This story begins on July 13, 2012, the day when we had our final presentation to become Google partner. My wife and I were expecting our first baby and, on the morning of 13th, we were told that today is the day. I talked to Jesse, our Google Partner Manager, from the labor and delivery waiting room while running back and forth to check on my wife. Five hours later our son was born. We shared this story in the opening chapter of our first book that launched this week.
We could have easily rescheduled the partner meeting so why did we have to do it on the same day? Why did we share the story in the book…was it just a funny anecdote? The answer is commitment. When you are 100% committed to something – you find the way – and the universe tends to help those who are on the right path.
Eight years later, now with 3 kids, my first book came out at the exact same time I started to teach my son Python. Total coincidence, or is it?
In our book, we talk about where the industry is going and all the exciting things that we see happening with AI, machine learning, data science, etc.
As parents, part of our job is to get the kids excited about learning, especially if we are fortunate to have unique expertise and experience we can share with our children to stimulate and accelerate their learning.
Why do I need to teach an 8-year-old Python? Right now Python is THE language that is most commonly used for machine learning and data science. I do not want to just talk about machine learning and data science in our book. If this is the future, then we want to go all in. In my case, going all in means that if my child is interested in computers, it is Python that I want him to be learning because machine learning and AI is the future. If you are jumping in – you have to jump in all the way, including what is most dear to you – your children’s future. My 6 year old daughter is not ready for Python yet, so she is having a ton of fun with Photoshop and computer animation.
Finally, I am proud to share that we are launching a couple of group programming classes for our employees’ children, ranging from 8 – 13. InfoTrust is going to cover the cost of these classes.
Why are we doing this? Equality starts with equal opportunities. My wife discovered CODDY, a fantastic online training academy. My kids love it. If we are one community then it is important that the children of our team members are provided with the same educational opportunities. We talk about gender equality and women in technology, right? Let’s not talk about it – let’s be about it. I want my kids to study side by side with the kids of my team members so as parents, together, we can demonstrate to our children how cool careers in STEM can be and how much fun they can have doing it together.
