This document discusses how coding can improve one's life and provides tips for learning to code. It begins by defining what code is and explaining why coding is useful for creativity, automation, problem-solving skills, and confidence. It then discusses different roles in coding like coders, hackers, programmers and engineers. The document provides examples of success stories of people who learned to code and went on to create successful apps or businesses. Finally, it lists some approaches and resources for learning how to code, such as Codecademy, Khan Academy, Code.org and coding meetups.

1. How Coding Can Make Your Life
Better
Jamshid Hashimi
@jamshidhashimi
@CodeWeekend

2. Agenda
• Code? What is that?
• Why Coding?
• Coder, Hacker, Programmer, Engineer?
• How to Learn Coding?
• Success Stories
• Inspirations

4. Code? What is that?
• Code is a set of instructions that directs a
computer (desktop, smartphone, tablet, etc.)
to perform specific operations.
• The complete set of code
instructions is called software.
– Word on your desktop,
Angry Birds on your phone, and
Gmail in your browser.

5. Why Coding?
• Creativity (Experiment, Whole Brain Thinking, Creator)
• It helps us automate tasks and make them faster
• Breaking down problems become a habit
• It teaches that you get out of life in proportion to what you
put in.
• Confidence
• Dedication
• Patience
• Knowledge
• Research
• “If computers are at all a part of your life, then learning to
program is going to improve your life.”

6. Who Are You?
• Coder?
• Hacker?
• Programmer?
• Engineer?

7. Who Are You?
• Coder? You're a shut-in who spends most of
his (yes, statistically, you're probably a dude)
hunched over a laptop and rarely see the light
of day.
• Hacker? You're a bit dangerous (or at least you
imagine you are).
• Programmer? You're proud to be a nerd.
• Engineer? You're filling in your Match.com
profile.

8. How to Learn Coding?
• Start Small
• Try Different Approaches
• Find a community to support you
• Side Effects: You'll hit walls sometimes!
• Inspiration: but don’t give up! Take a break,
eat, sleep, try again tomorrow.

9. Success Stories
This 12-year-old kid learned to code on Codecademy, built 5
apps, and is speaking at SXSW

10. Success Stories
• Name: Ethan Duggan
• Age: 11
• Live in: Las Vegas
• Apps: Lazy Husband, Lazy Kid
• Frameworks using: Phonegap, AppGyver
• Learn coding from: Codecademy

11. Success Stories

12. Success Stories
• Henry D’Andrea – Secret Menu for Starbucks
• How: AppCoda (Learn iOS Programming from
Scratch)
• Advice: Never. Ever. Ever. Give Up.

13. Success Stories
Instagram Founder!

14. Success Stories
• Instagram’s founder had no programming
training.
• He was a marketer who learned to code by
night
• Sold Instagram to Facebook $1 billion.
• His first idea: Connecting Foursquare with
Mafia Wars. Raised $500K.

15. Success Stories

16. Success Stories
• Nathan: Made $19,000 on the App Store
While Learning To Code
• OneVoice: Gives voice for those who cannot
speak.

17. Success Stories

18. Success Stories
• App Name: Ishoot ($1.99)
• Ethan Nicholas
• Age: 31
• Country: US
• $1 Million in less than 7 months
• He had difficulty to pay his medical bills and
need to earn more money. Start learning
Objective-C and how to develop iPhone Apps.

19. Success Stories

20. Success Stories
• App Name: Rolly Candy
• Developer: Baptiste Greve
• Budget: $20
• 500 downloads in first two weeks. Played in 37
different countries by 6,800 people

21. Success Stories

22. Success Stories
• 17-year-old British high schooler Nick D'Aloisio
• The Justin Bieber of iPhone app development.
• He sold his iPhone app Summly, which he
started when he was 15, to Yahoo for $30
million
• How it works: The app uses an algorithm to
automatically create 400-character summaries
of news articles and deliver them to your
phone.

23. Success Stories
• Jamie Zawinski was one of the founders of
Netscape and Mozilla.org, was the primary
developer of Lucid Emacs, and wrote most of
your screen savers.
• Has only a high school degree!

24. Success Stories: Do We Have?

25. How to Learn Coding?
• Codecademy.com
• KhanAcademy.org/cs
• Code.org
• learncodethehardway.org
• TreeHouse
• Udacity
• CodeSchool
• Harvard's CS50x at edX
• CoderByte
• CodeWeekend! (Seriously)

26. Inspired? Think Again!

27. Questions?

28. Thank You!