Why collaborative coding?
Learning to code. It can be Boring. Dull. Hard.
But the biggest problem is, it’s lonely.
When I turned up to university for my Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science degree (a choice which may or may not have been inspired by the film I-Robot) I was pretty surprised that a lot of the kids there already knew how to code. How? I’d played computer games, sure. But I’d never tried to code one. It got me thinking how do people get into tech, and what I found was a common theme in the coder origin stories.
Usually, their parents had encouraged them by buying them a computer to hack around with. Showing them how to code. Taking computers apart. Supporting them in their technical exploration.
But what happens if your parents don’t even know what code is? How do you get that support and motivation? When you get stuck, how do you get help?
That’s why we created the School of Code multiplayer coding platform. It lets people team up to learn code and solve problems together in real-time. The first thing this solves is the motivation problem. Most learners would get stuck, bored, and think coding “isn’t for me”. With the School of Code you can invite a friend into a challenge with you and help each other to complete it.
The second thing is that coding in industry is almost completely collaborative, with companies such as Google, Facebook, and Pivotal basing everything on pair programming. But learning to code is usually a solo activity, meaning people don’t practise soft skills, team work, and aren’t used to showing people their code. So by learning in a team and coding together, we create collaborative coders that industry needs!
The final part is more general – our education system is set up to pass exams. This is similar to how we learn code. Exercise after exercise we complete and in the end get told we “know” that part of computer science. But in the end, all that’s produced is curriculum zombies. By putting a problem in front of two people instead of one, they can talk about it, analyse it, break it down, explain it to each other, challenge each other, and by engaging with the subject in this way we produce creative problem solvers rather than just people who’ve completed a text book of exercises.
We have taken this collaborative approach in the setup of our first coding Bootcamp. As of September 4th, the School of Code began teaching 19 beginners the basics of the web, and in just 16 weeks they’ll be fully fledged software developers! The curriculum revolves around pair programming and team projects, banishing the classic stereotype of a solitary coder. Bootcamp HQ is arranged in islands of desks that form fortnightly teams, and the recruits work together to tackle problems and learn. Despite everyone picking things up at different paces, this set-up creates a strong support system where you feel confident to ask for help and help others!
Take a look at your average day at the School of Bootcamp…
Want to learn more about what we’re doing? Come to our launch event on Tuesday 26th September 12pm-1pm for lunch and networking! Hear from West Midlands Mayor Andy Street, our headline sponsors Packt Publishing, Innovation Birmingham, Silicon Canal and the Bootcamp recruits themselves! Register for a free ticket here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/school-of-code-bootcamp-launch-tickets-36865778536
