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Imagine a world with a literacy rate of only three percent.

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What if out of every 100 people, only three could read and write right now in America, there are over

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320 million people, yet fewer than nine million of us, less than three percent can read and write

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code the language of technology.

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So what is code coding or programming is just telling a computer what to do.

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Code is the same thing as software.

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Or if you're in the younger generation, code is what apps are made of.

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Code runs your computer and these days computers are everywhere in all the coolest gadgets, from 3D

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printers to drones, self-driving cars to smartphones, Fitbit to rumbas and more code is a part of

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every one of these technologies, and it's a part of every technology you'll use at work and at home

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for the rest of your life.

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Every job you want, every job you want your kids to have is touched in some way by computer software.

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Imagine the power you can have if you learn how to read and write the language of code.

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Experts say that as many as 70 million jobs could disappear over the next 10 years due to automation,

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but on the other hand, there are over six million job openings in the US right now, and over one million

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of those are good paying technology jobs with no qualified applicants, no literate applicants.

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The Bureau of Labor Statistics says that seven of the top 10 fastest growing and highest paying jobs

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for the next 10 years are in technology computing.

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And there are over 300000 unfilled positions right now in this country in cyber security.

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And those jobs can average as much as 90 thousand dollars a year in salary.

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Plus, you don't have to go very far to find these jobs.

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There are literally thousands of openings available every day right here in the Atlanta area.

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So what makes codas so valuable?

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Well, it's because we're problem solvers who can use technology.

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You tell me, are there some problems in the world?

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Yeah, a few, right?

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The world needs problem solvers.

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Your goal in life should be to solve more problems than you create.

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And the world highly rewards problem solvers, you might have seen a graphic like this one before from

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Code Dog, a college graduate can earn a half million dollars more and their lifetime than someone with

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just a high school diploma.

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A computer science degree can earn you a million dollars more over your working lifetime than a high

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school degree.

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But there's another stack of gold coins that belongs to the right of that one.

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A cybersecurity professional may be able to earn another half million dollars more than the average

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I.T. worker, a million and a half dollars more and a lifetime than someone with just a high school

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diploma.

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And this gap is growing wider.

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Now, that small stack of coins on the left is a grim picture of what technology illiteracy can look

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like, but this chart is also an illustration of how important coding can be for your future and for

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your children's future.

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Did you know that in 1910, fewer than 18 percent of teenagers went to high school and in 2010, fewer

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than 18 percent of teenagers went to a high school that taught coding?

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Now, it only took us 30 years to solve that first problem as farming jobs disappeared in the early

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nineteen hundreds.

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The US invested heavily in secondary education, and by 1940, three fourths of teenagers went to high

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school.

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We need to do the same thing this century for technology education by twenty twenty five.

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We need three out of four teenagers going to a high school that teaches coding and cyber security.

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As parents, as citizens, we can't wait until 20, 40.

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I'm a computer science professor and a cybersecurity expert.

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I've been teaching coding since nineteen ninety eight.

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I write books, I record videos, I travel and speak in schools and at conferences around the world.

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But it's not enough how many of you in this audience today have taken a computer programming class or

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have taught yourself some coding?

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Let's see, a few hands.

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That's good.

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That had some, but it's not enough.

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I need your help, all of you.

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You can learn to code.

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Henry Ford famously said, whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right, but if you

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think you can't code, it's because you just haven't tried yet.

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If you're in this audience today or if you're watching online, you can learn to code starting now.

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Now, some of you may already feel your defenses kicking in.

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What if I'm not good at it?

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What if I don't like it?

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What if I just don't want to be a coder for the next 20 years?

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My answer might surprise you.

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You see, coding is not the goal.

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Coding is the gateway in the same way we learn English, not just to become authors or journalists,

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but to communicate with others.

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And in the same way that math doesn't just prepares to become an accountant or an engineer, but it

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helps us solve problems, manage our finances and think logically.

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People who learn to code can become entrepreneurs, innovators who connect people in new ways using

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new platforms.

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You could be like two of my students who've gone on to work at both riot games and blizzard entertainment

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building games like League of Legends and World of Warcraft.

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And you can go into a job like it, cybersecurity or artificial intelligence, robotics with extra skills,

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extra literacy that can buffer you from some of the rapid changes that are coming.

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My mom and I am so grateful to have my mom in the audience with us today.

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Thanks, Mom.

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I love you.

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My mom bought me my first computer in 1980 for a Commodore 64, and I believe we have a picture.

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Look how happy I am, and thirty five years later, just thinking about that computer still makes me

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smile.

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You see, I learned to code when I was a teenager.

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But I have a lot of college students who take their very first computer programming class as young adults.

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They didn't know that instead of just playing Minecraft all of these years, they could have been coding

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in it.

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So let me give you three reasons to start quoting now.

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No one do it for yourself, and it's not just about the money, although you can earn a lot.

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If you learn about cybersecurity, you can protect yourself from cyber criminals and online predators.

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If you learn web and mobile app programming, you can create your own new business model like Uber or

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Airbnb.

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You can start by finding a technology that you enjoy.

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Go to a library and print something on a 3D printer or.

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Buy a programmable drone like this one for under a hundred dollars, some people like to start with

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a black based programming language.

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This is the tical app.

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It's a mobile application that lets you program drones and robots right on your mobile device.

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You can see the commands look like Lego bricks.

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You choose the blocks that you want to run.

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And they snapped together just like Lego bricks, in the order that you decide when you're the coder,

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you get to choose how things work.

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So let's see how this code works on this actual drone when I press play.

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It should take off and then it's going to repeat these steps four times, it's going to move forward

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for about a second, turn right, 90 degrees, move forward again, turn right 90 degrees, move forward

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for about a second.

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So what's it doing?

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We're drawing a square in the air.

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Pretty close, right?

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So start with the technologies that you find fun and fascinating and even before you understand what

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every line of code does.

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Run it, change it, move things around, start coding for you.

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Number two.

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Do it for others.

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Bring more value to your future employer, provide for your family.

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Or impact your community.

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When you learn to protect yourself online, you can better protect your kids and your other family members

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from online threats, you can even write an app that helps people in your own hometown.

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One of my students this semester is building an app for the city of Dahlonega.

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It's a mobile app that lets you report problems like potholes in the road or street lights that are

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out.

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And in addition to capturing the exact location of the issue, it tracks how many people have reported

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a problem.

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And those problems that get reported by more people get higher priority in being repaired.

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You can build a future for yourself, a future for your family, and you can help people right in your

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own hometown.

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You can make your neighborhood a better, safer place.

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That's the kind of lasting impact you can make when you learn to solve problems with technology.

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Finally, number three.

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Do it to make the world a better place.

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Here's a good example.

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Charity Water is a global clean water initiative that revolutionized transparency in both the dire need

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for clean water and poorer communities and in the ability to see where your donation goes down to the

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precise GPS coordinates of the drinking.

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Well, you can sponsor a web application code is bringing much needed attention and relief to people

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who need it the most.

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In my house, my wife is able to track the remaining three thousand eight hundred tigers left in the

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wild through a similar app from an animal rescue organization.

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The thought of big cats going extinct before our children grow up is heartbreaking to her.

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If there's something that breaks your heart or if there's something that makes you really mad, coding

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can help you harness the power of technology to reach thousands or even millions of people who care

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about the same cause, you can create a positive chain reaction to help make people aware.

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And get them involved if you're passionate about protecting your country, did you know that all five

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branches of the US military now recognize cyber as a domain equal to land, sea, air and space?

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Today, billions of people go online every day sharing ideas and resources, creating new businesses,

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new charities, new games and apps, new ways of seeing the world.

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Four billion of the world's seven and a half billion people are connected to the Internet.

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Spies and soldiers.

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Terrorists and activists, hackers, doctors, musicians and bloggers are all logging on every day,

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and it's made possible because of code.

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People say the world is changing, the world has already changed.

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Step out of your comfort zone and become literate in the language of technology.

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Learn to code.

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What you do with it from there is limitless.

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Thank you.