Rock Climber Max’s Competitive Spirit Motivates Him to Code

Max is an 11-year-old from Chicago, Illinois who has published some awesome projects to the Tynker community, like his Dance Machine simulator. We wanted to learn more about his hobbies and why he codes.

What are your hobbies? I rock climb and I do origami, like paper cranes and other things.

What are your favorite subjects in school? I like math and I like science and reading. I’m reading this book called Out of the Dust.

How did you get introduced to code? Using Tynker in school. We used it in class and then I started using it at home. I downloaded it for Hour of Code, and then I started using it and doing the Workshop so I could understand the code more.

Do your friends use Tynker? Yes, they show me what they’ve made and I show them what I’ve made. Sometimes we try to make projects together. They send me stuff about what they’re making and they show me their projects. Sometimes I’m like, “Oh, you could add this onto it.”

Do you ever look at the projects in the Tynker community? Yeah, I look at them a lot because they’re really cool. And some of them are awesome. I add on to some of them.

What’s your favorite thing about Tynker? I like how you can animate and draw your own things.

What’s your favorite project you’ve made? My Dance Machine project.

What motivates you to code? I saw other people made things that didn’t have as much stuff, so I thought that I could make it way better by just adding a lot more buttons.

Is there anything you’re planning to make? Yeah, I’m adding on to that dance project so I’m making it better. I’m adding more dance people.

Why do you like to code? Because it’s fun and it’s like a problem solving situation. So, like, sometimes you have to mess around with numbers because something’s too big or it’s not running smoothly or it’s going too fast or too slow. Once you get it right, it feels really good.

Do you think other kids should learn to code? Yes! So people can code different things that could be useful to this world.

What advice would you give to someone who’s new to coding? Look at a lot of the tutorials on how to do stuff. It helped me a lot.

Max’s mother Stephanie says she loves that coding gives him an “active project” to be engaged with. She and her husband consider themselves anti-screen time, so they don’t like their kids spending time watching TV, but she says coding on Tynker “is something he can do where he’s actually being productive, so I think it’s great.” As Stephanie points out, “There’s a difference between passively just absorbing something and actively engaging with it. I think coding is great on that end too.”

It was great talking to you, Max! We’re so excited to see what you’ll make next.