Somewhere between story time and scissor practice, young students throughout the country are learning about another skill: computer programming. An estimated 1.4 million computer-science-related jobs are expected to be on the market by 2020, with a mere 400,000 STEM graduates holding applicable degree.
Starting today, hundreds of thousands of students will participate in this year’s Hour of Code: Dance Party, a Code.org program that encourages creativity among students made possible by a partnership with a new Amazon program called Amazon Future Engineer.
Amazon is thinking big and long-term, helping close the opportunity gap within younger generations and supporting the creation of a more diverse talent pipeline for the future through their new program, Amazon Future Engineer (AFE).
From coding camps and online tutorials (including Code.org’s Hour of Code: Dance Party that kicked off today!), to funding Introductory and Advanced Placement Computer Science courses in low-income schools to providing college scholarships and Amazon internships, AFE is excited to give students of all ages the opportunity to get ahead in this rapidly growing field – AFE is particularly focused on students from underprivileged and underrepresented communities and during this one week, hopes to reach one million female students.
For more information on Amazon’s program, watch below.