Happy Computer Science Education Week! I know, I’ve been counting down the days to this week too. Regardless of whether you know Java and other programming languages or haven’t typed a line of code in your life, you can participate in this glorious week of coding. Everyone should at least attempt to code. Computer science is a growing field. While some majors struggle to find jobs out of college, a computer science degree is in high demand by employers.

Just try coding for one hour in the “hour of code” this week. You may find a new career path. Here is how you participate.

1. Go to www.csedweek.com and click on “learn” in the menu bar to find a multitude of lessons for almost all skill levels.

2. Pick your lesson. If you are a beginner, I’d recommend doing one of the categories in the “tutorials for beginners” (obviously). Once you gain an understanding on the building blocks of coding, learning Javascript or Python languages is simple yet powerful.

3. After this, if you find programming is not your thing, then you tried something new. Good job! If you have found your new calling within programming, you can continue their tutorials online. I’d also strongly recommend enrolling in the Intro to Computer Science class here at Westside. They program in Python and it is what helped me become proficient in coding.