I think the same can be said of any job. Do what you enjoy, and then see about turning that into a job.
Growing up I would walk 5 miles to use the library Apple II+ and Apple IIe computers they had. I was just drawn to what these things could do and the control you could have. I took a formal class in high school but it was a joke. I never considered it a vocation though. In college I declared I was going to study chemical engineering. After a couple run ins with some acid and a whole lot of "dishes" to clean, I took a step back to look at my options. My wife mentioned that I could get a degree in hardware or software and after looking at all the math you needed to do electrical engineering, I decided on a BS is Computer Science. Not the best way to go about it for sure, but I never thought of it as a job. Even now, I am amazed at what you can get computers to do and its great that most people don't have a clue how to get them to do anything. Lots of job security for the likes of us. One of my daughters likes the Lego Mindstorms. She got it to do stuff for a contest in the club she is with. Only after all of that did I tell her that she was programming. She realized that was what she was doing and thought it was very cool. Before hand, she would have vehemently avoided doing anything remotely related to what her dad did for a living. So keep it light, informal, fun, exploratory, and just challenging enough to keep them engaged. She now loves telling the devices what to do and when she outgrows Lego Mindstorms, I'll look around for the next thing up. She is an inventor and tinkerer at heart and just loves learning how things work. Next week, we are fixing our projection tv because the convergence chips went out. I think she is going to enjoy that a whole lot more than I will. On Sat, Oct 1, 2011 at 4:29 PM, Alexey Zinger <[email protected]> wrote: > Not having kids of my own, I have little to contribute, except remembering > what drew me into what eventually turned into an interest in programming. I > think around that age, I was most enthralled by games (checkers, puzzles), > fun brain twisters (Louis Carroll), doing challenging stuff with my hands > (working on my bicycle), etc. All of it relates to the same mindset that > programming requires (learning patience, persistence, curiosity, abstract > thinking). So I don't think it's necessary to sit a little kid in front of > a monitor right away to get there. Most of all, as others have said, have > fun! > > Alexey > > > ------------------------------ > *From:* JamesJ <[email protected]> > *To:* [email protected] > *Sent:* Friday, September 30, 2011 7:01 PM > > *Subject:* Re: [The Java Posse] Computing and kids > > With anything that dad enjoys and wants the kids to enjoy, I share > some advice from a golfer. He started with the objective to make it > fun. He said to start with some playing for short periods on the > lawn, or going to hit some balls on the driving range for a short > time, with minimal criticizing and afterwards took his kids for > ice-cream or some treat. > > The most important thing is to provide opportunities, but don't let > yourself or you kid get upset or stressed, ever. > > I have kids from 15 down to 8. I think that for serious programming, > 10 to 13 is still pretty early. They don't have much patience and > expect to be able to whip out some polished game in an afternoon that > would really take 20 man years. > > The science fair was a good chance to have some incentive to work on > programming and my oldest enjoyed that. > > I think whatever system you choose, you need to balance what it is > teaching, how much you have to do to see results, how much fun it is > to encourage continuing work. > > I have been blown away with the realization of how much you really > have to understand to be a decent programmer. It is a huge > curriculum. Take it in small chunks. > > At 4, I think the best idea is to just have fun with him. Play some > puzzle games together and lots of hands on open ended building like > leggos. (Save the mindstorms for later, or just get it for your > self.) > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "The Java Posse" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to javaposse+ > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en. > > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "The Java Posse" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en. > -- Robert Casto www.robertcasto.com www.sellerstoolbox.com -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Java Posse" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en.
