Start Your Kid Coding Today

"By the time they get to university, they've already made up their mind!"

I'm sitting in a small meeting room at IBM. It can seat eight people at a squeeze, but there are just three of us here today - well, two of us physically and a third joined via conference call. I am discussing what it will take to increase the number of software developers in Australia over the next two decades, with two leaders of IBM's Academic Initiative Program.

We're talking "out-of-the-box" strategies here. IBM's current academic initiatives are targeted squarely at university-level students. However, both of these leaders are also parents, and they've seen the lifecycle of their own children first-hand. Without a favourable exposure to coding at a young age, by the time young people reach university they already have a pretty good idea of the path that they want to take. These leaders are not simply interested in grabbing more of the existing market of budding developers for their company - they are committed to expanding the market.

So we are talking about what it will take, and what we can do about making coding accessible and fun for children while they are in primary school.

Research has shown that exposure to playing musical instruments at a young age, around 8-9, causes changes in the neural structure of the brain that support musical ability throughout life.

I have first-hand experience of this. My mother sent me for piano lessons when I was 8 years old, and also introduced me to a retired luthier in our neighbourhood who built me a mandolin from a biscuit tin. I don't remember it being a particularly fun or engaging experience - I remember wanting to escape from the piano lessons; but it stuck. And when I turned 15 I bought an electric guitar and started a band with friends. Today I play several instruments - well enough to play in the backline for touring musicians who visit Brisbane. I got some kind of intuitive grasp of music at a deep level from that exposure.

Similarly, I started programming when I was ten years old - exposed to the very first Apple Macintosh at a friend's house, and then banging away on an 8-bit computer - the Atari 800XL. These early experiences also created a natural familiarity with technology and coding.

Programming requires and demands scientific thinking - debugging is the scientific method of hypothesis validation through experiment. It also requires and demands keyboarding skills and literacy. Computers are pretty dumb - they don't understand mis-spelled words. These are all opportunities for kids to find a practical use for spelling, typing, and the scientific method at a young age.

Formative experiences are important.

I started Magikcraft - a platform that teaches kids to code using Minecraft - because my (now 14-year old) son was not being exposed to coding at school. I took him to Brisbane's CoderDojo program (an excellent free resource run by the Brisbane City Council and staffed by volunteers), and volunteered as a mentor for a year. During that time I observed the youth of today, and what motivates and stimulates them. And I discovered that they have a huge natural enthusiasm for playing Minecraft that I had previously written off as a distraction.

One parent said to me: "I used to call it Mindless Craft, but now my son is learning to code in it!"

I also wrote off my son's fascination with Minecraft as a waste of time. I wanted him to learn to code, not just play computer games. I wanted him to be a creator, not simply a consumer of technology.

But in my first term as a mentor at CoderDojo, I stumbled upon a way to embed programming into the game - and that was literally a game-changer. Magikcraft takes the natural enthusiasm that kids have for playing Minecraft with their friends, and turns it into a socially-driven learning experience with coding in JavaScript. Kids learn to cast "spells" (programs) that transform their experience of the game.

Not every kid who does Magikcraft will be a coder - just as not every kid who takes piano lessons becomes a professional musician. But we want to give our children access to every opportunity that we can, and allow them to powerfully choose what their future will look like.

This weekend we're holding a one-day Magikcraft event where kids can express their natural enthusiasm for playing Minecraft and learn to code at the same time. It's at the offices of Auto & General Insurance in Toowong. Further details and bookings on the Magikcraft website.

About me: I'm a father; a recruiter at Just Digital People; a Red Hat alumnus; a CoderDojo mentor; a founder of Magikcraft.io; the producer of The JDP Internship - The World's #1 Software Development Reality Show; the host of The Best Tech Podcast in the World. All inside a commitment to empowering Queensland's Silicon Economy.