That’s why it’s both incredible and poignant that a voluntary movement that was born in Ireland during the summer is about to go international.
Coder Dojo, the brainchild of 19-year-old entrepreneur and programmer James Whelton from Cork and tech entrepreneur Bill Liao, began as a Saturday morning club for kids to teach each other software programming.
It has grown into a national movement up and down Ireland, a place where kids and their parents can go and learn to write software code in a friendly environment. The first UK Coder Dojo was held in London only last week and other countries in Europe are clamouring to get the initiative started there, too.
What Whelton – who only did his Leaving Cert this summer and is already up and running with his own software company Disruptive Development – is at pains for people to realise is there is actually a lot of software talent among young kids in Ireland.
Coding For Our lives (John Kennedy, Silicon Republic)