This presentation will be presented at SXSW 2023

1. # Data First
Teaching coders not to give up
Ato
Mensah
Co-­‐founder,
Bitstrapped

2. Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com
The
Problem
An
es&mated
1M
tech-­‐related
jobs
will
go
unfilled
by
2020
The
largest
por;on
of
these
jobs
are
so=ware
development
roles
How
do
we
create
more
coders
?

3. Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com
Web
Development
This
discussion
will
focus
on
coders
of
web
applica&ons
Because
the
top
5
most
valuable
companies
in
the
world
are
Apple,
Google,
Facebook,
Amazon,
Microso=
Their
so=ware
creates
interac;ons
powered
by
the
web

4. Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com
Steps
to
NOT
give
up
coding
Learn
how
to
design
interfaces
Find
a
purpose
Define
yourself
Learn
a
Database
Learn
to
write
procedures

5. Finding
purpose
Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com

6. Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com
I
couldn’t
learn
coding
because
it
was
boring
and
I
had
to
go
through
the
boring
stuff
to
get
the
interes;ng
stuff.
And
my
teacher
was
boring.
I
was
good
at
math
and
like
computers,
but
didn’t
quite
know
what
I
was
geNng
into.
I
started
with
cobal.
-­‐
Ashley

7. Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com
Common
excuses
for
giving
up

8. Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com
Coding
is
Boring.

9. Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com
Coding
requires
too
much
math.

10. Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com
It’s
too
;me
consuming.

11. Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com
Coding
is
for
nerds.

12. Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com
Too
Many
Languages.

13. Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com
Syntax
is
confusing.

14. Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com
Teachers
are
boring.

15. Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com
No
Goals.

16. Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com
It’s
too
free
to
learn.

17. Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com
No
Purpose.

18. We
give
up
when
we
can't
relate
what
we
are
doing
to
a
real
problem
Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com
The
truth
is
…

19. Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com
Do
it
because
you
want
to
solve
your
own
problems.
Automate
and
improve
your
life.
Build
an
app
to
help
people.
-­‐
Andrei
Soare
(The
Next
Web)

20. Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com
Are
you
a
coder,
a
programmer
or
a
soLware
engineer
Define
Yourself

21.
Don
Knuth
“I
might
be
1
person
of
50”
3%
of
people
can
think
computa;onally
h]ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajlh7l1KCW8
Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com

22. Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com
Typically
refers
to
a
programmer
with
limited
experience
who
writes
simple
programs.
Coder
A
so=ware
engineer
is
a
licensed
professional
engineer
who
is
schooled
and
skilled
in
the
applica;on
of
engineering
discipline
to
the
crea;on
of
so=ware.
SoLware
Engineer
Programmer
A
person
who
writes
computer
programs.
Typically
can
pick
up
any
language
with
some
;me.

23. Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com
Layers
of
soLware
development
Coders,
Programmers
SoLware
Engineers
Computer
Science
Math
Computa;onal

24. Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com
Layers
of
soLware
development
FRONT-­‐END
HTML,
CSS,
JavaScript,
BACK-­‐END
PHP,
Node.js,
Ruby,
JAVA,
Python
BACK-­‐END
(Database)
MySQL,
Postgres,
SQL

25. Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com
Learning
Web
Development
FRONT-­‐END
HTML,
CSS,
JavaScript,
BACK-­‐END
PHP,
Node.js,
Ruby,
JAVA,
Python
BACK-­‐END
(Database)
MySQL,
Postgres,
SQL
Degree
of
Difficulty
Easiest
The
Interface
The
Language
The
Storage

26. Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com
We
assume
that
because
we
are
teaching
web
development,
we
need
to
start
with
HTML,
CSS
JavaScript,
the
languages
of
the
web
browser
Assump&on

27. Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com
The
longer
it
takes
a
student
to
learn
databases,
the
longer
they
stay
disconnected
from
the
data,
the
purpose
behind
the
app.
Maybe
we
are
wrong…

28. Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com
Learn
a
Database

29. Everything
is
a
data
InpuNng
/
Storing
/
Retrieving
Data
is
the
most
important
concept
in
programming
Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com

30. Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com
Learn
a
Database
#Data
First

31. Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com
Data
First?
SQL
=
The
Language
of
the
Database
The
9
Most
In-­‐Demand
Programming
Languages
of
2016
Structured
Query
Language
(SQL)

32. Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com
MySQL,
PostgreSQL
and
Microso=
SQL
Server
power
are
big
businesses,
small
businesses,
hospitals,
banks,
universi;es.
Almost
every
interac;on
you
have
with
technology
eventually
touches
something
SQL.
All
mobile
have
access
to
a
SQL
database
called
SQLite.
They
also
store
everything
in
central
databases
over
the
cloud.
Learn
these
databases

33. Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com
Classic
Web
Form
Movie
Maker
Sarah
Sheppard
1. Learn
to
collect
basic
form
data
2. Learn
to
process
the
data
3. Learn
to
place
it
in
a
database
4. Learn
to
later
retrieve
this
data
and
display
it

34. Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com
{
name:
“Sarah
Sheppard”,
age:
30,
descrip;on:
“Movie
Maker”
}
Data
Structure
(JSON)
Form
submission
over
the
internet

35. Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com
Database
Table

36. Learn
to
write
procedures
Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com

37. Computers
are
good
at
following
instruc;ons,
but
not
at
reading
your
mind.
-­‐
Don
Knuth
Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com

38. Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com
Procedure
A
series
of
ac;ons
conducted
in
a
certain
order
or
manner

39. The
ac;ons
of
a
procedure
are
a
set
of
instruc;ons
wri]en
in
a
language
Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com

40. Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com
Choose
a
programming
language
?

41. Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com
Choose
a
programming
language
PHP
Ruby
on
Rails
Node.js
Python

42. Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com
Picking
up
your
kid
up
from
school
Picking
up
li^le
Adrienne
Language
=
Engrish
Think
Procedurally

43. Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com
Time
(data storage)
You
current
State
(data storage)
Computa&ons
(inputs)
(data + thinking)
Ac&on
(Decision)
(Functions)
Wed,
3:15pm
Wed,
3:16pm
Wed,
3:18pm
Wed,
3:20pm
Wed,
3:22pm
SiNng
on
couch
watching
Judge
Judy
Becoming
a
li]le
anxious
Off
the
couch,
walking
to
the
kitchen
for
a
snack
Grabbing
keys
SiNng
in
Car
• On
wed
teacher
usually
lets
the
kids
out
10
minutes
late.
• But
I
probably
want
to
get
ahead
of
the
other
parents
in
the
parking
lot
queue
or
we
will
waste
more
;me
• Oh,
last
;me
I
was
late
he
had
a
fit
• But
damn,
this
episode
of
Judge
Judy
is
so
good,
I
want
to
watch
another
5
minute.
• I
guess
I
be]er
consider
traffic
too.
• Did
I
fill
the
gas
tank?
Shi=
posi;on
Stand
up
start
walking
Reach
for
keys
Walk
to
door,
lock
the
door
and
head
to
the
school

44. "I
think
you
can
learn
any
subject
be]er
if
you
have
a
way
to
express
it
as
a
procedure
(algorithm)
instead
of
a
set
of
facts".
-­‐
Don
Knuth
Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com

45. Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com
Humans
do
a
lot
of
ac;ons
by
following
procedures
backed
by
data
stored
in
memory
and
environment
data
processed
in
real-­‐;me
What
we
do
wrong
when
teaching
code:
1. We
take
a
long
;me
to
get
to
the
procedures
2. We
spend
a
lot
of
focus
on
fundamentals
of
programming
3. Defini;ons
and
Facts
4. Latest
and
greatest
frameworks
(“best
prac;ces”)
5.
We
teach
with
bias
based
on
our
experience

46.
We
over
complicate
so=ware
and
the
process
because
of
our
experience
Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com

47. #Data
First
Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com
DataFirst
means
you
learn
how
about
the
database
first,
before
learning
to
code
the
procedures
to
interact
with
it.

48. Learn
Data
before
you
master
coding
Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com

49. A
be]er
way
to
master
coding
If
you
are
not
formally
trained
computer
scien;sts
Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com

50. Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com
Learn
how
to
design
interfaces
This
topic
will
not
be
covered…
DATA
FIRST

51. Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com
Learn
more
database
and
more
procedures

52. Resources
to
manage
a
local
database:
Data.World
Social
network
for
Datasets.
Download.
PgAdmin
h]ps://www.pgadmin.org
MySQL
Workbench
h]ps://www.mysql.com/products/workbench
SQLPro
for
MSSQL
h]ps://www.macsqlclient.com
Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com

53. Download
this
presenta;on
at:
entrecoder.com
Follow
me
on
Twi]er:
@realmensah
Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com

54.
Thank
You
Data First: Teaching coders not to give up
Entrecoder.com