Brian Loves Coding and Basketball!

We had a chance to speak with ten-year-old Brian from California, who has been using Tynker since his teacher introduced it to him last year. Brian’s also learning how to use Python and wants to be a basketball player–and possibly a software engineer–when he grows up!

When he’s not coding great projects or studying his favorite subject (math), he’s probably playing basketball or cheering on his favorite team, the Golden State Warriors! His top two passions? Coding and basketball, according to his mom Susana. We sat down with Brian to learn more about why he loves to code!

How did you learn how to use Tynker when you were first starting out? I’ve done Scratch before, so I know how it works!

How have your coding skills improved since you started using Tynker? I think it improved a lot because I got to play other people’s games and check their code and see what’s wrong with my code. So, I learned a lot from other games that I’ve seen!

“Brian’s Fortnite Clicker 0.1”

How do you think learning to code has prepared you for the future? I think it might help me if I become like my dad; he’s a software engineer, so is my mom. So maybe I would become a software engineer. My dad wants me to be an intern at a software company, so maybe it’ll help me with that!

Why do you like to code? I think it’s fun putting blocks together, making your characters move, making a game, and seeing it doing good, like getting featured!

What is your favorite way to use code? I use variables a lot! I make a lot of games with those and I always use the “if, then” block a lot!

What do you do with a project when you’re done with it? If it gets popular, I will make an updated version, or if it just doesn’t do anything, I usually don’t do much with it, but then I might debug it a little.

What’s the best thing about Tynker? I like a lot of different things, so I can’t really choose one! When we got the search bar, I would see my friends’ games and they would heart my games, view my games, and I would heart theirs, so that we could have a lot of fun playing each others’ games.

Do you think other kids should try coding? Yes, I think coding is just a good way to entertain yourself. And I think it’s a good thing to learn because everything around the world has something to do with coding basically and everyone uses it in some way!

“Meteor Battle 0.1”

Susana, Brian’s mom, told us how coding helps Brian learn how to tackle challenges: “When I was working, I would get a project and always the first thought in my mind was, ‘How am I going to do this? I have no idea,’ but you do one line at a time and you do one thing at a time, and you learn to figure out how to untie the tangled yarn or whatever, so, I think Brian is learning that too, like problem solving skills.”

Brian combines his love of math with another passion: video games! “I think he has a very mathematical mind, so he likes doing things in a mathematical way, I think that’s helped him to be interested in coding too. And he likes playing video games so much too! I think he enjoys the fact that he’s creating a video game.”

Susana also explained how learning to code is helping Brian develop positive personality traits: “Kids learn the same skills in different ways. I think learning to be resilient and learning to be persistent is an important quality in life and kids learn that in many different ways; some kids learn it through sports, some through volunteering, I think Brian is learning that from coding too, because with coding you need determination and work ethic to actually create a project.”

Learning to code definitely requires persistence–and so does playing basketball! We’re sure that Brian will continue to have success as he pursues his passions. Thank you for taking the time to speak with us, Brian and Susana. We’re excited to see where Brian’s work ethic and love of coding and basketball take him in the future!