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Teaching Kids to Code - Missing the bigger picture?

Sat in front of my TV one boring week night a while back I noticed an Advert for Barclay's bank and something they called Barclay's Code Playground. So, intrigued I went on their website and found this:


"You rarely see it, but computer code runs our world. Everything from the website you’re reading to the traffic lights on our roads relies on the mysterious world of code. It’s even part of the national curriculum now, and learning what makes tech tick could give your kids a head start in the world of work."

So what Barclay's have is a way for kids to learn how to program by letting them write simple code to change animations and other cool things. You can do this in selected branches or on the Internet.

Now I think it is great that a bank like Barclay's is helping to teach kids the concepts of coding. It is also great that England has become the first country in the world to mandate computer programming in primary and secondary schools. However I think they may of missed something.....

There are many more opportunities in the IT workplace than just coding and there are lots of other jobs that do not require you to have the ability to code. Such jobs would be things like: Business Analyst, Tester, Network specialist, Scrum Master, Project Manager - I'm sure you could think of a few more.  By all means teaching children to think logically through writing code will help them in the future but if they don't like coding will there be encouragement for them to pursue an interest in another area of IT? If not then we may, in a few years have a saturation of developers, and these developers may make amazing testers or network specialists. I think the curriculum of schools and programs run by companies like Barclay's, should not focus solely on code and should encompass all aspects of IT so that we can encourage kids to explore other areas of and hopefully find something that they will enjoy and love. 

The  danger with just targeting coding is that these other potential career paths are not explored and lets not forget that you more than just developers on a team to make a successful product. 

Now I know that not all kids that learn to code will become coders but I just hope that this focus on coding is not just a panic response to the ever changing world of IT and the 'Internet of things',  which will surely require more IT staff worldwide.  Yes there may a a shortage of good quality IT staff but lets not be so short sighted and think that solely coding is the way to mitigate this risk.

If you have any thoughts please feel free to comment. 




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