A special visit from the next generation of coders

No math.

No science.

No grammar.

For one full week, 18 brilliant 12-13-year-olds from Højby Skole got the opportunity to put their normal textbooks away and spend an entire week on coding and creating their own games, showing us their ideas, skills and learnings within coding.

It all escalated on December the 3rd here at Umbraco HQ, where the children got to present their games and got feedback on them.

This is all part of project "Coding Class" created by IT-Branchen, and it’s the third year in a row that we get to participate and get to give a brief insight into what a career in coding may look like.

What happens when 18 youngers step into HQ...

The day started with Kristian, Morten and myself welcoming the kids to Umbraco HQ. 

We gave them a tour around Umbraco HQ, and afterwards, we ended up in Beetroot, our lunch and meeting room, where we gave the kids a short introduction to the Umbraco CMS as well as our job roles and what a normal workday at Umbraco looks like for us.

Before the presentations, the children got a quick break, where they got some water, soda and some traditional Danish Christmas cookies called “pebernødder”.

Because who doesn’t feel great after a little snack? 🍪

A team showing the game they've crated called Fruit Fall

Each group then presented their company name and logo and explained their thoughts behind it. They also told us their marketing ideas as well as how they would make sure their games would become popular by expanding the game, making more levels and so on. 

Some of them did not only possess the ability to be future coders, but also future salesmen if you ask me! 👔

Developer Kristian from Umbraco HQ, giving feedback to the kids.

What has been the most challenging thing in Coding Class? 

When asking the class about the most challenging thing during Coding Class, the answers were very different. 

Some of them thought that the coding part was the most difficult part, while others thought that it was inventing and designing the whole game that was the most challenging thing.

What has been the best thing in Coding Class? 

While there were some various answers and opinions about what the most challenging thing was, the kids seemed to be very unanimous about what the best thing had been: 

Creating and evolving their very own game. 

They enjoyed the entire process while learning that sometimes you need to change your ideas or strategy in order to be done in time. 

And the icing on the cake was their visit to Umbraco HQ. 

What was the teacher’s impression?

When asked about the whole experience, the teacher of the class, Willy Dannevang, says that it was a real pleasure to visit Umbraco, since it gave the children the opportunity to see how things work in a real company and gave them the opportunity to try things out themselves. 

"The class was both nervous and excited about having to visit Umbraco and present their games, knowing that they would get feedback for their work. In the bus on the way home, however, the pupils talked about how nice it was to be heard and understood when explaining what the games were about and their thoughts about the whole process. One of the groups was especially proud because of their games was tested out in advance." 

In short, they were very happy about the feedback they received from Kristian and Morten, as well as the overall experience of coming to Umbraco HQ. 

They took off with a big smile on their faces and with a big Unicorn balloon 🦄

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H5YR and thank you to 6.B and Willy Dannevang from Højby Skole for coming by and showing us your impressive games. And thank you to IT Branchen for this great initiative and inviting us to take part!