Looking for something casual | Hacker News Reader

Looking for something casual

1 pointozfive1 comment

Has anyone ever offered to teach other people how to write code in any language and ultimately never have them call you back? At this point it's a bit of a personal challenge to offer random people how to write software in any language that I know and actually get them to bite. I have offered everyone from homeless people to people I just met at the German pub this evening to teach them how computers work and ultimately how to instruct them to do their bidding. No one has taken up the opportunity. Are there other people out there that have offered this to the general public, and what are your results? I am really fascinated with the responses you have gotten and I can share some of the stories I have in return. To this day not a single person has sent me an email or called me on my personal number. I have been doing this since high school and have been in the business for almost 20 years.

Hey,

I've gotten involved with some projects that help people to learn how to code and this structure lends itself to a successful follow-through into the job market.

I've also tried to teach homeless people how to program but the gap in computer literacy is just too big. Basic interface training is needed before any further progress can be made.

It's difficult, but in my experience, people starting something new thrive with structure. A small percentage of people would progress regardless but these are outliers in my data.

I have come into similar stories in other fields, specifically music. Where a structured course works for most, those that explore on their own eventually run into a hurdle they can't solve on their own and here's where one-on-one or problem-specific interaction would benefit.

Knowing what I know now, I think a structured path serving as a guiding light is necessary with the availability of problem-specific or exploration-friendly interaction would make for the best offering for people to teach themselves how to do anything, let alone something as abstract and intangible as programming.

I hope that helps in some way :)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com