

Ask HN: How would you inspire 18 year olds to learn to code? - aSig

I'm due to give an hour talk to a class of 16-18 year olds on computer programming. I work for a gaming company so I could easily just talk over some slides about what we do and how we work but I'd really like to do something that would inspire them to go on and create their own games/apps/whatever. We've access to computers and a projector during the session, it's also quite likely the majority will have smartphones.<p>What would you do with young people to get them psyched about programming?
======
arkitaip
So you only have 60 minutes to inspire young people to learn more about
programming and you want to do something game related? Why not teach them
something that achieves this but which they can also take home and continue
working on?

How about showing them one or various aspects of game development by using a
mod/map dev toolkit that's widespread and free (maybe even your own)? It's
fun, practical and gives a basic understanding of how games are actually made.
You could set up a site where you have shared all the resources (graphics,
sounds, tools, the presentation itself) needed to that the kids can create
their own game when the presentation is over (not the same game as you've
demo'd as that would be boring. A tutorial would be nice).

DO NOT talk about various languages, technical aspects of platforms, etc, as
none of this will inspire kids. Show them visions, dreams and what great stuff
they can build by mastering code.

Oh, if you're going to talk about yourself and your company, try to keep it
personal and give your audience a glimpse of how it's actually like to be a
game developer. This is the kind of story that people want to hear, not stuff
about your customers, financial figures, your organization, etc.

