Coding For Newbie’s
More Simplistic Exposure To Coding For All
Introduction
Technological Advances have been changing drastically, and if you don’t keep up with, you’ll be left behind in this booming industry. Although it is not as simple as presented to be, I firsthand saw that becoming a successful software engineer is not an easy one. My dream is still in progress, but as I am learning, I have a significant interest in teaching others that haven’t been exposed to the world of code. Starting school was an eye-opener to me since I was too naive, thinking I can be on par with my colleagues who have had previous experience in code. This situation didn’t discourage me in any way; in my eyes, it was more motivation to keep striving towards my goal. I am only at the start and have already encountered some roadblocks, such as not being knowledgeable about my equipment or any software and not knowing the coding terms. This means I have to work harder to accomplish my end goal.
The Project!
I want to make some system that is free of charge, which helps these low-income people open a new door of opportunity to learn how to code on a more straightforward and cost-effective level. Since some websites require that you know how to operate and move around in your code, low-income people who don’t usually use a computer might still have difficulties to understand thoroughly, even with a website breakdown of the computer terminology. Some have memberships for exclusive perks, where they grant free services, but the deeper, more in-depth information is locked away since you don’t have a subscription for the service. There are many different ways to give out information, but most of the time, it comes at a cost.
Is It time for this project?
Sociological trend:
A sociological trend is what drove me forward with this idea. Covid-19 has impacted the way we view how jobs work around a situation similar to this. Most people want a job where they feel their position is secure. Most people can’t work from home, which leads to layoffs; as a software engineer, this isn’t as big of a problem since you can easily contribute, participate, and work with colleagues.
People who don’t have constant computer availability wouldn’t know how to navigate or read code properly, which can be a bit discouraging when learning to code. More benefits come from being a software engineer or going into this type of industry than for regular jobs in which low-income people work.
Technological Trend:
Technological trends are never-ending; the tech industry isn’t going to stop growing or developing. There will be people that have the required skills to a program to make these future powerful machines. With distance learning, everyone has a computer in front of them. Computers can be intimidating to beginners, but with help and guidance, they too can make a program they see on their screen.
Political Trend:
Political trends that inspired me were hearing the presidential. Candidates talked more about low-income students how they can do so much more in pursuing an education. This trend affected me since I came from a low-income school and seeing some of my friends being discouraged from pursuing higher education since of cost and the intimidation of feeling capable of doing so. Candidates are talking about how the community has to help these students and families since they will be the net generation of Americans that enter the workforce even so children and teens are struggling to get a good internet connection or seem to have trouble working with a computer.
Economical trend:
Economic trends in the world now are huge; they are having a noticeable impact on the market. Good and bad changes, for example, food and services, are being inflated due to COVID and the resources available. Tech prices seem to be coming down a bit, and luxury products need to make revenue during this time. Most people won’t buy a computer or expensive clothes when they require essential products like food, water, and sanitary supplies. There is an immense amount of unemployed American citizens, a record high to be exact. Fear might strike the young’s minds due to this fact, thinking they’ll need a job where their job is secure.
The Competitive landscape
The competitive landscape I want to enter is already highly populated. This population comes in varieties; for example, W3schools is a website that gives tutorials and exercise and examples of how to code. Another competitor would be Codecademy; it’s a website that walks you through your choosing programming language, but this comes at a cost. Memberships are what people stray away from since most people want to learn for free, and others might not have the money to pay for a fixed subscription. Learning preferences also come into consideration as some of these sites lack educational videos, which might help a percentage of users. Users also want to be immersed in their work through the feedback and seeing progress tracked. Codecademy excels at this, whereas w3schools doesn’t. What I think is a problem when starting to use these sites is that you seem to need background knowledge on how to navigate your computer and read code. These two examples might discourage absolute beginners, which creates a stigma that only intelligent people can program. When in reality and one can do it.
There are also coding camps where it is a boot camp where you go for a while and learn to program. The boot camps occasionally teach a bit of knowledge in every language, and juggling code languages is a difficult task in itself. My program or website will be free of cost, and you can focus on language at a time; and if you’re new to a computer will guide you to know your hardware. It’ll provide videos and further explanation of the vocabulary used on the programs. It’ll also contain a feedback and passing system where the user sees what they need to work on and improve on.
Interviewing for Insight
I conducted a few user interviews, I yet to get a full spectrum of people I want. I asked some opener question that doesn’t require many in-depth answers. These few answers I got gave me insight on how I want to approach this solution but now am I still uncertain of the end product. My questions consisted of :
- Are you currently enrolled in school?
- Have you had a coding class?
- Do you have an interest in a future career?
- What is your main hobby?
- What is the last “project” you created?
- Do you like to know how things work and function?
- What kind of apps or web browsers do you often use?
- What is your preferred learning preference?
I interviewed a few of my fellow peers during a zoom call and my little brother and parents. The answers I got were not really what I was looking for as my attended audience is k-12th graders, and people who little exposure to computers or the internet. Even so, I got some pretty insightful views.
Starting with my family members as my little brother was closest to my targeted user. When I asked him the questions above, I concluded that most kids like to do projects and get to code. He said his first coding experience was boring because all they did was lectures. There was no real hands-on experience for the kids, so he dropped out like his peers. It seems when you introduce someone to code, you grab their attention and show them that there are endless possibilities of working with code.
My parents were a good response, in my opinion, since they don’t know how to work with technology. They were interested in how all their applications and computers work and what they can do with them when i asked if they were ever introduced to coding or code. They responded with computers were too complicated, and only the educated could go into that kind of workforce.
When interviewing my peers, it was a bit too complicated since some of them have had previous experience, and some were starting to learn as I am. An exciting finding was that students relied more on videos and walkthroughs to get unstuck while coding rather than reading an explanation. There were starting problems every one of my interviewers ran into was the syntax with some languages. Then there was also stigma from the people around them saying they couldn’t do what my peers were doing — being able to access the hardware that you need to code. A stable internet connection was a problem since it caused setbacks and discouraged people from continuing their work.
I help low-income students achieve technological experience and coding skills through an application with various learning methods and doesn’t require any tech exposure. Even though my competitors offer more or less of the same knowledge, I will have the advantage. My application features and services will be free of charge. It will hold plenty of learning methods to fit user preferences. There is no need for the user to have background computer knowledge before you use it.
Example of user Journey
“I’m Victor Conda, and my older brother told me about the benefits of coding and technology. He referred me to his application, which had me sign up with an account to track my progress. Then, it made me choose my learning preference and then prompted me what experience I’ve had with technology before. After it gave me options to what programming language I want to learn. I can get feedback on my progress from a tad that says track progress, but I’ll use later when I start my coding journey.”
“My name is Kira Crawford; I’m an international immigrant that came to the united states to seek a better job. I have no tech or coding experience even, so I want to know and explore this profession. I found this app to learn to code and get familiar with tech while going through an app store. When I launched the app, I was prompted to sign up for progress checks. I was then asked for learning preferences and my experience before with tech. The screen is displayed to learn to program; We first familiarized me with my hardware and tools. Then only after we can start learning coding languages.”
These user journeys I made will help me guide me on how users will use my application and give me more ideas to improve on. It’ll make it easier to see the process the user will take on the application. It’ll also provide details and set expectations of the app to those wondering what the app is. All of this is crucial to the “rocket ship” idea I have in mind, but we should first start with the foundation.
Wire-frame
The wire-frame above really helped me develop further the user experience. It really help visualize how I want the sign up process to look like and how ill go about styling the page. Using hand drawn wire frames is cost effective and malleable. If you get an new idea you can simply easier it and add to the wire-frame. Using high resolution mock up are useful but changing its contents will be a harder to decide on and do so as well.
