By Cameron Crane
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| Image credit: kidsorangetech.com |
When we look ten years in to the future, there is only one
thing that seems to be a certainty: the technological world, as we know it,
will cease to exist. Today’s newest ideas will be a thing of the past, and many
of us understand that our lives will be a constant relearning process, as we
continue to adapt and adopt.
Yesterday we welcomed Aarti Parikh, Co-Founder of our
digital partner KiteReaders, as she told us all about women in technology.
Today, we are excited to have her back to discuss the future of tech, and the
hands it will most likely fall in to.
What or who do you
see as the tech developers of the future?
I think understanding technology and basic coding will be as
essential as reading and writing. Kids that master that will have a definite
advantage. I see the tech developer of the future as more of a polymath.
Programming may be one of their many skills, which they leverage to solve business
problems, scientific problems, create content and media to teach, or start
social revolutions.
How have you passed
your experiences on to your daughters? When did you decide to teach them to
code?
It started with my children testing the book apps I was
making. They would not only test the apps but recommend features they wanted me
to add. The apps had interactivity, music, and coloring pages. I remember my
daughter's suggestion to add stickers into the coloring pages of the app I had
made. The creative aspect roused their interest and they wanted to learn.
I started my daughter when she entered fourth grade, introducing
her to building a website and writing simple HTML and CSS. After a while she
wanted to code something more interactive, at which point we worked together on
some JavaScript and ruby modules in Khan Academy and Code Academy. We are also
reading the book Learn to Program by Chris Pine.
The best part is the discussions I have with them and the
fun questions that they ask. We talk a lot about what code means, what a
computer language is and how it relates to Math and English. Their questions
usually drive the conversations. Why is code written in English? How do you
build animations? How can I check if my math homework is correct? Why doesn't
Siri understand Grandma?
Do you recommend
getting children involved with coding early?
I am not an education expert, but I think it would be
interesting for kids to code starting in 4th or 5th grade and in teams.
However, I do believe that it has to be teacher assisted for they do need a
guide in case they get stuck. Coding is hard. You want to build on their
confidence so that they feel challenged but not frustrated or overwhelmed.
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About Aarti Parikh
Aarti
took to computers while she was in high-school. Since then, she has enjoyed
programming in various languages. As a software engineer, Aarti has contributed
to several products in the last ten years that have had a positive impact
in the world. At KiteReaders, she not only designs the products and writes the
code behind them, but she also works with literature, which she has loved since
her childhood. Her prior experiences includes the design and development
of the advertising platform at Yahoo!, developing enterprise pharmacy software
at Tech-Rx (now McKesson Provider Technologies), and more.







