Code the Future aims to link developers to schools

Code the Future is a new initiative which aims to put developers in touch with schools. It’s underlying aim is to encourage kids to learn to code, and to do that by connecting developers with educators.

The idea isn’t entirely novel: For example, Code Club Australia is working with schools on an on-going basis and ICT in Schools encourages partnerships between ICT professionals and schools. The difference with Code the Future seems to be the focus on individual projects rather than long-term commitments. That might well be a good thing as it’s quite hard to get otherwise busy people to commit to involvement in a school for six months or a year, but doing a short, distinct project might well be far more appealing.

Examples of current projects that Code the Future is seeking developers for include: “Teach 20 kids how to build a weather app”, “Run a hackathon during science week”, and “I have 10 kids who want to learn Java”. That said Code the Future is also pitching on-going code-club-like engagements and I guess any advantage they bring there will depend entirely on their capacity to market to developers.

It does strike me that one thing missing from their project is information for developers on what doing something like this involves. Having tried to encourage people into schools in the past, questions around insurance, working with children checks and the like quickly arise. A FAQ dealing with this and reassuring potential applicants might be helpful.

It’s always great to see new initiatives that help teach kids to code. At some point something will need to be done to avoid confusion and fragmentation in this area, but we’re still well short of that at the moment – so the more people working in this area the better.

Go Code the Future.