Coding is a basic literacy in the digital age, and it is important for kids to understand and be able to work with and understand the technology around them. Having children learn coding at a young age prepares them for the future. Coding helps children with communication, creativity, math, writing, and confidence.
Simply put, coding is used for communicating with computers. People use coding to give computers and other machines instructions on what actions to perform. Further, we use coding to program the websites, apps, and other technologies we interact with every day.
Why Coding?
Burning Glass Technologies published a report in 2016, Beyond Point and Click: The Expanding Demand for Coding Skills, which included the key findings:Coding skills are in high demand
Seven million job openings in 2015 were in occupations that value coding. This corresponds to 20% of “career track” jobs, defined as those which pay a national living wage of at least $15 per hour.
Coding skills are not just for programmers
Coding skills are of value to candidates across five major job categories:
- Information Technology (IT) worker
- Data Analysts
- Artists and Designers
- Engineers
- Scientists
Coding jobs pay more
Jobs requiring coding skills pay $22,000 per year more than jobs that don’t: $84,000 vs $62,000 per year. (This analysis includes only “career track” jobs.)
Coding skills provide an avenue to high-income jobs
Half of jobs in the top income quartile (>$57,000 per year) are in occupations that commonly require coding skills from job applicants.
Coding jobs are growing faster than the job market
Programming jobs are growing fastest, 50% faster than the market overall. In general, programming jobs are growing 12% faster than the market average.
