Udacity Code Roadshow
Lessons Learned in January
In September 2017, Udacity joined forces with Google’s Zukunftswerkstatt to offer free Intro to Programming workshops across Germany. I spent a week traveling from Berlin to Munich and Hamburg to experience these workshops directly. Here’s what I learned while on the road.
Google Germany’s Zukunftswerkstatt directly mirrors Google UK’s Digital Garage: It’s an on-site education center, where experts volunteer to teach local learners valuable digital skills to help them succeed in their careers.
Udacity is excited to be among these local experts. We created a workshop for complete beginners that offers everything future coders need to get up to speed — with no prior programming skills required. Over the course of 90 minutes, participants learn about the underlying structure of the web — HTML.
After a successful pilot phase that included 10 sessions, 4 cities, and over 300 participants, we have now committed to hosting three local workshops each month: one in Berlin, one in Hamburg and one in Munich. We’re absolutely thrilled about the continuously great turnout we’ve seen. Above all, it’s a testament to lifelong learning. Across the country, people of all ages and backgrounds are excited to learn.
Berlin: Computers are not that smart
To get participants in “the developer’s mindset,” Session Lead (and Udacity’s local engineer Hernán) kicked off the workshop with a simple question: “Do you think computers are smart?” When participants reluctantly nodded, Hernán disagreed, “Actually computers are very stupid.” To prove his point, Hernán proposed a game of Peanut Butter & Jelly (PB&J). “I’ll be the computer making the sandwich, and you’ll be the code telling me how to do it,” he explained. “Let’s start by giving me instructions.”
“Put the bread on the plate,” one participant shouted.When Hernán put the entire bag of toast on the plate, the next participant offered a correction.
— “Open the bag!”
— “…the left end of the bag!”
— “Take out the bread!”
— “…but just one slice of bread!”
— “Put it on the plate!”
— “…horizontally, please!”
— “Open the peanut butter jar!”
— “Take the peanut butter!”
— “…not with your fingers, with the knife!”
…and so it went on until finally, we had created something that looked something like a PB&J sandwich. And we learned a valuable lesson in the process: A computer will only do exactly what you tell it to do — no more and no less.
Munich: The best code is written with a buddy
Christina and her daughter Violetta joined our workshop in Munich. While most participants came on their own, they joined forces and wrote their first lines of code together. “There was a great learning atmosphere in the room,” said daughter Violetta, a student in Munich. Her mother Christina, an experienced Finance Manager, added, “The workshop was the perfect way to get introduced to to programming.”
Hamburg: The first step is always the hardest
Joshua, 20, joined our workshop in Hamburg. This year, the recent high school grad started a traineeship to become an IT Specialist in System Integration in Hamburg. While his apprenticeship is technical, he had never programmed before.
“To be honest, I was always a bit apprehensive to take the first step alone because I thought I would struggle. But coding is actually very straightforward and logical. Now I’m motivated to keep going and learn more.”
We’re happy that Joshua, Christina, Violetta and all the other participants decided to take their first step with Udacity, and we can’t wait to see where their learning journeys take them next. Thank you!
If you would like to learn to code in 2018, come join Udacity’s free, in-person sessions in Berlin, Hamburg or Munich, hosted at Google Germany’s Zukunftswerkstatt. To learn more and sign up, please click here.
Note: This article is part of a series that will highlight monthly lessons learned at Udacity’s in-person coding workshops in Germany.
