

Ask HN: I'm going to present technology jobs to 400 16yo,what should I tell them? - geekuillaume

Hello Everyone,
At the end of the month, I will make a 20 minutes presentation to ~400 french high-schoolers about technology jobs (vast domain but it&#x27;s more centered on computer science courses). I hope to catch the curiosity of as many as possible to investigate more about the misunderstood jobs in this domain.<p>I&#x27;m a web developer, so my first insight was to present them code and the creativity involved in it. I also want to tell them about entrepreneurship in the technologic domain.<p>If you were to give this presentation, what would you tell and show them?
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wallflower
First, congratulations!

I would demystify the process of creation. Show them your wireframes, your
pencil sketches, talk about the business v. creative push and pull. Make it
interactive - break them into groups of 2-3 each for 5 min and show them
Notch's time-lapse in the background on projector while you have them work on
exercises in ideation - what would their game be? what would the levels,
characters, and challenges be. They don't have to present - just get them
comfortable with the first step of creation - putting it on 'scratch' paper.

If you have time, deconstruct Flappy Bird. The scrolling left to right
background v. making the bird move. How the object detection is greatly
simplified when you have only one coordinate to detect (y-bird and
y-pipeTop/y-pipeBottom). How adding gravity to the bird (downward velocity)
allows you to fly the bird.

"Making Metagun" by Notch [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV-
AFnCkRLY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV-AFnCkRLY)

"Creating Prelude of the Chambered" by Notch
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcfFJ6pNEZk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcfFJ6pNEZk)

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helen842000
You could center the presentation around the phrase Métro, boulot, dodo. Tell
them their job isn't meant to be a daily grind.

Offer a new version of the phrase, that includes fun, creativity, personality,
reward (both payment & job satisfaction) - a lifestyle that is interesting.

I would go along a spectrum of jobs showing examples.

In high school I thought tech was either fixing computers, building games or
websites. I never thought about it being a skill I could use for myself
outside of work. There are also a lot of jobs that don't require code (that
can seem intimidating) that still require a problem solving mindset. From
front end design/dev to writing scripts to automate tasks try to cover a
range.

Give them the vocabulary to go and investigate jobs they didn't know were out
there before.

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davismwfl
My suggestion is not to show them code at all, to me the code is just the
language we learn to solve problems. Like learning to speak another language,
it doesn't change your message, just how you deliver it.

So instead I would present them with a few unique problems that Computer
Science helps solve. Whether it is a web site problem, an Arduino or Rasberry
Pi based small robot or something large that will catch their attention.

I think showing them how solving problems not only involves critical thinking
but also creativity, a no-barriers thought process (e.g. no preconceived ideas
on solving an issue), and how you can really impact the world with it. At
least in my opinion and experience, kids like to be inspired and don't think
in the terms of boundaries so showing them how Computer Science really lets us
do that could leave a great impression.

I'd also take a number of slides and have a picture on each one of different
things that Computer Science helps solve, e.g. Manufacturing Automation,
Welding, Cars, Space travel, websites, communications etc. Make sure at least
2-3 are things they would have never understood were backed by programming, I
think that impacts people.

I don't know how french high-schoolers may differ from the US, but my bet is
they share most qualities. My son was inspired very much in this way when he
was in middle school, and he jumped at the chance to join a technical program
for high school.

Good luck and have fun, that is an awesome opportunity to help shape kids view
of the world.

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whichdan
Something that might be relatable: show a few screenshots of Angry Birds, and
talk about the different roles that went in to making it, such as UI
programmers, physics programmers, project managers, designers, etc. That also
gives you a great starting point for showing how "a programmer with a physics
background" can build anything from games to spaceship software. You could
also use Angry Birds as an example of entrepreneurship, both in the sense of
"what would a minimum viable Angry Birds be?" and how it took several less
popular game launches to get to that point.

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davidy123
Please do mention open source, the practical and idealistic aspects of it.
It's fairly unusual in the world today and resonates with many non technical
people.

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perryg
It's one of the only careers where you can make a good wage without selling
your soul these days.

