I grew up in Philadelphia, PA and my Father gave me my first computer at age 7. That might not seem very strange now, but this was back in 1977! My Dad was a telecommunications consultant and brought home a Radio Shack TRS-80 model III computer (Google it, you'll laugh!) that I completely fell in love with. This computer couldn't do much on its own so I had to make my own programs. I learned BASIC using the books that came with the computer and that catapulted me into a life-long love for computers and coding. I went on to be chosen to attend math and computer science summer camps at Cheyney University (Historically black college) two years in a row during high school. There I learned to program FORTRAN on Apple II computers.
Once I went into the Air Force in 1990 I was one of a very few people that was very computer literate and could program. My bosses sent me to any and all computer training because I was the only one comfortable with it. I basically received all the best training because I had these coding skills that nobody else had. How often does that happen to any minority? Now that I'm out of the Air Force I've taken all my computer background and transferred it seamlessly to the civilian workforce. I do freelance web development, meaning I work on contract for larger studios, and love every minute of it! I have a few personal projects in the works and plan to have them shipped before fall. My geek roots are strong! I grew up collecting Marvel comics and watch lots of Anime (on top of being a computer geek!). I'm a bit of a pop culture fanatic and probably watch far too much media. My favorite TV shows are House of Lies, Game of Thrones, The Wire, and Homeland. I'm a superhero movie junkie (love The Incredibles, Iron Man, and The Avengers). I'm an avid salsa dancer (I've been dancing almost 10 years now) and am a vinyl record fanatic. I guess you can just say my geek rating is off the charts!
Coding on the most fundamental level is just problem solving. I'm given or come up with a problem I need to solve (ex: I need an address book for my contacts). I figure out where I want my address book to be located (ex: I want my address book on my iPhone). That decision tells me what programming language I need to use (ex: iPhone apps are made with the language Objective-C). At that point I decide what features I want my address book to have and start organizing them in small chunks so the programming side isn't overwhelming. I think the best way to explain it is to use a car as an example. If you think about all the various parts of a car it would probably scare you from making one on your own. But it you take it in small chunks (I'm going to make a tire, and then a door, and then a headlight, etc.) it becomes manageable. And since many of those parts will be reused (ex: that one tire can be used four times), the task becomes even easier.
Now more than ever software (and therefore coding) is at the forefront of the tech industry. Ever since the release of the iPhone back in 2007, hundreds of thousands of applications have been created to satisfy the masses of smartphone users. A large majority of the developers creating these apps are small studios of less than five people or even single person shops. Anyone with the ability to code has the opportunity to go into business on their own with a very low entry fee. Apple charges $99 a year to develop iOS apps. Google only asks a one time $25 fee to develop for Android. All a motivated coder needs to start making money is a computer and a great idea. The barrier to entry has never been lower.
Learning to code is extremely important for the black community. The current national unemployment rate is 7.7%, 13.8% in our community, yet unemployment in the technology sector has stayed just under 4% for the past year. Salaries in the software/web development sector are also strong averaging in the $45000-$80000 range depending on experience. Can you imagine how much we could help our community by getting children interested in software development instead of just only being interested in owning the computer hardware? Just think of the numbers of us that enjoy playing PS3 and Xbox games. Now if we could translate that enthusiasm toward creating the games too it becomes a win-win situation.
