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Comment by Swizec | Hacker News Reader

> Limiting the profession to those who started naturally at a young age is a good way to keep out everyone but rich mostly-white kids with college-educated parents.

Counter-example: I started coding at 9, got my first at-home family computer 3 years later, and my parents graduated college when I was already in college. This was back when a PC cost more than my parents made in 2 months. Now laptops can be got for $300.

It's not about rich, it's about having coding after-school classes as available as soccer (or whatever) practice.

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> It's not about rich, it's about having coding after-school classes as available as soccer (or whatever) practice.

Ok... so what about the kids who want to play soccer instead of being cooped up inside?

The idea that you might have to choose between playing a sport and getting enough experience to consider going into CS/SE in college is ridiculous.

> Ok... so what about the kids who want to play soccer instead of being cooped up inside?

I don't see what your point is. The OP suggests that coding after school classes should be as available as soccer practices. Do you think that if coding classes after school are made available then somehow it is harmful?

OK ... so what about the kids who want to be cooped up inside instead of playing soccer?

The idea that you might have to choose between coding and getting enough experience to consider being a professional soccer player is ridiculous.

;)

But my point was about having the choice and opportunity.

Or rather, it's either about rich or about having a adequately funded and provisioned school system for people who are not.

I went through my first year at community college without even having a desktop computer. All of my home programming was with pencil and paper, and I used the lab. I can imagine that if you're 9, you may not have parents that can carve out an extra $300 so you can see if you like computers, or a lab at your school that has free computers that you have a sufficient level of access to in order to run or install the software you would need. I was in my 20s, and still limited.

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