More than a dozen Milwaukee companies and organizations are hosting classes on coding for area students next week in an initiative dubbed “Hour of Code.”
Spearheaded by Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. and NEWaukee, the regional effort aims to teach at least 1,000 hours of code at more than 25 events being held from Dec. 3 to 9, Computer Science Week.
The aim is to develop potential tech talent in the area by helping to bridge the gap in computer science learning and exposure some students experience. According to code.org, less than 40 percent of U.S. high schools teach computer science.
According to Northwestern Mutual, Wisconsin has about 8,000 open computing jobs, and the seven-county Milwaukee region is projected to have more than 30,000 open technology jobs in the next five years.
Among the companies hosting Hour of Code events are Rockwell Automation Inc., Betty Brinn Children’s Museum, SysLogic, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Marquette University, SHARP Literacy and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
More information about the individual events is available here.