There are many places you might expect to see a coding training camp pop up. Chances are, a nightclub wasn’t the first place that came to mind. That is, however, exactly the case in Louisville. The Courier-Journal reports on this in a recent article titled “Coding-training site opens in former nightclub.”

Sheldon S. Shafer of the Courier-Journal writes, “An affiliate of the University of Louisville Foundation has transformed a former downtown nightclub, Icebreakers, into a hub for coding instruction, a field rife with many high-paying jobs. The Kentucky Innovation Center is overseen by Nucleus, a product of the UofL Foundation. Nucleus has developed the job-training site at 252 E. Market St. The building at Market and Floyd streets is near the UofL Foundation’s J.D. Nichols Campus for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, where a large new office building has filled up and a parking garage is under construction… The building’s classroom space is being called the Trinity Video Communications Center to recognize the Louisville company that donated the audio-visual equipment and engineering to make the system run on a wireless network. The new coding effort at the site was announced at a news conference Wednesday morning attended by Mayor Greg Fischer, Nucleus CEO Vickie Yates Brown and UofL officials. Fischer noted that by 2020, there will be 1 million more computer programming jobs in the U.S. than workers to fill them, and more than 10,000 of those jobs are expected to be available in the Louisville area. ‘Code Louisville is helping to quickly fill that need,’ Fischer said. ‘By taking coding classes in this updated space, local workers are gaining access to good-paying tech jobs.’”

On the west coast, we are just as aware of the need for coding education to prepare youth for the future of the workforce. At CodeRev Kids, we take a customized approach to your child’s education. Our lessons emphasize Computational Thinking. This is a concept that encompasses a wide range of programming concepts and languages. These lessons build upon one another and we adjust starting points to each student’s level of expertise. As a result, the entire curriculum is customized. In addition to being the most educational tech camp out there, we also keep the focus on having fun. This keeps students engaged while helping them to learn to blend creativity with technology.

If you’re looking for a quality coding education experience for your child, your best bet is CodeRev Kids!

The latest effort to engage young girls in coding comes in the form of a bracelet. Quartz reports on this in a recent article titled “This hi-tech friendship bracelet wants to get girls coding.”

Alice Truong of Quartz writes, “Jewelbots, a New York City-based startup, is hoping its programmable bracelet will spark an interest in science and technology for little girls. The company launched a Kickstarter project yesterday to cover the cost of manufacturing, easily blowing past its $30,000 goal, and it plans to ship its first batch of bracelets in March 2016. Jewelbots is the brainchild of Sara Chipps, cofounder of the nonprofit group Girl Develop It, and Brooke Moreland, who previously founded a fashion photo-sharing app called Fashism. The two wanted to create a wearable that little girls would want to tinker with. ‘We didn’t want a teaching tool,’ Moreland tells Quartz. ‘We wanted them to be inspired by natural curiosity—something they think is fun.’ The bracelet was designed to be very basic. There is no screen, but its charm has a motor and four LEDs that can be programmed to change colors based on different triggers. For example, it can match the color of the bracelet of a girl’s best friend when she is nearby. A button on Jewelbots also allows wearers to buzz their friends. (Since many classrooms bar smartphone usage, the bracelets use a mesh Bluetooth network that allows for bracelet-to-bracelet communication without a phone.)… It’s estimated that only 20% of computer programmers are women. Though tech companies have become more transparent about the diversity of their workforce, they are still slow to hire women (and minorities) in technical roles. At Apple, 20% of its tech workers (as opposed to marketing or business development) are women. At Yahoo, Google, and Facebook, the numbers vary from 15% to 18%.”

At CodeRev Kids, we’re encouraged when we see innovative efforts to engage underrepresented groups in coding education. That is why we take a customized approach to your child’s curriculum.

We emphasize Computational Thinking, which encompasses a wide range of programming concepts and languages. Our lessons build upon one another and we adjust starting points to each student’s level of expertise. At CodeRev Kids, we are known for saying we are the most educational tech camp out there, but we also keep the focus on having fun. Our students stay engaged while learning to blend creativity with technology. For more information, check out our different after school Tracks of STEM and coding camps!

For many, youth coding education provides promise for job opportunities in the future. However, in the case of some Louisville teens, they are making those opportunities happen now. Urban Maxx puts a spotlight on these teens in a recent article titled “7 LOUISVILLE TEENAGERS CREATE A TECH COMPANY; BUILDING WEBSITES.”

According to Brad Harrison of Urban Maxx, “In an attempt to stay ahead of the technology curve, a collaboration between the Metro Louisville Department of Economic Growth and Innovation, Greater Louisville Inc, EnterpriseCorp, the Louisville Free Public Library, KentuckianaWorks and local employers was established to create the technology growth program known as Code Louisville. The program consists of a series of twelve-week sessions which uses the Treehouse coding program to train future software developers. According to the Code Louisville website, between 2010 and 2020, Louisville is projected to have a net increase of nearly 2000 new programmer and software developer jobs. In 2015, Code Louisville decided to expand its training program to include high school students from Louisville’s predominately black Russell Neighborhood, so it created a pilot program called Code Louisville After School. Classes for the the program would be held at the city owned learning center in the Russell Neighborhood known as The Beech… The program taught the students how to code using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Once they mastered the techniques, they designed the website for Coding at the Beech(atthebeech.com) and were then able to create their own website development company called Beech Technologies (Beechtech.org). Their newly founded company creates custom websites complete with a personalized internet domain, tech support, social media presence, software updates and frequent analysis reports to track the success of the client’s web presence. The websites are currently being offered at a discounted rate of $99 per month. Comparable services with their competitors generally range around $250 per month.”

At CodeRev Kids, we believe in empowering youth to start their own coding enterprises or fill the huge need for coding positions currently available in the workforce.

Our program emphasizes computational thinking, which encompasses a wide range of programming concepts and languages. CodeRev Kids’ lessons build upon one another and we adjust starting points to each student’s level of expertise. In other words, our entire curriculum is customized.

Also, while we are known for saying we are the most educational tech camp out there, we also keep the focus on having fun. This way, students stay engaged while learning to blend creativity with technology.

If you want to empower your child with a quality coding education, your best bet is CodeRev Kids!

Often, when we talk about the need for more coding education, it’s a discussion about the amount of coding jobs that the US will need to fill in the future. However, we usually don’t get into the nitty gritty of particular jobs. One area where producing more talented young coders is imperative is in the field of web security. The Financial Times explores this in a recent article titled “Tech experts in fight for web security.”

Richard Waters of the Financial Times writes, “Prominent technology experts have warned that US and UK government demands for greater powers to crack encrypted private data could weaken internet security and hamper online freedoms. Prominent technology experts have warned that US and UK government demands for greater powers to crack encrypted private data could weaken internet security and hamper online freedoms. It highlights a rift that has opened up between government agencies and the tech industry since the Snowden revelations about widespread internet surveillance in the US and UK. Many tech and internet companies have reacted by encrypting more of their users’ data, prompting the US and UK to call for the technical powers to crack the encryption codes when needed. UK prime minister David Cameron last week renewed his warning of legal action to prevent the use of encrypted mobile messaging apps. In the US, FBI director James Comey is expected to renew his warnings about the spread of “strong” encryption systems before a Senate hearing on Wednesday.”

In order to prepare future government workers to battle threats to web security, it needs to start at a young age. When it comes to youth coding education, your best bet is CodeRev Kids.

At CodeRev Kids, we emphasize computational thinking, which encompasses a wide range of programming concepts and languages. Our lessons build upon one another, and we adjust starting points to each student’s level of expertise. Thus, the entire curriculum is customized.

We are known for saying we are the most educational tech camp out there, but we also keep the focus on having fun. As a result, students stay engaged while learning to blend creativity with technology. We offer a variety of program tracks, including robotics, game development, app making, and computer animation. Browse our afterschool programs and summer camps to see what will be best for your child.

Whatever youth coding education needs you might have, we’ve got you covered at CodeRev Kids!

Many video game enthusiasts are familiar with Twitch.tv. The site allows you to watch others play video games, have others watch you, chat, and more. According to Tech Crunch, there is now a Twitch specifically for coders. Tech Crunch delves into this story in a recent article titled “YC-Backed Livecoding.tv Is Twitch.tv For Coding.”

According to Christine Magee of Tech Crunch, “Livecoding.tv, a startup in Y Combinator’s current class, is launching today to help coders learn from their peers in real time. The way Livecoding works is pretty simple. Developers stream live video of themselves coding, and users watching can ask questions or give feedback. Since launching a beta in February, Livecoding has seen 40,000 people sign up across 162 countries. Users have streamed in a variety of spoken languages, including Portuguese, Russian, and German, as well as coding languages, including C#, Python, and PHP. Anyone who wants to stream about coding can do so, from expert coders to 11-year-old kids building their first Java game. Similar to Periscope or Meerkat, you can follow individual users and receive notifications when they start a new live stream. For professional coders, Livecoding can be a great place to source beta users or get feedback on a new app. Well-known programmer and physicist Stephen Wolfram, for instance, promoted his new programming language on Livecoding last week with a demonstration that drew more than 4,000 viewers.”

Livecoding certainly provides the opportunity for people throughout the world to engage with one another while improving their coding skills. However, there is no substitution for the classroom when it comes to coding education.

At CodeRev Kids, we put a special focus on computational thinking, which encompasses a wide range of programming concepts and languages. These lessons build upon one another, and we adjust starting points to each student’s level of expertise. Thus, the entire curriculum is customized. Since we utilize an individualized approach, after school coding and tech camps begin when your student arrives and end when your student leaves.

We consider ourselves the most educational tech camp out there, but we also keep the focus on having fun. As a result, students stay engaged while learning to blend creativity with technology.

Lastly, at CodeRev Kids, we offer a variety of tracks, allowing our students to explore a number of areas including programming, robotics, game development, and computer animation.

If you want to give your child a leg up in the coding world, your best bet is CodeRev Kids!

It’s nothing new for a presidential candidate to get creative when going after the youth vote. Republican candidate Rand Paul is looking specifically at the young tech community, as evidenced by a recent coding event he sponsored. Re/code covered the event in a recent article titled “Coding for Liberty: On the Ground at Rand Paul’s Presidential Hackathon.”

Re/code’s Noah Kulwin writes, “It should be said up front that Rand Paul hates net neutrality. He has taken a position of deafening silence on same-sex marriage and so-called ‘religious freedom’ laws, and he believes that the Uber-endorsed Affordable Care Act will send America into economic ruin. These are not views shared by most of Silicon Valley, whose most prominent figures gravitate toward elite Democratic circles. Paul, the junior Republican senator from Kentucky, is also perhaps Congress’s best-known advocate against bulk NSA surveillance. You might remember his 11-hour filibuster last month in protest of the Patriot Act, or his condemnation of the prison system as ‘the new Jim Crow.’ He has also introduced criminal justice reform legislation with New Jersey Democrat Cory Booker, and he is attached to a pro-medical marijuana bill. He likes to talk up his libertarian-leaning brand of conservatism, an earthier version of the traditional ‘less government is better government’ Republican line. These innovation-friendly, anti-establishment politics, so the thinking goes, play well in Silicon Valley. Virtually everyone at #HackForRand brings up privacy rights and the NSA within ten seconds of explaining why they’re here, and the goal of the hackathon — a 24-hour marathon competition of programming judged by a three-person panel — is to work on building an app that advances ‘liberty and privacy.’ The ‘liberty and privacy’ directive comes from Ron Schnell, the CTO of Rand Paul’s campaign, whose job it is to build a tech-soaked Republican political machine that even Silicon Valley can get behind.”

Politics aside, it is always encouraging to see people using their influence to not just promote coding, but to get youth involved through innovative means.

At CodeRev Kids, we also believe in using an innovative approach to engage youth with coding. Our after school programs are customized to fit the specific needs of your child. Our personalized programs emphasize computational thinking, which encompasses a wide range of programming concepts and languages. Our lessons build upon one another, and we adjust starting points to each student’s level of expertise.

We are known for saying we are the most educational tech camp out there, but we also keep the focus on having fun. By doing this, students stay engaged while learning to blend creativity with technology.

Check out our after school programs and coding camps today!

There’s no question that coding is here to stay. Careers in this interesting field are growing at an impressive pace, and there’s no sign they’re slowing down. Getting kids involved early is a great way to prepare them for a lucrative and satisfying future. Are you wondering if it’s a good fit for your kid? Check out these 5 signs that your kid may be perfect for this field.

1. They’re natural problem solvers

Not every kid proactively looks for ways to solve problems. If your kid actually enjoys the challenge of finding solutions, then that’s an excellent sign they may be a great candidate for software development. Bonus points if they take realistic constraints into consideration, like budgets and timeframes.

2. They love strategy games

Gaming really can be good for your kids – especially if it’s strategy games they love. These games help them increase their decision-making abilities, and force them to consider both short-term and long-term consequences. Whether computer games or board games like chess or Risk, if they like strategy, they might like coding.

3. They’re musically inclined

Music and coding? You may think it doesn’t seem like a good mix, but evidence shows that there is a correlation between music and math. Just ask a group of coders! You’ll find many of them sing, compose music, or play an instrument.

4. They like being around people

Of course there’s a stereotype that IT people are hidden away, working alone. The reality is that developers work with many others in business. They should have a hankering for communicating and the ability to explain difficult things in simple ways.

5. They love the latest technology

What kid doesn’t these days, you may ask. But the truth is that some kids are happy with whatever technology you put in front of them, while others are always seeking out the newest technologies. If your kid is always curious about what’s coming next in the technological world, then they may be a great candidate for a CodREV summer camp.

We all know that there’s an incredibly rich future in coding, but one thing that’s interesting about this trend is the gender difference. While historically there have been more men than women in tech roles, we’re seeing more and more women get the opportunities they need to get started in these lucrative fields. In Seattle, something really interesting is going on.

In the article This Seattle School Teaches Women to Code for Free you can learn about one city’s efforts to make a real difference. Not only do these women, most of whom are in their 20s or 30s, get free tuition for a coding program – they also get a stipend! This enables more women to truly put their focus on the future.

The program is a full year long, with the first seven months focusing on coding classes and workshops where they learn the ins and outs from tech pros, followed by five months of internship. This combination gives them the chance to not just learn the information they need, but to gain hands-on experience – which looks great on a resume!

As one of the students says, “The speed that we cover the material is really intense, and just being able to wrap your mind around it in the first place, as well as being able to then take that into the workplace is just intense.”

The program takes women from a wide range of backgrounds. The program director, Cynthia Tee, understands that many students didn’t go the technical path in college. She says they have women from retail positions, women who’ve worked in coffee shops, flight attendants, biologists, bakers – you name it!

According to computer science professor Ed Lazowska, who works at the University of Washington, almost 85% of programming jobs are currently held by men. He states that this is a problem for many reasons, including the fact that computer programming is a creative field. Any time you have creative people in a situation where one large group of people aren’t represented, you’re not getting the best results you can.

Of course you don’t have to wait until your kid has graduated from college to get them involved! CodREV offers incredible after-school coding programs that teach the basics to curious, interested, motivated kids. Get your daughter off to the right start and encourage her technological curiosity.