How to Take Your Teen’s Coding Skills to the Next Level

This Fall, we’re offering a new coding course as a part of our virtual, after-school coding program. The course is called Next Level Coding and it’s a program for teens (ages 13–18) looking to grow their existing coding skills by building larger-scale projects, individually or as a team, with the help of a coding instructor. It’s being taught by a series of developers and software-engineers to offer different perspectives as well as a variety of skills. Next Level Coding offers teens an opportunity to grow their coding skills, be creative, and test out their tech or startup ideas in a supportive environment.

Spots are available for October and November cohorts.

Teens learning how to code is an investment in their future.

Teens grow a very relevant skillset in this course, which is coding. Learning how to code helps teens because it increases the number of opportunities available to them, whether that be strengthening their college applications or opening up new internship and job opportunities in a variety of industries. Coding also strengthens teens' critical thinking and problem-solving skills, which extends into every industry and academic pursuit that your teen might want in the future. In the Next Level Coding course, participants get to grow a valuable skill that can directly benefit their futures, all while building projects that they care about.

Our teens code projects that they are passionate about.

With this course being a part of your teen’s after-school activities, participants get to grow a valuable skill and build projects that they’re passionate about. An example application that we’ve seen students build when they’ve been challenged to build a project that they feel personally invested in is ED.iana, a website aimed at helping middle schoolers find local colleges that foster their unique interests and goals.

The idea stemmed from a thirteen-year-old and her classmates’ frustration over the way that their schools introduced middle school students to college. She feared that many 8th graders would not take their high school years seriously because no one had introduced the prospect of college to them in a way that was relatable so she used technology to build a solution. Other ideas that we’ve seen students build out of their personal interests include:

• Pet Finder - a web app that helps owners find their lost pets by connecting multiple local animal shelters on one site. The site was built by a student who personally felt the detriment of losing a pet.
• Ideator - a platform designed to connect those with ideas with those who have specific skillsets but might be lacking in ideas. This website was built by two high-school-aged students with a passion for entrepreneurship but struggled to come up with an idea for a viable business.

By building projects that they care about, our students feel invested in their learning. We’ve noticed that they aren’t discouraged when there’s a bug in their code. Instead, they are encouraged to find a solution to their problem, even when the answer is not obvious. An added benefit is that in the Next Level Coding course, teens get to grow their skills while working with their peers and a supportive instructor.

Being a part of a coding community beats learning alone.

With the creation of this course, we also created a supportive environment for students to try new ideas. Our participants have peers to learn new skills with, as well as an instructor to help guide them and introduce them to new technology concepts.

Participants build projects individually or team up with other students with shared interests.

By working with our instructors, participants get to learn from and work with a professional software engineer. In turn, the teens in the program get to learn real coding skills but also have the opportunity to ask questions about the tech industry from our developers who have worked at major tech companies.

Next Level Coding is one of the many courses that we’re offering this Fall. Our virtual coding courses offer students ages 7–18 the opportunity to learn how to code and grow their coding skills. To learn more about our coding courses, visit southbendcodeschool.com.