"You will either love coding or hate it"

Sometimes it's easy to let someone's words or opinions plant a seed in your mind. Consider what would happen if you told a young person who expressed an interest in coding: "You will either love coding or hate it." While you may hope they would fall on the "love" side of coding, saying this also gives them permission to just as easily hate it, maybe even giving up before they gave it a real chance. Just a simple phrase like this can have such an effect on how one thinks about coding as it becomes easy to identify as either loving it or hating it. For most people, learning to code is not easy, and within just a few minutes, the urge to give up is quite strong. If the person new to coding has been told already "you'll either love it or hate it," the first challenge might give them enough reason to decide they hate it, and give them an easy way to quit.

That person may end up thinking, "Well, I suppose I'm someone who hates coding!" But, this actually couldn't be further from the truth. The new learner might identify as someone who hates coding because they don't understand it.

Anytime we try to learn something new, we face challenges. And sometimes, those challenges make us want to give up. We may have initially loved the idea of cooking, but decide we hate it after the first burned dinner. Especially if you happen to be prone to negative self-talk, when learning a new task, it's sometimes easier to give up than work through the challenges and realize the joy in a new skill set.

I have worked with thousands of students who have aspired to learn how to code. I've noticed something: the only students who haven't enjoyed coding are the ones who don't understand it. I would often hear, "I don't like coding" and "it's boring!" This line of thinking could easily become "I hate coding" if they'd already been primed to think in terms of loving or hating code.

These students don't like it at first because they don't understand it. However, what I've also noticed is that students who put forth some effort into learning coding and overcoming the challenges associated with it along the way always change their comments to, "I actually really enjoy coding!" and "what can I learn about coding next?"

Be careful of allowing a simple phrase to alter your, or your child's, mindset as it relates to coding.

Persistence is the key to learning coding and the reward of learning it is so worth all the effort!

Interested in helping your child learn coding basics? Check out our beginning level classes here!

I want to be a programmer

Cool techie dude with great hair doing some programming.

Of course you do! Programming is incredibly empowering, rewarding, and fun; however, it’s also incredibly difficult to learn. Programming involves writing code that computers or other devices can use to accomplish tasks. But here’s the thing, there are many different ways of writing this code and many different methods we can use. Which is the correct way to write code? When we are first starting out, it doesn’t matter! Refining code and learning why certain methods work better than others will come in time and gained through experience. Just focus initially on getting some code to do something.

Continue reading...


Enroll now for the fall

Points listing the exciting benefits of MYTEK Lab

Register today for Summer and Fall courses. We can not wait to have you join us!

Continue reading...


Why Technology Education is So Important

Hands reaching in the air for MYTEK Lab

Something we are often asked regarding our technology education is, do we offer programming or robotics lessons at MYTEK LAB? It’s as if, as an industry and especially as it relates to children’s education, we’ve been conditioned to think of technology as either relating to programming or robotics.

Continue reading...


Quality Technology Education

A description of the topics you can learn at MYTEK Lab

As parents ourselves, we know the importance of effective and enjoyable education. We fully believe that virtual classes should be no different.

Continue reading...


Summer Session registration is open!

In this exciting Summer virtual course, learners will explore low-poly 3D Modeling to create some fun and lively characters. Learners will work with texturing tools, create UV maps to style characters, they will learn how to rig their model to bring it to life with animation, and more!

Continue reading...


About

Our blog offers a small glimpse into our philosophy on things like technology, education, and current events.