In the last few days, the world celebrated another computer science week; a statutory commemoratory series of events which held between December 8th-14th of the world to recognize the huge contribution that the knowledge of computer science and engineering has added to our world.
The event aimed to introduce 10 million students of all ages to computer science ideas and tools—and to let them try coding for one hour—while also demonstrating to parents, teachers, and policymakers how accessible coding can be.
Technology as we know it today has changed the way we live, the way we love and learn.
From the 1 Billionth view of the Gangnam Style video on Youtube to the 1.9 Billionth impression of the #bringbackourgirls hashtag on twitter, our world is experiencing huge technological and social Metamorphosis having the duo of its merits and demerits.
It might be healthy however to simply focus on the positive contributions and see how focus on this can magnify the benefits over the ills.
As we think about the how the social media has ushered in a new culture of learning, buying and even consuming products, and we remember the billions of dollars locked in information assets, we must rethink business as usual.
CNN had once said that “the future of TV is Twitter and TV is the future of Twitter”. Amazon, the Internet Market Giant has such a small office space compared to the gigantic plants of Toyota and Ford, yet the company made it to top 20 most valuable brands in the world ahead of both automobile firms.
What is special to learn about the founders of Google, the Creator of Facebook and the father of Microsoft is that they all started investing in the knowledge of technology at a really young age.
Reading Malcom Gladwell’s outliers, I realized that Bill Gate had been learning to code and coding for six (6) years before he got into Harvard.
Steve jobs interned with Bill Hewlett co-founder with David Packard of HP before Mark Zuckerberg (founder of FACEBOOK) built what has today become the third largest ‘Nation’ in the world after China and India, he began using computers and writing software in middle school.
His father taught him Atari BASIC Programming in the 1990s, and later hired software developer David Newman to tutor him privately.
Code.org an international organization in support with sponsors including Microsoft and Omidyar Network is leading a huge campaign that will ensure that millions of line of codes are written and promote the knowledge of programming and computer science education all over the world. The Initiative has been dubbed the “Hour of Code”.
Tons of events were held all over the world to celebrate the Computer Science week and get millions of Children and youth to start coding. During the computer Science week in Nigeria, Microsoft Nigeria partnered with Wifi-Combat academy (an organization that trains children how to code and build mobile applications), to host the hour of Code Lagos.
This is part of the organization’s commitment as software, devices and services leader to transform Nigeria’s economy and build future information technology entrepreneurs.
In the ‘tweets’ of Satyr Nadella, Microsoft’s CEO, “Coding is fun! Help us get 100M students to see how it can help them achieve great things”.
This is my own submission, If they start coding at 13, they could be Billionaires at thirty, or to be modest something close.
We can only live what the technology of the future will look like to our lofty imaginations. In every way, within our sphere of influence, we can and should inspire children and youth to maximize tools like their mobile phones to create technology.
We cannot just remain consumers, we can turn the table around and one way to do this is to take charge of the creating side.
Which software(s) will run the technology consumed by the 200Million people who will live in Nigeria by 2025?
Who will write the software(s)? These two questions must be answered, and better answered in our favor.
The future is about quantum information, Information at the snap of thought, the age of speed, 4-dimensional representations, cloud computing and ubiquitous computing.
If we put the children in charge of this, that’s how to secure the future.
Olusola Amusan is the Citizenship Manager at Microsoft Nigeria. He manages all non-Profit and youth engagements, an inspirational speaker and inspiration to the nearly 60,000 young people he has trained in the past 5 years.