[aviv]

I don't understand what drives parents to want their kids to become code monkeys. I would rather my kids be financially savvy and have business skills. It sure doesn't hurt to know how to code, but getting them to program in Python from age 10 does not make them entrepreneurs or creators of business opportunities, it just makes them the labor workers of tomorrow.

[texuf]

That’s kind of like saying, “Teaching them to write just makes them the scribes and court officials of tomorrow,” or, “Teaching them to add and subtract makes them the bookkeepers and tax collectors of tomorrow.”

[aviv]

My issue is not with the act of programming, just as I don't have an issue with the act of writing something on a paper.

The issue is that the parents are doing this in order to set the kids up to a career in programming, which IMO is going to be the blue collar work of their future. There is no glory in being a code monkey 10 years from now... just a decently paid blue collar worker making someone else rich.

Teach them the business skills that will enable them to properly hire and evaluate 20 programmers for their business venture, not simply be one of those 20 programmers.

[TeMPOraL]

Different parents may have different reasons. I'm gonna be one soon, I will encourage my kid to learn how to code, and here's why:

- I want them to be confident in interacting with technology. To understand that none of this is magic, and that it can be bent to one's will given enough (usually not much) knowledge.

- I want them to learn that they can, and should, automate their tasks on the fly - whatever those tasks are. I want them to know it doesn't require (though can involve) buying ready-made single-purpose solutions, but a little bit of thinking and (sometimes) skills. This conceptual block is what I see in most of non-computer people around me.

- I want them to acquire the ultimate tool in learning and communication: trying to make a machine to do something. There's no better way to realize what you don't know than trying to model it as a computer program.[0][1]

I don't necessarily want them to be a programmer in the future[2]. I want them to find their own career, but I also want them to go through life confident in their ability to truly understand whatever they're curious about, and to shape the increasingly digital world around them.

--

[0] - I used to use this approach as a teenager to verify my understanding of physics. The act of trying to write a simulation quickly revealed which parts of the topic I only thought I knew.

[1] - Incidentally, that's the primary source of frustration in job - a lot (often most) of time is spent debugging and fixing lack of understanding of stakeholders. Most people aren't aware how imprecise (and in a way, wishful) their thinking is.

[2] - Honestly, I doubt that in 20 years, this will be a well-paid job, due to sheer scale of mass-manufacturing of "programmers" that universities are now engaged in. I expect the supply to exceed demand in 5-10 years.

[beachy]

Another dad told me the same thing about my middle son 15 years ago. He was guiding his own son to be a psychologist because he felt that off shoring was going to remove all of the IT jobs in the developed world.

As it turns out he was wrong, my son's enjoying a great career as a programmer, his son has left psychology and is doing some kind of creative arts) music/digital career.

I think ultimately no one really knows what the future will hold, but it seems that it can't be a bad thing having a strong familiarity with the modern day building blocks of business, i.e software.

But i totally agree about arming them with business skills as well, so they can step up to whatever the next step is.

[lojack]

My parents pushed me away from programming because they thought there was no future and I’d hate it. I didn’t listen and it turns out they were wrong on both counts. Now I can provide for my family, live comfortably, and I love the work I do.

[antoinevg]

My Dude… there are so many more roles programmers can play in the world than this little fantasy of yours where you get to be Mr Scrooge McDuck.

[yunyu]

Running a Minecraft server is the logical progression to writing Minecraft plugins. At least a few years back, it was fairly easy to monetize Minecraft servers by selling in-game perks and paying YouTubers for advertising. Once you reach a certain player count/level of cashflow, you end up having to hire and evaluate programmers/sysadmins to sustain the business.

This isn't a rare path - just look on sites like SpigotMC and you'll see literally thousands of developers turning to the business side of things. The business skills that your kids would gain from this would be 1000x more valuable than whatever you can teach.

[nugator]

Why do you think all those parents wants their kids to have a programming career? Do you think the same of parents putting their kids in musical instrument classes? Don't you think there will be any joy working with code in 10 years time?

[skybrian]

Looking down on being a "decently paid blue collar worker" is not something anyone decent is going to want to teach their kids.

[aviv]

I'm sorry I want more for my kids than them being a car mechanic. Nothing wrong if that ends up happening, but I'm not going to teach them to fix cars at 10 with the intention of them being a mechanic growing up.

[icebraining]

What is "more"?

[qwerty9876]

Running their own server and having to make unique custom plugins to compete with other servers for players is also more effective business training than anything a school has to offer.

[neuronexmachina]

Teaching someone to code is teaching them how to automate things, which is useful in many different careers. Being financially savvy is useful too, fortunately people can learn both.

[giancarlostoro]

> Being financially savvy is useful too, fortunately people can learn both.

Didn't understand why they imply that being a code monkey means you know nothing about anything else... Must not be a code monkey themselves. Working with programmers you see people of all backgrounds who have a wealth of knowledge in all sorts of topics, some even have financial backgrounds, others business and military, and so on.

[aviv]

I've been programming for 20 years... I've come across very few programmers who have decent business/financial skills over this time period.

[Waterluvian]

Name one domain that can't be enhanced by knowing how to code.

[aviv]

I have nothing against knowing how to code, but no 10 year old needs to be doing that, just going to make them even more used to a sedentary lifestyle and away from (real) social interaction.

[Waterluvian]

Agreed. Let's also shut down all the sedentary encouraging education that happens at 10. Math. Literacy. Science. Gym all the way!

[giancarlostoro]

You're better off targeting video games and social media, specifically the latter. Then again, kids don't even play video games, they watch someone else play video games.

[aviv]

Oh yeah, Twitch should be considered a health hazard for young impressionable kids. Wasting time and life away watching others play is something I just cannot comprehend.

[mgalgs]

Some of us think that programming is actually fun.

[always_good]

There's nothing you can do to guarantee they are successful.

What you can do is expose your kid to a lot of things and help them find something they're passionate about. Ideally something they can use to pay their bills too when their business fails. I don't see why some programming/tech exposure can't be one of those things.

I work fewer hours and have more lateral mobility than pretty much all my friends that make as much money as I do. Software engineering is a good field. Nobody is saying you have to force it down anyone's throat, and that's not what a Minecraft scripting API is doing.

What a great creative opportunity though for kids out there to dabble in programming due to a game they love. That doesn't preclude them from being financially savvy in the future. They're kids.