Imagine a world with a literacy rate of only three percent.
What if out of every 100 people, only three could read and write right now in America, there are over
320 million people, yet fewer than nine million of us, less than three percent can read and write
code the language of technology.
So what is code coding or programming is just telling a computer what to do.
Code is the same thing as software.
Or if you're in the younger generation, code is what apps are made of.
Code runs your computer and these days computers are everywhere in all the coolest gadgets, from 3D
printers to drones, self-driving cars to smartphones, Fitbit to rumbas and more code is a part of
every one of these technologies, and it's a part of every technology you'll use at work and at home
for the rest of your life.
Every job you want, every job you want your kids to have is touched in some way by computer software.
Imagine the power you can have if you learn how to read and write the language of code.
Experts say that as many as 70 million jobs could disappear over the next 10 years due to automation,
but on the other hand, there are over six million job openings in the US right now, and over one million
of those are good paying technology jobs with no qualified applicants, no literate applicants.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics says that seven of the top 10 fastest growing and highest paying jobs
for the next 10 years are in technology computing.
And there are over 300000 unfilled positions right now in this country in cyber security.
And those jobs can average as much as 90 thousand dollars a year in salary.
Plus, you don't have to go very far to find these jobs.
There are literally thousands of openings available every day right here in the Atlanta area.
So what makes codas so valuable?
Well, it's because we're problem solvers who can use technology.
You tell me, are there some problems in the world?
Yeah, a few, right?
The world needs problem solvers.
Your goal in life should be to solve more problems than you create.
And the world highly rewards problem solvers, you might have seen a graphic like this one before from
Code Dog, a college graduate can earn a half million dollars more and their lifetime than someone with
just a high school diploma.
A computer science degree can earn you a million dollars more over your working lifetime than a high
school degree.
But there's another stack of gold coins that belongs to the right of that one.
A cybersecurity professional may be able to earn another half million dollars more than the average
I.T. worker, a million and a half dollars more and a lifetime than someone with just a high school
diploma.
And this gap is growing wider.
Now, that small stack of coins on the left is a grim picture of what technology illiteracy can look
like, but this chart is also an illustration of how important coding can be for your future and for
your children's future.
Did you know that in 1910, fewer than 18 percent of teenagers went to high school and in 2010, fewer
than 18 percent of teenagers went to a high school that taught coding?
Now, it only took us 30 years to solve that first problem as farming jobs disappeared in the early
nineteen hundreds.
The US invested heavily in secondary education, and by 1940, three fourths of teenagers went to high
school.
We need to do the same thing this century for technology education by twenty twenty five.
We need three out of four teenagers going to a high school that teaches coding and cyber security.
As parents, as citizens, we can't wait until 20, 40.
I'm a computer science professor and a cybersecurity expert.
I've been teaching coding since nineteen ninety eight.
I write books, I record videos, I travel and speak in schools and at conferences around the world.
But it's not enough how many of you in this audience today have taken a computer programming class or
have taught yourself some coding?
Let's see, a few hands.
That's good.
That had some, but it's not enough.
I need your help, all of you.
You can learn to code.
Henry Ford famously said, whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right, but if you
think you can't code, it's because you just haven't tried yet.
If you're in this audience today or if you're watching online, you can learn to code starting now.
Now, some of you may already feel your defenses kicking in.
What if I'm not good at it?
What if I don't like it?
What if I just don't want to be a coder for the next 20 years?
My answer might surprise you.
You see, coding is not the goal.
Coding is the gateway in the same way we learn English, not just to become authors or journalists,
but to communicate with others.
And in the same way that math doesn't just prepares to become an accountant or an engineer, but it
helps us solve problems, manage our finances and think logically.
People who learn to code can become entrepreneurs, innovators who connect people in new ways using
new platforms.
You could be like two of my students who've gone on to work at both riot games and blizzard entertainment
building games like League of Legends and World of Warcraft.
And you can go into a job like it, cybersecurity or artificial intelligence, robotics with extra skills,
extra literacy that can buffer you from some of the rapid changes that are coming.
My mom and I am so grateful to have my mom in the audience with us today.
Thanks, Mom.
I love you.
My mom bought me my first computer in 1980 for a Commodore 64, and I believe we have a picture.
Look how happy I am, and thirty five years later, just thinking about that computer still makes me
smile.
You see, I learned to code when I was a teenager.
But I have a lot of college students who take their very first computer programming class as young adults.
They didn't know that instead of just playing Minecraft all of these years, they could have been coding
in it.
So let me give you three reasons to start quoting now.
No one do it for yourself, and it's not just about the money, although you can earn a lot.
If you learn about cybersecurity, you can protect yourself from cyber criminals and online predators.
If you learn web and mobile app programming, you can create your own new business model like Uber or
Airbnb.
You can start by finding a technology that you enjoy.
Go to a library and print something on a 3D printer or.
Buy a programmable drone like this one for under a hundred dollars, some people like to start with
a black based programming language.
This is the tical app.
It's a mobile application that lets you program drones and robots right on your mobile device.
You can see the commands look like Lego bricks.
You choose the blocks that you want to run.
And they snapped together just like Lego bricks, in the order that you decide when you're the coder,
you get to choose how things work.
So let's see how this code works on this actual drone when I press play.
It should take off and then it's going to repeat these steps four times, it's going to move forward
for about a second, turn right, 90 degrees, move forward again, turn right 90 degrees, move forward
for about a second.
So what's it doing?
We're drawing a square in the air.
Pretty close, right?
So start with the technologies that you find fun and fascinating and even before you understand what
every line of code does.
Run it, change it, move things around, start coding for you.
Number two.
Do it for others.
Bring more value to your future employer, provide for your family.
Or impact your community.
When you learn to protect yourself online, you can better protect your kids and your other family members
from online threats, you can even write an app that helps people in your own hometown.
One of my students this semester is building an app for the city of Dahlonega.
It's a mobile app that lets you report problems like potholes in the road or street lights that are
out.
And in addition to capturing the exact location of the issue, it tracks how many people have reported
a problem.
And those problems that get reported by more people get higher priority in being repaired.
You can build a future for yourself, a future for your family, and you can help people right in your
own hometown.
You can make your neighborhood a better, safer place.
That's the kind of lasting impact you can make when you learn to solve problems with technology.
Finally, number three.
Do it to make the world a better place.
Here's a good example.
Charity Water is a global clean water initiative that revolutionized transparency in both the dire need
for clean water and poorer communities and in the ability to see where your donation goes down to the
precise GPS coordinates of the drinking.
Well, you can sponsor a web application code is bringing much needed attention and relief to people
who need it the most.
In my house, my wife is able to track the remaining three thousand eight hundred tigers left in the
wild through a similar app from an animal rescue organization.
The thought of big cats going extinct before our children grow up is heartbreaking to her.
If there's something that breaks your heart or if there's something that makes you really mad, coding
can help you harness the power of technology to reach thousands or even millions of people who care
about the same cause, you can create a positive chain reaction to help make people aware.
And get them involved if you're passionate about protecting your country, did you know that all five
branches of the US military now recognize cyber as a domain equal to land, sea, air and space?
Today, billions of people go online every day sharing ideas and resources, creating new businesses,
new charities, new games and apps, new ways of seeing the world.
Four billion of the world's seven and a half billion people are connected to the Internet.
Spies and soldiers.
Terrorists and activists, hackers, doctors, musicians and bloggers are all logging on every day,
and it's made possible because of code.
People say the world is changing, the world has already changed.
Step out of your comfort zone and become literate in the language of technology.
Learn to code.
What you do with it from there is limitless.
Thank you.