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If you have a teenager and you proud he can read you are 100 years behind.
He needs to learn to code. Here is how to get it done and change his future.
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He needs to learn to code. Here is how to get it done and change his future.
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1. Have him complete all the levels on http://mathbot.com
He will learn most of the difficult concepts in programming, like recursion, in a couple week.
He will learn most of the difficult concepts in programming, like recursion, in a couple week.
2. Have him complete the JavaScript track on http://freecodecamp.org
This will take a month or two and he will be ready to write code for a real project. Not a lot of code, but this is the single most important milestone in his career - solving real problems.
This will take a month or two and he will be ready to write code for a real project. Not a lot of code, but this is the single most important milestone in his career - solving real problems.
3. Have him contribute to open source projects. Half a dozen different projects is probably ideal. Once the neck beards know he is a teenager they will shower him with encouragement and education money cannot buy.
4. At this point he is going to be fine. He will hit roadblocks where he wishes he knew more about computer science and algorithms and be annoyed, but tyat is the perfect time for him to learn those topics and the neck beards love to teach them.
5. Finally, and this is very optional and the first time you might want to spend real money, hire a tutor for $300 a month to teach computer science. A professor, a software engineer or a PhD student.
Have them go through the useful parts of a CS degree. Maybe @projecteuler
Have them go through the useful parts of a CS degree. Maybe @projecteuler
6. You are done. No student debt, code literate and ready for an entry level engineer job. Easily a path to $100,000 per year before his peers graduate with a bachelors degree.
(assumes 2 years of open source and 4 years on the job).
(assumes 2 years of open source and 4 years on the job).
7. Something I always forget is Minecraft. If your kids are younger start them on http://mathbot.com at 5 and let them play with “mods” in Minecraft around 7. They will make flying pirate ships that shoot meatballs that explode and learn a bit.
8. Just remembered my 16 yo will be on a podcastwith @RolloMcFloogle @Slappy_Jones_2 tomorrow talking about his latest open source project.
Hit them up with questions to ask him about code and “muh socialization” with homeschooling.
Hit them up with questions to ask him about code and “muh socialization” with homeschooling.
