One of the largest challenges the youth face today is unemployment, finding a job usually requires one to have a ton of experience or know the right person in the right position of power.
Sometimes it requires having the right skills for the job which is becoming a challenge in Uganda and the rest of the world, the lack of the right skills on demand that are both employable and usable on their own. What we often call practical skills.
Practical skills are very important because they have a universal appeal. If you can fix a car, curve a chair from a chunk of wood or write, your skills can be used anywhere in the world and you can get a job in various places.
However, in a modern world that is being infiltrated by robotics, artificial intelligence (AI) and all sorts of technology, there has arisen a need for a new kind of skill set, the kind that powers technology, the skill of coding.
Writing code or programming is a skill that is fast becoming crucial around the world. Businesses and organisations around the world are starting to incorporate technology into their business structures and processes. For instance; accounting systems, websites, health, transportation, government, market research systems and apps which are all made of code.
A report by a job market analytics firm in 2015 showed that there were 7 million jobs created in the US in 2015 that required a form of coding knowledge. The same report showed that coding related jobs rose by 12%.
Now this is in the United states alone, which is a saturated place, Africa on the other hand is still virgin territory in retrospect and that creates the largest opportunity. In order for Uganda to achieve a middle income status by 2040, there is need to invest in preparing children for a world that is headed towards technology.
This can be done by introducing them to coding so they can create, maintain and repair the technology that runs the factories, organisations and systems that will support life in the years to come.
Even in a country that is largely agricultural, there is need for better agricultural methods, powered by better agricultural technologies that are made of code. The spectrum of change that code can make is not limited to agriculture, but spreads out to every industry.
Several initiatives and organisations are pumping a lot of resources to empower the next generation of young coders such as Black Girls Code, Fundibots, Girls Who Code, RailsShop, Google Developer Group (GDG), Microsoft, Uber, Github, Apple, IBM, Facebook and some like Laboremus and Andela are outsourcing them out from Africa to companies in the USA and Europe.
Technology is the future, if we are to make the most of it, coding is where we begin the implementation process.
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Author: Daniel Odaka
Daniel is a writer and communications expert with a love for tech, science and cars. He believes tech is a lifestyle and we all live it in the way we communicate, work, move and go about our lives. To maintain a lifestyle you need to keep on top of it and that’s where he comes in