Why should high school students learn to code?
Since computer programming languages are languages, the best way to learn how to become fluent in them is to start early and to keep practicing over and over. This makes high school an excellent time to start practicing introductory languages like Python, Java, or even HTML/CSS. Learning a coding language in high school also gives you plenty of time to develop your skills in different directions since coding is versatile and utilized in so many different industries. For example, learning to code might give you a chance to test out your game design skills and see whether or not that kind of coding is right for you. If you find that it isn’t, you can still take those skills to web development, software engineering, web design, or even UX design jobs. Even graphic designers, business professionals, and creatives can benefit from understanding the technology and systems that underscore the systems they work with. This is becoming even more true as AI and AI assistant applications become more and more common across a host of industries.
In particular, NYC is a hotbed for tech development projects, start-up firms working with computer programming, and various high-tech (and high-earning) jobs. The most obvious place to consider is the financial sector, given that NYC is home to some of the largest firms and exchange markets in the world. These firms are always on the lookout for professionals who understand the basic tools related to financial technology. If you learn Python and data science, for example, you’ll be able to work with the data collection tools that investors use to track market trends and make informed decisions based on the data that they are receiving. Likewise, tech firm start-ups are always on the lookout for top-tier talent who can use these tools to help them make smarter choices as they get their projects off the ground. Getting in on the ground floor and starting your tech training early is a great way to build long-term success.
NYC is also one of the commerce capitals of the world, and this means that companies need dedicated computer programmers for everything from retail data collection, streamlining the sales and acquisition process, and designing website and application user interfaces to help make the products easier to use and purchase. At this point, almost every major company has one or more mobile apps designed to help facilitate direct contact with customers, and they are frequently updating and refining these applications to better suit their market needs. This is also the case for media companies, many of whom are strongly pivoting to digital content as a way of reaching a wider audience. Many NYC media companies, ranging from Viacom and NBC Universal to Marvel Comics, are frequently employing developers who can make their platforms easier to use, more accessible, and full of useful features that consumers want in their media products. This means that learning to code as a high school student can help you break into creative industries as well.
What kinds of coding will you learn in one of these courses?
While it will vary from course to course, when you are looking at coding classes for high school students, you are likely to find that most classes teach beginner-friendly programming languages that are multi-functional and tend to appear on either AP high school computer science exams or introductory-level college syllabi. This means that you are more likely to be working with introductory coding theory rather than building directly focused coding skills, which is to say that the skills you learn will be applicable across a range of different contexts, rather than, say, learning how to write code for financial management software. Instead, you are likely to learn skills like reading code, debugging programs, and working with multiple different syntaxes.
Some of the most common programming languages to learn in high school are Python, Java, and JavaScript. Python is a multipurpose programming language with a wide range of accessible and easy-to-use libraries that is frequently cited as one of the best first languages to learn (and frequently one of the most commonly used programming languages in the world). JavaScript is an incredibly robust language that is perfect for anyone looking to work on web design or web development projects (or eventually train to become a software engineer) and it is also frequently recommended for novice programmers. Java is a language with fewer immediate practical uses but is a perfect language for new users wanting to understand the basics of working with conditional and logic-driven algorithms. While not technically a programming language, you may also find yourself learning HTML/CSS as the backbone of web design projects, and while you’ll need to learn more associated skills in order to start your work as a programmer, these two frameworks are still worth learning.
Finally, while not a coding language, part of any high school coding course will be learning to think like a programmer and several important near-universal skills. For example, no matter what language you are using, computers are extremely literal in how they read code, so you’ll need to master the art of thinking in that same literal sense if you want to succeed as a programmer. You will also need to approach all of your problems through the lens of what computer code can do and what its limitations are. In addition to this aspect of the process, you’ll need to understand how to interpret, read, analyze, and debug code regardless of what language you focus on.
How much do coding classes for high school students cost?
High school coding classes tend to be priced comparably to other forms of short, non-college-credit summer school programs. This means that you are looking at classes that run for several hundred dollars and usually last between one and two full weeks. Given that these are largely introductory courses, you can generally assume that they are going to be significantly less expensive than other professional development courses for aspiring coding professionals, but they are also not intended for the same purpose, meaning that you can assume that students who complete the courses will still be in need of additional training after the class ends.
Generally speaking, there aren’t any major costs to learning how to code outside of the cost of tuition in these courses. Programming languages like Java and Python are open-source, so you aren’t paying for them, and most professional code editing applications are free. If you are learning in-person, you will have all of the essential tech provided for you, but you will have to consider the costs of a commute (in terms of both time and money). Learning online will spare you the cost of a commute, but you are going to be responsible for handling the tech set-up and ensuring that everything is in working order.
How hard are high school-level coding classes?
High school coding classes tend to be aimed at novice programmers looking to learn their first “hello world” script, making them very accessible for students with minimal (or even no) prior practice with computer programming. These lessons are some of the more challenging ones for first-time programmers, but they are also lessons that every successful programmer needs to learn, so while the immediate learning curve might seem steep, that is largely a product of programming being, quite literally, a foreign language that one needs to learn. These classes serve as a solid introduction to the world of coding, and they will help students feel more comfortable with the difficult challenges that they will face as their code becomes increasingly complex.
How long does it take for high school students to learn to code?
Since these are classes for high school students, it goes without saying that you aren’t going to leave the class a professional programmer ready to get a job the moment they finish the two-week program. Learning coding skills takes a lot of time and practice, as well as continued study as new coding languages evolve and develop. High school coding classes are meant to provide students with the fundamental skills that they need to build a baseline that can be developed in the future. Students enrolled in one of these classes will be building the skills that they need to pass AP exams, enroll in higher-level college courses, or complete competency exams to meet degree requirements.
