​At some point not too far in the future, everyone will learn to code - it will be a necessity. It will be a second "language" for most. Start with something simple, like Scratch. Many of these resources are FREE and some are reasonably priced. Start now and receive scholarship money or apply for a part time job/internship.  

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• Guru99 has likely the most extensive collection of free courses to ramp up your 21st-century skills. Comprehensive is an understatement.

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• For those interested in Apple's Swift language, click here. Don't forget they host a competition. Why would they do that? Make no mistake, they are looking for talent/potential. If you learn it, participate - put the competition on your calendar!  The competition (virtual). 

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• A study guide from VR Space for those interested in virtual reality (VR) programming skills. This guide explains which languages are used for various applications. Might help to read this article discussing the future of VR. Want to walk through a home with your realtor, yet never leave your room at home? It's coming. 

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•  And for anyone interested in locating a PTECH (which is supposedly changing to SkillsBuild) school, here is the site. What is PTECH? IBM's program to create more skilled tech workers/programmers. Do believe the site itself has online options and registration, click here. 

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• Scroll down and you will find 8 FREE courses on the Future Learn website.  

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• Code Academy

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• Built by Girls

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• Code Combat

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• RaspberryPi

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• Khan Academy

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• HTMLdog

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• MIT Scratch Coding

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• UdemyCODE.org

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• W3 Schools

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• Coursera

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• SQLZoo

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• C

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• Python

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• Rubymonk

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• R  (For those interested in big data/marketing analysis, learn "R" programming language. Data science is a growing industry and R is a skill few learn.)

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• FLATIRON School (some free, full bootcamp for fee) 

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• Summer of Code

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• The Odin Project

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• Free Computer Security Game/Contest

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• Swagbucks (thank you to Amelia for sending this resource!)

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• ​This page on Code (.) org offers opportunities to understand the basics/how to create apps, etc. - ages 4 and up

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• CodeConquest 
   

• FreeCodeCamp

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• Try Ruby

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• Not a secure site, but from Finland, Rails Girls

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• SkillCrush

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• General Assembly

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• Code.org

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• CodeWars

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• Career Foundry    (Career Foundry also offers 10-month coding bootcamps, ~$8,000, and they also cite this study as proof that you will find employment post graduation, "A 2021 study by Career Karma found that companies as respected as Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Microsoft are some of the largest employers of bootcamp graduates. The same study revealed that, in 2020, those same companies hired up to 120% more bootcamp graduates than they did in 2019." Remember, coding is a demonstrable skill, so you don't need a degree if you cannot afford one. You can prove your are able to do it. Coding bootcamps will provide you with more exposure/skill building given you spend all of your time coding vs. spending time across multiple classes and areas of study.) 

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• CodeOp

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• Upskill

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• Ada Developers Academy

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• MITOpenCourseware

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• Resilient Coders

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• Founders & Coders

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• TinkerCAD

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• CoSpaces

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ROBOTICS / MECHATRONICS / ENGINEERING

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• Arvind Gupta Toys

• Raspberry Pi

• First Robotics

• Vex Robotics

• Little Bits/Sphero     

• Sphero Global Challenge Competition

• Free online robotics courses

• Maker Faire

• Science Buddies

• TerraDynamics Lab

• Info on protecting your robots/ideas, patents

• Karikuri (were robots in Asia hundreds of years ago?)

• Storing your hobbies

• List of quality math resources and programs

• Arrick Robotics list of resources/help

• DiscoverE (video chats with engineers, resources)

• Familiarize yourself with manufacturing lingo from Propel's website.

•  What does the future look like for those interested in the up-and-coming changes within manufacturing? Read through Propel's summary on future jobs and the current and future skills gap.

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STEM CONTESTS

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• Science Talent Search 

• 3M Young Scientist Challenge  (Are you the next top young scientist?)

• eCyberMission Challenge  (6th-9th grade)

• Future City Competition   (6th-8th grade)

• Global Game Making Challenge (ages 10-18)

• Math Counts  (6th-8th grade)

• Math Video Challenge   (6th-8th grade)

• Online & Virtual Math Tournaments   (3rd-12th grade)

• Mathematical Talent Search

• Cyberpatriot Contest created by the Air Force Association

• Contest/challenge to design/engineer for the disabled community

• North America's Largest Environmental Education Competition

• Annual Math Modeling Challenge

• Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Contest     (6th-12th grade)

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With all of this comes a bit of an ethical dilemma. There are companies committing to a set of ethics that might be of interest for you to investigate: Ethical OS Toolkit

 

If you have questions or comments, please feel free to contact Tracey Vickery at tracey@getreadyu.com.