{"id":10777,"date":"2018-08-15T09:00:54","date_gmt":"2018-08-15T16:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/?p=10777"},"modified":"2023-03-08T17:14:15","modified_gmt":"2023-03-09T01:14:15","slug":"meet-mark-aspiring-software-engineer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/meet-mark-aspiring-software-engineer\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Mark, Aspiring Software Engineer!"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\">Meet Mark, Aspiring Software Engineer!<\/h1>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you\u2019re on the lookout for incredibly advanced Tynker projects, Featured Maker Mark is your guy! He lives in Sacramento, California, and is thirteen years old. When he\u2019s not busy with his 8th grade studies, he enjoys flying his remote control airplane and dabbling in video games. We chatted with Mark to learn more about him and why he likes to code!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>What do you want to be when you grow up?<\/strong> I want to be a software engineer.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What\u2019s your favorite subject in school?<\/strong> Probably math. I just think it\u2019s kind of simple, and I like how there\u2019s always a direct answer.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How did you get introduced to Tynker?<\/strong> I was looking for something where I can code, but not so complicated, and then I found this! I discovered it on my own. I\u2019m not too sure how long I\u2019ve been using it, probably about a year. I use it to keep updating my game!<\/p>\n<p><strong>How did you learn how to use Tynker?<\/strong> By experimenting to see how everything works!<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is your favorite thing you\u2019ve made?<\/strong> Right now I have a simple one which is tic-tac-toe, but my favorite is Free Drone \u2013 the one that has 23,000 views.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<!-- iframe plugin v.6.0 wordpress.org\/plugins\/iframe\/ -->\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"\/ide\/embedded?p=579d897365e4f2fd5f8b4567&#038;controls=yes&#038;autostart=no\" height=\"350\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\"><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>&#8220;FreeDrone&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Do you look at the Tynker community projects?<\/strong> Yeah! I\u2019m trying to figure make a joystick instead of the button system that I have, but I haven\u2019t figured out how to do that yet. I\u2019ve been looking at other projects to try to figure out how to do it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How do you get inspiration for your projects?<\/strong> Most of the time I just get an idea and make it, and if I need help with something I look at other projects that other people have made and combine it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What\u2019s your favorite feature in Tynker?<\/strong> I like the way that it\u2019s not complicated! It\u2019s simple and all the blocks are sorted on the left of the screen.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What do you do with a project when you\u2019re done with it?<\/strong> I just see if I can make it any better! I usually just make it the best I can and then keep making it better than the best by updating it every once in a while.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<!-- iframe plugin v.6.0 wordpress.org\/plugins\/iframe\/ -->\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"\/ide\/embedded?p=598120c35ae029236b8b4569&#038;controls=yes&#038;autostart=no\" height=\"350\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\"><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>How do you think learning coding now will help you in the future?<\/strong> It\u2019s good to understand the basics and maybe learn a little more intermediate coding.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why do you like to code?<\/strong> I find it interesting how you can make all these things that would normally make no sense into something that could be a game for someone to play!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Do you think other kids should try coding?<\/strong> Yeah, it\u2019s fun!<\/p>\n<p><strong>What advice would you give for kids starting out with Tynker?<\/strong> Start with one character and try to make it so you can move it with some buttons. Maybe not some sophisticated ones, but simple ones, like broadcasting one thing to make it move and stuff like that.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Mark\u2019s father (also named Mark) is a software developer himself. He told us he\u2019s \u201cglad [Mark is] interested \u2013 I think it\u2019s a creative thing for him to do.\u201d Mark believes coding helps his son \u201clearn to think and to plan things out \u2013 taking things that don\u2019t appear to be connected and assembling them into something that is. I think hopefully that skill will translate into other areas also, like other areas of science or possibly English.\u201d We agree \u2013 computational thinking and the soft skills that come with learning to code build patterns of success in many academic areas! As we wrapped up our interview, Mark said, \u201cI think it\u2019s a creative endeavor for him too, so hopefully it\u2019s a form of expression for him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Coding certainly increases creativity, and we\u2019re always amazed at the ingenuity in Mark\u2019s projects. Thanks for speaking with us, Mark and Mark! We can\u2019t wait to see how you update and improve your games. Happy coding!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Meet Mark, Aspiring Software Engineer! If you\u2019re on the lookout for incredibly advanced Tynker projects, Featured Maker Mark is your guy! He lives in Sacramento, California, and is thirteen years old. When he\u2019s not busy with his 8th grade studies, he enjoys flying his remote control airplane and dabbling in video games. We chatted with Mark to learn more about [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13099,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[510,38,54],"tags":[441],"class_list":["post-10777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-block-coding","category-coding-stories","category-featured-makers","tag-featured-maker"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Meet Mark, Aspiring Software Engineer! - Tynker Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/meet-mark-aspiring-software-engineer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meet Mark, Aspiring Software Engineer! - Tynker Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Meet Mark, Aspiring Software Engineer! 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