Sterling Academy’s Hour of Code, held December 7th, featured Mr. Cory Maddox explaining job opportunities of coding and how one could profit by going into a career that mandates coding as a job skill.

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Sterling Academy offers Computer Science I and II classes to help students in grades 6 through 12 learn how to code. According to Melinda Gates in “Blurbs and Useful Stats: Some Shocking Statistics USA,” from the December 10 issue of Computer Science Education Week, only 40 percent of principals at US schools say that they offer a Computer Science Coding class.

 

There are more coding jobs than there are experienced coders to fill them. Again, Mrs. Gates claims there are about 500,000 job openings across the nation, and she speculates that computer science job openings will double in the future. Many jobs are not able to be filled due to lack of knowledge or skill in computer science.

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The types of careers that use coding are expanding. Industries that traditionally employ programmers have been tech support, computer technician, graphic designers, data analysts, web designers, mechanical engineers, and computer programmers. However, fields such as chemistry, architecture, dentistry, and prosthetics are requiring coding skills.

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Chemists have found coding is an essential skill for algorithms and solving problems. Architects even use coding for simulations to test a building's stability. Dentists are using coding skills to create 3D printed dentures, bridges, or other essential dental models.

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Coding is even affecting the medical field, as it enables a professional to make prosthetic limbs, hearing aids, organs, and even skin for burn victims.

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Sterling Academy has offered the Hour of Code every December since 2014 to show students the ease of creativity through computer coding, and the number of participants has increased by 75 percent since 2016. The annual program has always been open to all Sterling students, grades 6 through 12.

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In the recently passed Hour of Code, participants learned how to block code to create a video game. Block code is a simplified version of coding where one would drag and drop code into a block to tell the computer instructions of how to do something.   Mr. Maddox guided students through the effortless procedure.