The Hour of the Code: the children approach the programming

Microsoft and Real Madrid join the initiative of Code.org to help children lose their fear of computers

   Knowing how to program will be as important in the future as reading, writing or doing multiplications. And so that no one is left behind, today's children have to approach computing without fear, and not just to play. With this premise in mind, Microsoft has once again joined the Hour of Code, an initiative promoted by Code.org that is celebrated around the world coinciding with the Educational Science Week and that seeks to spread among children and girls basic knowledge of programming and computing.

   This year, in addition, the initiative has been joined by Real Madrid, and three players of the white team, Sergio Ramos, Marcelo and Isco have participated together with the children in an event that has taken place in the capital.

The programming will open many working doors in the future. The European Commission estimates that in the year 2020 there will be around 900,000 vacancies in the field of technology in Europe that will need to be covered.

Technology is very important for employability and also for developing critical thinking of young people. It is very good that children have experience of what it is to do things with technology, explains Pilar López, president of Microsoft Ibérica.

The easiest way for children to enter the world of programming is through games and, in particular, the Minecraft Hour of Code Designer tutorial, a platform created especially for Code Time by the designers of the Minecreaft videogame. Mojang and Microsoft, in collaboration with Code.org.