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I am looking for a bottle of computer science motivation for my 16 year old. I do an hour a week coding with him. It is not enough, he does no coding in between

I am looking for a bottle of computer science motivation for my 16 year old. I do an hour a week coding with him. It is not enough, he does no coding in between times. There are other things he prioritises ahead of coding. (School, music, YouTube videos, and chess.)

Swizec 3y ago
Maybe your son is not into coding and that’s okay. This is not a great profession to be in if you don’t enjoy it.
gigatexal 3y ago
Let him find his passion. Don’t force him into programming. There’s plenty in the tech space that needs doing. And there’s even more in life that he can do to earn a living that’s not tech related.
- hooverd 3y ago
  Imagine doing science, engineering, or mathematics. Might as well be getting an English degree.
  - gigatexal 3y ago
    Huh? How are those equivalent to getting and English degree?
    - hooverd 3y ago
      The pay isn't as much compared to a hyperfocused CS to FAANG/startup track. It's not bad though.
      - gigatexal 3y ago
        But if the child isn’t passionate about comp sci/programming/etc their life is gonna be hell. Better to let them be happy than be miserable.
        fragmede 3y ago
        Only with work. If they are destitute but don't have to program, it's also quite possible they'll be hungry and cold and thus still also miserable.
        gigatexal 3y ago
        The fuck? There are other well paying jobs. Shit electricians and plumbers and other blue collar work can pay 100k plus or more. Skilled labor in the trades is in desperate need at least here in the US.
mywacaday 3y ago
Pushing him to do something weekly that he doesn't sound interested in at the moment will only push him away from it in the longer term. Maybe try programming something that overlaps with his other interests that deepens his understanding of both subjects.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
tsingy 3y ago
Try finding something that he likes, that could be enhanced with programming to start with. Mine was fantasy basketball, doing it with the help of computers is so much better than by hand.
- Cerium 3y ago
  And keep it approachable! There is nothing wrong with writing that fantasy basketball calculator as a spreadsheet. Spreadsheets have many advantages that get overlooked by pushing for a "real language" while jump into a programming language involves learning a lot of new concepts at once. For example, spreadsheets make all the memory visible at once. It makes sense like a piece of paper. You also have intuitive understanding of your algorithms memory consumption. Computing something for N by N obviously uses N^2 cells. Many problems will be solved in 2^n which will mean dragging down that cell for a short while at low values and suddenly a very long while.
dybber 3y ago
1) Make him come up with the projects to do. Use brainstorming techniques. Only help by guiding, not by telling him to do specific things 2) Build your similar own projects as well 3) Try with electronics. For that age group I have had good succes with MicroPython on ESP32’s + various sensors/actuators. The first thing I do is connect an LED strip with RGB LED’s and let them play with that. 4) Find him peers with the same interest. In that age peers are better partners. You can still help facilitate a bit, but the best would be to find a Coding club.
- lostmsu 3y ago
  > Make him come up with the projects to do. Use brainstorming techniques. Only help by guiding, not by telling him to do specific things I found it difficult to do with a person who did not get how to use control flow and can not mentally combine multiple control flow constructs.
gareve 3y ago
create a music or YouTube bot together
dkjaudyeqooe 3y ago
Appeal to his music interests. This book looks pretty good and uses free tools: https://www.routledge.com/Introduction-to-Digital-Music-with-Python-Programming-Learning-Music-with/Horn-West-Roberts/p/book/9780367470821# https://www.routledge.com/Introduction-to-Digital-Music-with...
LocalH 3y ago
Then stop focusing on trying to get him to code, and focus on his music, his chess, his YouTube videos (especially if he has aspiration to be a content creator rather than a passive consumer), and his academics. Maybe related to one of those things, you could gently try to build a bridge between them and coding. However, don't force it. If you force it, you're essentially going to be raising someone who hates programming because "it's that shit my mom/dad forced me to do when I had no interest in doing it, I really wanted to be developing my chess game instead".
- voz_ 3y ago
  This is good advice if you live in a Hollywood movie fantasy, or are insanely rich. Otherwise this is bad advice. A parents job is to steer their kids not into superficial happiness found through whatever interested them at 16, but to actual long term happiness achieved through fulfillment, accomplishment, stability, and belonging. If I ignored CS pushed by my father to focus on whatever interested me at 16 (pot, girls, metal music, wow), I’m not sure where id be, but I imagine it would be worse off.
  - cinntaile 3y ago
    It's neither good nor bad advice. It will depend on the kid. Some will respond like you, while some will respond like the commenter above you explains.
  - waboremo 3y ago
    I believe you interpreted their comment as a sort of let them drown in hedonism moment, but from what I'm getting it's really just encouraging giving your kid space to find the joy themselves. You can encourage new forms or methods to see if it'll stick but you still have to let them be their own person. Forcing anything will just make your kid resent that entirely, and for a lot of parents they don't even realize this resentment of [subject/task/etc] also turned into a resentment of the parent. Also I think you're too pessimistic about your past potential. You could have made a great musician, esports pro, hell there are even some successful marijuana companies now! I don't say this to stoke the flames of what ifs, but instead to highlight that it wasn't exactly your father's push for CS that is the only reason for your success. You should absolutely take some responsibility for committing and be proud of that, of course you can definitely attribute your understanding of why commitment is important to your father if that holds true! Now that's good advice, teach your kids the importance of integral foundations like commitment, don't obsess over which specific field it is.
qup 3y ago
Chess-related chatbot? Something his friends/chat room/twitch can interact with, that has some kind of chess functionality. Look up "aol chat coms" for inspiration from the 90s. There used to be bots that played a scrambler game in AOL chat, you could make a chess-related one.
password4321 3y ago
Lots of ideas two days ago: Two years of teaching high school CS https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36355172 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36355172
throwawaaarrgh 3y ago
Leave him alone? School, music, and chess are more than enough for him to invest himself in without you pushing your failed hopes and dreams on a little clone. YouTube videos are also fine, we all like entertainment.
fit2rule 3y ago
[dead]

Swizec 3y ago

Maybe your son is not into coding and that’s okay. This is not a great profession to be in if you don’t enjoy it.

gigatexal 3y ago

Let him find his passion. Don’t force him into programming. There’s plenty in the tech space that needs doing. And there’s even more in life that he can do to earn a living that’s not tech related.

hooverd 3y ago
Imagine doing science, engineering, or mathematics. Might as well be getting an English degree.
- gigatexal 3y ago
  Huh? How are those equivalent to getting and English degree?
  - hooverd 3y ago
    The pay isn't as much compared to a hyperfocused CS to FAANG/startup track. It's not bad though.
    - gigatexal 3y ago
      But if the child isn’t passionate about comp sci/programming/etc their life is gonna be hell. Better to let them be happy than be miserable.
      - fragmede 3y ago
        Only with work. If they are destitute but don't have to program, it's also quite possible they'll be hungry and cold and thus still also miserable.
        gigatexal 3y ago
        The fuck? There are other well paying jobs. Shit electricians and plumbers and other blue collar work can pay 100k plus or more. Skilled labor in the trades is in desperate need at least here in the US.

mywacaday 3y ago

Pushing him to do something weekly that he doesn't sound interested in at the moment will only push him away from it in the longer term. Maybe try programming something that overlaps with his other interests that deepens his understanding of both subjects.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

tsingy 3y ago

Try finding something that he likes, that could be enhanced with programming to start with. Mine was fantasy basketball, doing it with the help of computers is so much better than by hand.

Cerium 3y ago
And keep it approachable! There is nothing wrong with writing that fantasy basketball calculator as a spreadsheet. Spreadsheets have many advantages that get overlooked by pushing for a "real language" while jump into a programming language involves learning a lot of new concepts at once. For example, spreadsheets make all the memory visible at once. It makes sense like a piece of paper. You also have intuitive understanding of your algorithms memory consumption. Computing something for N by N obviously uses N^2 cells. Many problems will be solved in 2^n which will mean dragging down that cell for a short while at low values and suddenly a very long while.

dybber 3y ago

1) Make him come up with the projects to do. Use brainstorming techniques. Only help by guiding, not by telling him to do specific things 2) Build your similar own projects as well 3) Try with electronics. For that age group I have had good succes with MicroPython on ESP32’s + various sensors/actuators. The first thing I do is connect an LED strip with RGB LED’s and let them play with that. 4) Find him peers with the same interest. In that age peers are better partners. You can still help facilitate a bit, but the best would be to find a Coding club.

lostmsu 3y ago
> Make him come up with the projects to do. Use brainstorming techniques. Only help by guiding, not by telling him to do specific things I found it difficult to do with a person who did not get how to use control flow and can not mentally combine multiple control flow constructs.

gareve 3y ago

create a music or YouTube bot together

dkjaudyeqooe 3y ago

Appeal to his music interests. This book looks pretty good and uses free tools: https://www.routledge.com/Introduction-to-Digital-Music-with-Python-Programming-Learning-Music-with/Horn-West-Roberts/p/book/9780367470821# https://www.routledge.com/Introduction-to-Digital-Music-with...

LocalH 3y ago

Then stop focusing on trying to get him to code, and focus on his music, his chess, his YouTube videos (especially if he has aspiration to be a content creator rather than a passive consumer), and his academics. Maybe related to one of those things, you could gently try to build a bridge between them and coding. However, don't force it. If you force it, you're essentially going to be raising someone who hates programming because "it's that shit my mom/dad forced me to do when I had no interest in doing it, I really wanted to be developing my chess game instead".

voz_ 3y ago
This is good advice if you live in a Hollywood movie fantasy, or are insanely rich. Otherwise this is bad advice. A parents job is to steer their kids not into superficial happiness found through whatever interested them at 16, but to actual long term happiness achieved through fulfillment, accomplishment, stability, and belonging. If I ignored CS pushed by my father to focus on whatever interested me at 16 (pot, girls, metal music, wow), I’m not sure where id be, but I imagine it would be worse off.
- cinntaile 3y ago
  It's neither good nor bad advice. It will depend on the kid. Some will respond like you, while some will respond like the commenter above you explains.
- waboremo 3y ago
  I believe you interpreted their comment as a sort of let them drown in hedonism moment, but from what I'm getting it's really just encouraging giving your kid space to find the joy themselves. You can encourage new forms or methods to see if it'll stick but you still have to let them be their own person. Forcing anything will just make your kid resent that entirely, and for a lot of parents they don't even realize this resentment of [subject/task/etc] also turned into a resentment of the parent. Also I think you're too pessimistic about your past potential. You could have made a great musician, esports pro, hell there are even some successful marijuana companies now! I don't say this to stoke the flames of what ifs, but instead to highlight that it wasn't exactly your father's push for CS that is the only reason for your success. You should absolutely take some responsibility for committing and be proud of that, of course you can definitely attribute your understanding of why commitment is important to your father if that holds true! Now that's good advice, teach your kids the importance of integral foundations like commitment, don't obsess over which specific field it is.

qup 3y ago

Chess-related chatbot? Something his friends/chat room/twitch can interact with, that has some kind of chess functionality. Look up "aol chat coms" for inspiration from the 90s. There used to be bots that played a scrambler game in AOL chat, you could make a chess-related one.

password4321 3y ago

Lots of ideas two days ago: Two years of teaching high school CS https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36355172 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36355172

throwawaaarrgh 3y ago

Leave him alone? School, music, and chess are more than enough for him to invest himself in without you pushing your failed hopes and dreams on a little clone. YouTube videos are also fine, we all like entertainment.

fit2rule 3y ago

[dead]