It seems there are so many opportunities available for kids to learn in any number of subjects in after school programs or during summer camps these days. Learning how to code is one of the most valuable investments you can make for your child’s future.  The training your kids will receive through SilliconValley4U’s programs and summer camps is an example of that type of investment.

You might be thinking why is it really important? Will it make a difference to my child’s future?  They may or may not be interested in pursuing this in the future, why should I encourage them to do so now. I would like to share my own experience and how it has been a strong foundation that enabled me to undertake any number of challenges I have faced in the various paths my career has taken me as an employee, a business owner, an entrepreneur and as a consultant.  

Using computers began for me in high school with one of the 1st generation Apple computers, an Apple II a very along time ago. Encountering that computer sparked my interest in technology and at the urging of some geeky friends, I even joined the A/V department becoming the first “girl” ever to be a part of that department.

When I attended my first official computer-programming/coding course in college, I remember the instructor stating that I was going to learn a new language in this course. It seemed like a meme as I was also taking French, Linguistics and Physics courses during that same semester, surprisingly each instructor made similar statements. It did make me realize that these tools and experiences I was learning were universal and applicable just as my French (arguably more so) and other courses were in communicating potentially with a global community.

I was really captivated by creating simple routines and executing the programs on the punched cards. I used the keypunch machine to create the punched cards by entering the program I created from my coding sheets.  Upon completion I would watch them being loaded into the card readers, hoping that the program I created worked as designed. When it did I was elated, I also learned to pay attention to small details in a way I never had before. I also learned patience as it often took 24 hours to know whether it worked.

Perhaps that particular hands–on experience with such complex and large scale equipment back then added to my experiential Telecommunications (Radio/TV) Major combined to enable me to be confident in all my technical escapades my future offered. I had opportunities to use basic programming skills and have learned more along my journey.

However, while technology is my passion, coding enabled me to “get things done” at crucial moments. One example of my confidence was to tackle the unknown was when our Cisco Router died and had to be completely reprogrammed. It was an essential service for our clients who relied entirely on the internet services we provided for them. Waiting for some technician to arrive was not a timely solution. I was able to successfully enter the coding to restore and test the service with very minimal down time. The clients were happy and I have found it beneficial to be able to apply my coding skills when it was needed at a critical moment. This has come in very handy over time.

Transferring knowledge from one platform to another and finding solutions through programming is some of the benefits of learning to code. Sparking that interest in your child can be applied to any task they undertake. Should they like to pursue a career in computer/data science they will have the confidence of establishing a foundation early in their lives that will offer them the tools to advance quickly and confidently. Applying the confidence they gain from creating something can provide boundless confidence and courage to undertake new challenges of any type.

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Written by Gurumurthy Yeleswarapu, CEO/Founder of Siliconvalley4u