I was thirteen when I first got access to a computer
My parents bought me a Macintosh in 1984 when I was 8 years old.
I was in sixth grade
I learned to code in college
Freshman year, first semester of intro to computer science
I wrote a program to play tic-tac-toe
I think it was pretty humble beginnings. I think the first program I wrote asks you what is your
favorite color, or how old are you.
I first learned how to make a green circle then a red square appear on the screen.
The first time I actually had something come up and say "Hello World".
And I made the computer do that, it was astonishing.
Learning to program didn't start off as wanting to lear all of computer science or
trying to master this discipline or anything like that.
It just started off because I wanted to do this one simple thing.
I wanted to make something that was fun for myself and my sisters.
I wrote this little program then basically added a little bit to it. And then when I
needed to learn something new I looked it up. Either in a book or in the internet.
It's really not unlike kind of playing an instrument or something or playing a sport.
It starts out as being very intimidating but you kind of get the hang of it over time.
Coding is something that can be learned and I know it can be intimidating and a lot of things
are intimidating but you know, what isn't?
A lot of the code that people do is actually fairly simple. It's more about the process of breaking
down problems then coming up with complicated algorythims as people traditionally think about it.
You don't have to be a genius to learn how to code, you need to be determined.
Addition, subtraction. That's about it.
You should probably know your multiplication tables.
You don't have to be a genius to code. Do you have to be a genius to read?
Even if you want to become a race car driver, or you want to play baseball or you know, build a house
all of these things have been turned upside down by software.
What it is, you know, is computers are everywhere. You want to work in agriculture? You want to work
in entertainment ? Do you want to work in manufacturing? It's just all over
Here we are 2013 all depends on technology. To communicate. To bank. Information.
And none of us know how to read and write code.
When I was in school I was in this after school group called "The Wiz Kids". And when
people found out the laughed at me, you know, these things.
And I'm like: man, I don't care. I think it's cool and I'm learning a lot and some of my friends have jobs.
Our policy is literally to hire as many talented engineers as we can find.
The whole limit in the system is just that there aren't enough people who are trained and have
the skills today.
To get the very best people we try to make the office as awesome as possible.
We have a fantastic chef
Free food
Breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Free laundry
Snacks
Even places to play and video games and scooters.
There's all this kind of interesting things around the office, places where people can play or relax or go think
or play music or be creative.
Whether you're trying to make a lot of money or just change the world , computer programming
is an incredibly empowering skill to learn
I think if someone has told me that software is really about humanity, it's really about helping people
by using computer technology it would have changed my outlook a loot earlier.
To be able to actually come up with an idea and then see it your hands and be able to press a button and
it be in millions of people's hands. I mean, I think we're the first generation in the world to have that kind of experience.
Just that. Think that you can start something in your college dorm room and you can
have a set of people that haven't built a big company before come together and build something that
a billion people use as part of their daily lives is just crazy if you think about it.
It's humbling and it's amazing.
The programmers of tomorrow are the wizards of the future, you know, you're gonna look like you have magic powers
compared to everybody else.
It's amazing I think it's the closest thing we have to a super power.
Great coders are today's rock starts. That's it.