I get a lot of questions about
programming but I don't think they're the right questions to ask questions
like how many languages do I need to learn what language do I need to learn
to get to company X what's the difference between a and B and which
makes more money what are the exact steps I need to take to become Z what
kind of program should I write to build up my resume so why don't I like these
questions because it feels like the people who are asking these questions
they are learning how to program just for the sake of learning how to program
but programming is just a tool being a programmer for me means you write code
to automate things or to make things perform certain actions for example
programming a refrigerator to turn on the light when you open the door when
you think about it programming is actually kind of boring you're just
giving a series of instructions to a machine over and over again until you
get it right I don't want to speak for all of you but I think if the pay wasn't
great I don't think a lot of you would spend hours and hours every night in
front of your computer trying to learn how to code or to just debug your
program sometimes we get caught up learning languages or doing coding
challenges or fantasizing about you know working for these big tech companies
that we forget why we wanted to learn programming in the first place you
wanted to program because you saw the amazing things that can be built using
programming so don't just learn how to program build something that matters
build something that means build something that solves a problem
you're a problem-solver a creator an innovator you're not a programmer
programming is just a tool in your arsenal to build something amazing you
can be analytical creative empathetic and programming allows you to express
those qualities of yourself but programming in of itself is nothing
special it's like a pencil it can mark stuff down if you press on the pen so
hard enough that's it but with a pencil you can write novels draw beautiful
portraits build plans for a skyscraper or anything eliminated only by your
imagination you don't learn how to program to get
into Google you learn how to program to build something meaningful something
that helps real people with real problems
I'm partnered with IBM today to talk about a global initiative called call
for code which calls for developers to build something impactful and have a
positive change across the world through their code as you know there are
hundreds and hundreds of natural disasters every year like hurricanes
earthquakes floods volcanoes and wildfires those affect numerous lives
and causes tremendous damage to many families around the world if you strive
for real impact we desperately need you this is why 2018 call for code global
challenge is a competition that asks people like you to build solutions to
improve what we can do to reduce disruptive impact of these natural
disasters we need all kinds of technologies you like working on
blockchains build secure supply networks to help distribute aid to the people in
need you're like AI are NLP make BOTS to help real-time communications to them
you're into data science analyze and predict what the affected population
needs before they even ask for it every one of your project will matter and it
will be for an extremely good cause now of course it is still a competition so
they have a grand prize of $200,000 not only that the project the greatest
potential impact will be implemented with the help of IBM the new Linux
Foundation the UN Human Rights and the American Red Cross
sorry offers challenge so don't forget don't be a programmer be a problem
solver going to call for code
