I get it. There seems to be something silly about asking everyone -- from the homeless to really young kids -- to learn to code. There are deeper things that need to be fixed in the "system" too.
But I don’t think that means we should dismiss the value of learning to code.
Being a kid of the 1990s and living in a house run by tech-savvy parents, I began to notice that the world around me was spinning on an axis powered by varying patterns of 1s and 0s. We’d be fools to ignore the power of mastering the designing and coding of those patterns. If brute physical strength ran one era, and automation the next, this is the only way we can keep up. Most jobs of the future will be awarded to the ones who know how to code.
We use code every time we’re on the phone, on the web, out shopping -- it’s become how our world is run. So I take comfort in having a basic understanding of how something as big as this works.
#### Chris Bosh
##### About
A professional basketball player for the Miami Heat, [Christopher Wesson Bosh](http://www.chrisbosh.com/) has appeared in over 640 games during his 11-year NBA career \[[stats here](http://www.nba.com/heat/roster/heat-bio-chris-bosh)\]. He was a member of the U.S. team that won the bronze medal at the 2006 FIBA World Championships and the gold at the 2008 Olympics. Bosh also led his Texas high school (where he was a member of the National Honor Society) to a 40-0 record and state championship. Bosh has had cameos on *Entourage*, *Law & Order: SVU*, and Disney's *Jesse*, and is active in community development and youth education through various organizations.
For most athletes, the sport they end up turning into a career was decided in school. For me it all started in high school. This is where it all happens. On one end, you are growing fast and becoming very good at sports, on the other end grownups all around you say you need to try out different things, to discover your likes and dislikes, you need a plan. It’s a lot of pressure for that age.
Despite knowing my highly decorated jersey hung in Lincoln High’s gymnasium I knew well before I was in the NBA that to feel secure with my future -- our future, really -- I would need to be able to manipulate those 1s and 0s. Luckily, having extremely geeky parents that were constantly testing gadgets and flashing mad AutoCAD skills helped push my hands towards a keyboard and learning to code when they weren’t palming a basketball or blocking an opponent's shot.
For as far back as I can remember, my mom had a business called Computer Help. So I pretty much grew up around computers. Later on, she worked for Texas Instruments. We used to come back home after school and my mom would bring all these new TI gadgets for us to test and play around with; I still remember the first digital cameras! When people were still using AutoCAD, my dad did professional plumbing, engineering, and designing for a couple different companies.
I’m lucky because my parents held us to a very high standard when it came to education, and they were very science driven. In high school I joined a club called Wizkids, a computer graphics club for two years. I always felt like I was in my element, my environment there. I also joined the Association of Minority Engineers and NSBE (the National Society of Black Engineers) during my senior year.
I received my high school diploma, but I did not graduate from college. But even though I only stayed one year at Georgia Tech, I’ve kept a strong interest in science and a passion for education. I know I have that to fall back on. At some point most pro athletes have to ask themselves "what if it doesn't work out?" In my case, I think I’d like to teach young kids computer science and coding -- the younger the better.
The funny thing about coding is that I really didn’t know what coding was when I was first discovering graphic design and computers in high school. Coding is at the base of almost every technology. If someone in school would have explained to me that coding could reach millions directly or indirectly and make their lives better, it would’ve sparked my interest much sooner. Plus I don’t think people a few years ago really understood the impact that coding would have on the world today.
Like any good basketball game, we can still catch up.
Even though my main interest at this moment in my life is basketball, I still continue to learn and discover. I would like to teach kids about coding because the possible applications are fascinating and it’s really quite simple when you think of it. And while you could say, “but you don’t use it in your career” -- I’d argue that I do. I did learn lots of life lessons both on and off the court.
At this point, learning to code is simply about understanding how the world functions.
Plus, it’s cool. Even though I excelled at basketball, I was subjected to what many of my coding peers had to deal with before tech became “cool” -- teasing. Although most people can’t imagine attempting to pick on someone that’s almost seven feet tall, there were some kids that still gave me a hard time. I was fortunate enough to have athletics to give me confidence in geekery. I was good at basketball so I was able to march to the beat of my own drum, and brush off what people thought.
I’ve seen lots of videos with me in them throughout the years -- games, music videos, commercials -- but watching myself in the Code.org video was one of the coolest moments of my life. When fans started tweeting at me that their teachers showed them a video of me along with some of the most famous tech icons in the world, it all came together for me and made one thing clear: the nerds have finally achieved their revenge.
I’m the Miami Heat player with “1” on my team jersey back. For me winning isn’t “winning” -- it’s 01110111 01101001 01101110 01101110 01101001 01101110 01100111 (that’s W-I-N-N-I-N-G in binary code).
Editor: Sonal Chokshi @smc90
