Featured Coding Cup Winner: Jack Enjoys Robotics!

Meet our newest Featured Maker and Coding Cup winner, 15-year-old Jack from Tennessee! Jack likes to read, play games, and code. Fantastic. Jack recently spoke with us about his experience coding with Tynker. 

What was your favorite thing about Coding Cup?

Probably getting to make the team, see what they did, tweak the code. Just watching how I did.

What did your team look like?

They were the red and white jerseys. And the logo was a computer with a mouse and on the screen was a foot kicking a soccer ball.

What was your team name?

Light Tidings FC. It’s one of the pre­generated team names.

What was your favorite code block that you used?

Probably the If…Then…Else (block) because they let me basically make my team choose what to do. 

Do you think that other kids should play Coding Cup?

Yes. It kind of shows them what to do. Kind of gives you an arena to test against other real people.

So how did you get to introduce yourself to Tynker, and how long have you been coding?

I’m not sure how long I’ve been coding. I was trying to figure that out the other day. But I found a book about Scratch somewhere. So I did that for a while. And then I found out about Python, so I did that. And that’s when I ran out of things to do. Eventually, I found Tynker.

How have your coding skills improved since he started using Tynker?

I’ve had more resources to work with, and I’ve also learned a couple of new languages. I’ve been at least trying to work with Java, JavaScript, and those languages.

Do you have an idea of what you want to be when you grow up?

I’m not sure exactly what I want to do, but probably something that has to do with coding or robotics or something in that field.

What’s your favorite subject in school and why?

Probably either math or science because they’re the ones that I understand the best.

What is your favorite project you’ve made so far? What do you like about it?

Probably a project that I recently published. It was for the Winter Code Jam, I made a snowball fight game, and I didn’t get it finished in time for the deadline, but I still published it.

So how do you get inspiration for your projects?

By seeing things in other places. Occasionally, I take a project I did before with Scratch or Python and try to make it with Tynker.

Why do you like to code?

Well, first, I started it for the games, but now I like the challenge of it. I like to try and figure out the languages.

So what do you do with a project when you’re done with it? Do you show it to someone, or publish it?

Oftentimes I’ll show it to my family. I haven’t really done much with the community recently. I published one project a couple of years ago for the Summer Code Jam. But after that, I mean we just­­ they’re buried somewhere in my stack of projects.

What’s the best thing about Tynker?

Probably the fact that it has so many coding languages in one website because when I was doing Scratch and Python, I had to download one thing for Scratch, a whole different thing for Python. So just I like the fact that it’s all on one website, easy to access.

How do you think learning to code has prepared you for the future?

Oh, just there are so many jobs that involve coding, knowing how to do it, what to do with it, and being prepared for all of it. I’m in a robotics class and I’m pretty much the main kid who does the coding for the robots.

What advice would you give to kids starting out with Tynker?

Don’t be afraid when you run into some struggles, just­­ you’ll figure it out eventually. If you can’t, you can always get help.

We spoke with Jack’s mom about Jack learning to code. 

How does it feel to see the coding projects he is making?

I’ve been very impressed with his progress of learning the different coding languages and what he’s been able to produce with them. I’ve also loved seeing his confidence grow!

What benefits do you think coding has for your child? What skills besides the skill of coding do you think it helps him learn?

 I think it has been humbling for him because he was much younger when he first started, and when he would run into a problem, he would decide “Well, it must be Tynker’s fault. It’s not my fault.” and I would try to remind him, “No, I’m pretty sure Tynker knows what they’re doing. So let’s problem-solve. Let’s figure out what’s going on.” And so it’s taught him to calm down, not get so frustrated and realize that he doesn’t have all the answers.  Also that sometimes those answers might be challenging and you need to problem solve and persevere. 

My brother was a computer engineering major and he now works for Microsoft. We asked him his favorite things about coding and he said, ‘Problem solving, when I run into a problem, I love figuring out the answer.’ We realized this would be a very crucial area of growth that Jack needed! I’ve seen such progress in him learning to problem solve, being methodical while examining his work and finding where he made the mistake, and most importantly not get so frustrated and give up. It’s an awesome life skill, not just a computer coding skill!

Thank you for offering these super fun, educational courses. I’m so grateful because as a homeschooling mom there is no way I could teach this to him! I’m so thankful to have access to so many different coding languages. I was talking to some college students and asked them what language Jack should learn after Scratch and Python They all agreed that it depends on what he wants to do with coding. Even though he still may not know how computer coding will factor into his future, Tynker has given him an introduction to so many different languages. I love that he has this foundation so that eventually when he does hone in on specifics, he will have such a strong background in it. So I’m very thankful for Tynker.

Thank you for taking the time to speak with us about coding with Tynker. We can’t wait to see what Jack creates next – HAPPY CODING!

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