The Ah-ha Moment

For nearly a decade now, I have been using Scratch (http://scratch.mit.edu) to teach kids the fundamentals of coding. Scratch is an incredible tool for teaching kids about things like logic, events, if/then statements, loops, and more. I've always seen it is a precursor to more advanced scripting (even though it's plenty powerful in it's own right), but lately I've been forced to reclassify. Scratch is not just a

precursor, it's a full-fledged coding platform that's as powerful or more powerful than a lot of high end software being used today. What we are teaching our kids as young as 5 is IMMEDIATELY applicable in some cases to complex work and automations being created in the real world.

Learning About Marketing Software

I recently was featured on a competition game show for entrepreneurs called The Blox.

On this show, we learned about the importance of having a great CRM that helps manage and interact with customers and allows you to automate a lot of tasks that small business owners otherwise waste hours and hours on doing manually. For example, sending informational emails to new leads. We connected with one of the other contestants on the show who happened to have a business doing exactly that, and got set up with some of the best marketing software in the world.

Imagine my surprise when I started messing around with building my own marketing automations inside of this software, and IT FEELS JUST LIKE SCRATCH! The same thing that I had been teaching to kids for nearly a decade is now the standard technology for drag-and-drop coding for marketing industry professionals. Not only that, we spent quite a bit of time learning from and working with specialists who have mastered creating these automations, and it was VERY similar to the conversations we have with kids on a daily basis! Naturally, I felt right at home with the new software. But that's not even what amazed me the most. What amazed me the most was the fact that I have 100s of STEAM kids that I'm positive could start creating marketing automations tomorrow using their knowledge of Scratch coding. It's the same exact set of skills:

• Drag and Drop coding

• Logic

• If/then/else statements

• variables

• "Triggers" or events

• And more!

I've always known that Scratch would help kids in the future when they learn more intensive coding, but it hadn't even occurred to me that many of these kids would be ready TODAY to start making advanced marketing automations using the knowledge they've gained directly at Full STEAM Ahead. Coding has become far more accessible, and now professionals across industry are using drag and drop coding to create custom workflows, automations, and functionality. When you have dedicated your life to preparing students for an uncertain future of tech, problem solving, and creativity, victories like these are a little sweeter.

Block-based coding

There's millions of people out there thinking that they could never learn to code. Millions whose eyes glaze over at the mention of coding, custom automations, or if/then statements. But worry not! Even if you are an adult, the barrier to entry for coding has dropped exponentially, and likely will continue to do so as technology advances.

And if you've got kids? Make sure you do them the service of getting them involved with basic coding early. It builds reasoning, tech literacy, problem solving skills, and it's actually pretty fun when done right. Some schools do this a little, but if you truly want to make sure your children are prepared for an uncertain future (and in a lot of ways, an uncertain present time), find yourself a program like Full S.T.E.A.M. Ahead who can help your children build these skills. One thing that we can say with confidence about the future is that there is very likely to be MORE coding, not less. And those who are prepared will surely reap some benefits.