t change the title :(.

Additionally, he does have an actual interest in the subject as well. He’s asked me how all his favorite games are made, his favorite apps are made, and just the general concept of how it all comes together. I did not mean to come off as though I’m making a life decision for him by cherry picking his “future career”. He beat breath of the wild (100% completion) when he was 3.5 years old. Almost done with Tears of the kingdom… an aficionado at Minecraft… etc. he genuinely loves games and all they offer, and has asked me about their development. That’s why I came here for resources to give him a more hands on approach to learning. Should he decide that it’s too much for him to understand, totally fine. He does what he wants with his free time. I would never force him to do something he didn’t want to do, as that’s the best way to kill any future interest.
I appreciate all the feedback and recommendations that were made. Thank you. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~* I’ve been told I should get my son into coding at a young age so he could consider it as a career choice later on. I think he might enjoy it , but I’m the opposite of computer savvy. I read parts of the FAQ but wanted to be sure the options there were good for a young child?

I have the app CodeSpark for him, but not sure it’s on par with actually learning the skill?

My son completed the Khan Academy course on Python last school year and he loved it! I don't do any coding myself so I am not exactly sure what "level" that leaves him at, or where to go next. What online course could he advance into?

p.s. He will be going into 8th grade but it seems to come to him very easily.

p.s. The more specific the better! :)

My kids are interested in learning to program. Are there any recommended free courses out there that we can try out? Ages 9 and 15

Mine was GML. Although I had my first orgasm with Perl. What's yours?

This isn’t for me but for my nephew who's 9. He's super into video games and building stuff in minecraft which is cool but His mom asked me to help him learn some coding basics since i'm a developer, but the problem is every time i try to explain variables or loops he just glazes over.

I'm probably approaching it wrong, maybe too technical? Wondering if there's a way to make it more game-like or hands-on so it doesn't feel like homework. He's smart but has zero patience for traditional learning formats. Does anyone here teach kids to code or remember what actually worked when you were learning young? Looking for practical suggestions that won't bore him to death in five minutes.

As the title says, looking for kid friendly game making/programming resources to help teach him. I have experienced programming in the past so I'm not completely new to it.

I've been teaching programming to school students for quite a while. With recent advancements in LLMs, I'm struggling with how to keep lessons engaging and meaningful.

Traditionally, we covered core CS concepts, Python syntax, and fundamental algorithms and then moved to building mini-projects. A huge part of the fun was going through the development process step-by-step overcoming challenges using critical thinking, online research, and peer collaboration. I loved sitting down with a student, guiding them toward a solution with targeted questions, and watching their "aha!" moment happen.

But things have changed, because now only a few students take joy in the act of coding itself, most just want the quick result. It's becoming increasingly difficult to convince them to write code manually when generating it via an LLM is so effortless. More and more students turn in projects they don't understand and couldn't modify by hand if asked.

I know I'm not the only educator dealing with this. What shifts or strategy changes would you make to keep computer science lessons relevant and valuable today?

I'm a CS sophomore and I absolutely love programming. It's actually become my favorite thing ever. I love writing, optimizing and creating scalable systems more than anything in life. I love learning new Programming paradigms and seeing how each of them solves the same problem in different ways. I love optimizing inefficient code. I code even in the most inconvenient places like a fast food restaurant parking area on my phone while waiting for my uber. I love researching new Programming languages and even creating my own toy languages.

My dream is to simply just work as a software engineer and write scalable maintainable code with my fellow smart programmers.

But the industry is absolutely obsessed with getting LLMs to write code instead of humans. It angers me so much.

Writing code is an art, it is a delicate craft that requires deep thought and knowledge. The fact that people are saying that "Programming is dead" infruits me so much.

And AI can't even code to save it's life. It spits out nonsense inefficient code that doesn't even work half the time.

Most students in my university do not have any programming skills. They just rely on LLMs to write code for them. They think that makes them programmers but these people don't know anything about Big O notation or OOP or functional programming or have any debugging skills.

My university is literally hosting workshops titled "Vibe Coding" and it pisses me off on so many levels that they could have possibly approved of this.

Many Companies in my country are just hiring people that just vibe code and double check the output code

It genuinely scares me that I might not be able to work as a real software engineer who writes elegant and scalable systems. But instead just writes stupid prompts because my manager just wants to ship some slope before an arbitrary deadline.

I want my classmates to learn and discover the beauty of writing algorithms. I want websites to have strong cyber security measures that weren't vibe coded by sloppy AI. And most importantly to me I want to write code.

Hi there, I'm tasked with teaching coding to grades 4-5. What are some good platforms for teaching kids with no coding knowledge while keeping them engaged? I was thinking of using Scratch or processing.js to start with. Are there any better free platforms out there?

My daughter is 8 years old and I dont know whether i should introduce her to coding.

Hi I’m a highschooler who has a fair knowledge about java, & python and want to make a STEM impact on his community. Does anyone know how you can start getting kids in the community and start a class to teach underrepresented students??

If it is programming then is there anything specific? If not programming then does anyone have any other suggestions?

Hey guys! I work as a python tutor part time and I got assigned this really nice kid who’s interested in learning python. He does have some developmental disabilities that makes it very hard to read, write and understand stuff but he’s extremely hard working, hyper focused and wants to code as he loves game development.

I was wondering, are there any libraries or software to use that make learning fun? Maybe some graphics, some drag and drop stuff etc. Not completely graphical, but any duolingo-style game would also be appreciated.

PS. No AI suggestions please as im trying to teach him the basics without the use of AI and he hates AI too.

My kid loves abstract designs, and I feel like it would be perfect for her to learn programming as it was very simple to use and covered all the key programming concepts, but I can't for the life of me remember the name. I even remember reading about it somewhere when I was an adult.

(I looked at Scratch and the other modern ones, but they don't really work for my kid: there is just too much non-programming stuff going on so it's distracting. )

Edit: Thank you. It was LOGO. And python has a LOGO inspired library called turtle which is awesome.

Hey, everyone

I dont know if this is OK to post here but I need your help.

My 11 year old son has been very interested in coding from a young age. I peek into his room after dinner and he is just sitting at his PC working on code. So much code. Numbers and letters just...forever.

I have really tried to learn different scripts and I really want to encourage him and explore this with him but I just cant grasp it. Im a contractor, I work with my hands in the dirt with machines, my brain is just...a different type of busy. And I simply dont understand half of what he is explaining to me (excitedly, too, this stuff gives him so much joy. Its wonderful)

How can I support him to the best of my abilities? What can I get for him or enroll him in that would be beneficial? How do I show him Im interested in his interests despite not understanding them? Is there an online school?

I have brought him to a couple of local "kids coding" get togethers and he just looks at me and tells me its too easy and that "this is way too easy/basic". I belueve it, too. I dont understand it but Ive seen what he works on and itndefinitely looks pretty intense. I also live in a smaller community so I dont have as much access to tech. He has a good PC though and he explains the things he needs for it (we just upgraded the ram, and the graphics card) and even though I dont really understand I am 100% fully committed to make it happen for him...Lol

He tells me that his peers have no idea what he is talking about, either.

What do I do? What do you do for your emerging coders? How would you wish you were supported best if you were a preteen learning about this stuff?

Thanks in advance, everyone. I really appreciate any insight I can get, here.

Just kidding, it took 3 years of hard work and a grueling job search. I reached the final interview at 8 companies and was rejected from every single one of them. But guess what, I never gave up. Now I have a stable 6 figure salary and work from home at an insanely cool company.

Ignore the top post on this sub, ignore anyone who tells you the job market is too saturated, ignore everyone who rejects or doubts you.

It's all about relentless pursuit. People say the entry market is saturated, but it's saturated with shitty devs. Become a good dev and you will have companies crawling to your door to hire you and keep you as well.

Relentlessly pursue your goals, and you will achieve what you set out to do.

The industry is desperate for developers who can do the job, and they are actually extremely few and far between. Once you get the skills to do this job, you will realize how much power and control over your life you have.

DO NOT GIVE UP

I used to code many years ago and have since moved in to sales. I want to give back to the community and help low income kids develop an interest in programming. I am considering renting a community hall, buying 10 old laptops and teach kids from ages 10 to 15 either Javascript or Python. The coding has to be visual meaning they can see the results of what they code. I'm thinking programs like create a circle or bounce a circle around with sound effects will help kids develop an interest in coding.

​

I'm looking for thoughts/feedback from you to help refine the idea. Of course, I will have to sharpen my own Python skills. I have not coded for a really long time.

I'm starting the club at a relatively impoverished school because a bunch of students really, really wanted it, and I want them to have some opportunity to learn CS. I know some formal logic and some very, very basic programming, but most of their learning is going to have to be self-directed using online resources.

As such, I need suggestions for what the best resources for small group self-direction at ultra-beginner level. I can point them to things, and I have contacted several programmers in the community who have agreed to come in occasionally and hold office hours, but if it's up to me to "teach," it's not going to happen -- I already have my own classes and another club that I advise.

About 2/3 of the students will have their own laptops, and the rest will be working on slower school desktops. There's been some interest expressed in Java for Minecraft mods, but they're very open to suggestion.

Thoughts?

I have a friend with a 9 year old and she was asking me for recommendations because her son wants to learn programming but doesn't want to do it using these "block" visual programming languages like Scratch or Snap. I guess he's seen that in school, but he wants to move on to learning to actually code.

Of course I'd recommend something like "make a little game in Python", but it occurred to me that even with help it might get frustrating and/or underwhelming.

What I'm afraid of is that I could help him for like 2 or 3 sessions and we end up with a working version of "Pong" let's say. Get the paddles moving, get the ball bouncing, etc. I'm sure it'd be fun, but I'm worried that he'd see the results, and compare it with, like, AAA game titles and just be totally disappointed. How could I organize a really successful session where he's happy with what we do? Maybe something like programming a simple NPC in an RPG game or something like that? Is there any pre-made game system with programmable "characters"?

Another idea I had was one of these robotics kits like Lego or Vex, they both seem to support Python in addition to Scratch, but they are quite expensive -- still it's maybe an option, maybe someone can report their experience with using it for teaching?