Guys, Karlie Kloss is coding. But is it a life skill we’re all gonna need or is coding just the new black? We chat with glorious geek Joyce Huang to find out.
Guys, Karlie Kloss is coding. But is it a life skill we’re all gonna need or is coding just the new black? We chat with glorious geek Joyce Huang to find out.
Do you feel nostalgic for simpler times? You know, the “good old days” when nothing more was expected from young women than to pop out babies and smile. Neither do we. But coding? Seriously? If we’re reading the current vibe right, the 2016 woman needs expert skills in strobing, kale juicing and now coding.
Why? Well, 11.5% of tech leadership roles in Asia are occupied by women. Are we going to sit back and let the guys take 88.5% of those awesome jobs? No. Way. In a world that’s becoming increasingly digital, coding is too important to be left to half the population. Fortunately, research by Stack Overflow estimated that almost 40 percent of female coders had been learning for less than two years, which suggests the gap may be closing. Be a part of this revolution.
But first, we have a few questions, so we went straight to founder of SG Geek Girls, Joyce Huang, for help. “Coding is the closest thing to having a superpower in this world,” she says. Joyce, you have our attention.
But just what is coding?
“It’s how we tell a computer what to do. Your computer understands the actions you want it to perform through programming languages that help us to write code. Apps, Facebook and websites – they’re all made with code.”
Can’t I just get someone to do it?
“Knowing basic programming should be the new standard in schools, like how we were taught to make PowerPoint presentations. Celebs have tech teams to exploit new business opportunities, musicians learn programming for sound engineering, journalists use Python for data crunching, and marketers are automating marketing processors to do A/B testing. I even met a surgeon recently who’s building an app for surgical training.”
So everyone should code. But why is there so much focus on girls?
“Google ‘programmer’ and you still get a bunch of guys wearing glasses sitting around. This needs to change. For kids, ‘maker’ skills are still traditionally ‘male’. Many girls of our generation grew up thinking coding wasn’t for them until they dabble with it for their blog and realise it’s fun.”
OK, how hard is it to learn?
“It’s not easy, but it’s worth it. Like learning any new language, it takes practice and you’ll make mistakes. I’ve seen people spend days agonising over a single bug, or losing all their clients’ data because of a screw up in the code. Even the best programmers are learning every day, simply because the industry moves so quickly. There’s always a new language or tool to try out.”
What does the future look like?
“If you’re learning to code – your future looks bright.
There’s never been more demand for programmers. It’s an industry with enormous flexibility, possibility and creativity. It should be taught in all schools, but having an interest is important. We should fan interest, not force it.”
OK, I’m sold. So how do I get started?
“There are so many free resources and you can learn literally anything on YouTube! It’s amazing to see girls studying at colleges like SUTD (Singapore University of Design & Technology). The tech industry in Asia has many, many rewarding careers for girls here.”
