Serving as the headquarters for some of the most valuable companies in world such as Google, Apple, and Facebook, it’s no wonder that California has become one of the most tech-central states in the country.
The future of the tech economy has, in some cases, outpaced what the public school curriculum can offer students. UCode located on Clark Road in Orcutt is one solution to filling that technology gap.
Owner Scott Mueller started UCode with the goal of teaching students how to write computer code at an early age.
According to Mueller, it began with teaching math to his son, Ken, who went from knowing one plus one to advanced calculus by the age of 6. Mueller soon moved from teaching advanced math to showing Ken how to code. For Mueller, education in computer programming became a big part in his son’s life.
“For me, as a father, the big thing is that it teaches kids how to think deeply and solve complex problems,” Mueller said. “In addition to that, it gives them these skills that could lead to lucrative jobs. We have a shortage of programmers.”
Realizing that local schools were not teaching computer programming and recognizing his ability to teach the subject to his son, Mueller knew he could do the same for other students.
While pursuing a doctorate degree at the University of Southern California, Mueller ran into Klaus Schauser, his professor from UC Santa Barbara, and convinced Mueller to leave school to collaborate on a now-defunct, albeit successful geneology website appletree.com.
Mueller told Schauser about his ability to teach his son computer code, and his former professor soon became a business partner, investing in UCode. Just before this encounter, Schauser had sold his websites GoToMeeting.com and GoToMyPc.com for millions of dollars.
Mueller rented an office space at first, but with the initial success of UCode, he was able to buy out the entire rental space and convert it into UCode’s first location in Hermosa Beach, opening his doors to students in March 2012.
Mueller and his business partner Nick Marks briefly taught coding to students at Lompoc schools, where Marks met Andrew King, a U.S. Army veteran with experience in information technology. Wanting to establish a UCode location in Northern Santa Barbara County, Mueller tapped King to run the Orcutt location. He now teaches kids from 5 to 17 years old how to build computer programs at UCode.
With a membership of $200 per month per individual, King starts his students off with Scratch, which is a free and easy-to-use programming language that is sort of a stepping stone to more advanced languages, such as HTML, Javascript, or C++. A membership gets students up to six hours of instruction per week. Members can cancel at any time.
Many students, King said, come to UCode wanting to learn how to create video games, which has become an extremely popular career, and one of the curricula at UCode is modifying the video game. Class sizes are small, usually containing no more than four students, which gives UCode the benefit of paying more individualized attention to its students. There are no textbooks and no lectures. All kids can learn at their own pace and work on their own projects.
King said that coding is the wave of the future. Anything with electronics—from advanced supercomputers, to building websites, and even programming Furbies—involves some level of programming. Even Miami Heat basketball superstar Chris Bosh came out in support of learning how to code in a Wired article he penned in October of last year.
It’s not about getting kids to eventually work at companies like Google, but getting them to create the next Google, King said.
“Coding is going to affect every aspect of our lives,” King said. “It’s not a job that’s going away. There will always be a job for coders.”
UCode is located at 555 East Clark Avenue. For more information, call 888-888-8681.
Staff Writer David Minsky wrote this week’s Biz Spotlight. Information should be sent to the Sun via fax, email, or mail.
