Our 2020 Summer Code Jam has come to an end (although the grand prize winner is still to be announced!). We\u2019re so impressed with the tens of thousands of submissions from throughout the summer and so excited to talk to some of our winners about their awesome projects and experiences with Tynker!
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Andrew is a Week 7 Code Jam winner, an 11-year-old from Kansas who can solve the Rubik\u2019s cube in 20 seconds! He\u2019s been playing drums since he was seven and just started playing the piano a year ago \u2014 Andrew is also an avid chess player and has even won prize money in competitions!
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When Andrew grows up, he has aspirations of becoming an engineer. His favorite subject in school is math because it comes naturally to him, and he appreciates that it always provides a straight answer.
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How did you get introduced to Tynker and how long have you been coding? <\/strong>I got introduced to Tynker by my dad. I already was interested in coding a little and during the summer my dad showed me this site called Tynker and I tried it out. So after trying it out, I actually liked it so I just did more and more! I started coding about 2 or 3 years ago. How did you learn how to use Tynker when you were first starting out? <\/strong>When I started Tynker there were a lot of courses, and Tynker just showed me which one to do first. I did a lot of the courses like one of the interactive courses, and this made it a lot easier to learn the blocks. And I learned a lot more after that! How have your coding skills improved since you started using Tynker? <\/strong>I think it has improved enormously, mainly because of the courses but also if you’re making a project and you don’t know the code block palette, Tynker will have an example and show you how to use each block and what it does! How did you feel when you found out your project had been featured?<\/strong> I was actually amazed because there are so many other people that submitted, and I didn’t think I would win! What is your favorite project you\u2019ve made so far and what do you like about it? <\/strong>I think it was my spaceship project because there are so many parts to it! Also it took me a long time to solve some problems, but after I finished it, I felt accomplished! Where did you get the idea for your favorite project and how long did it take you to make?<\/strong> Part of it was the example that the Tynker dev team made. Also, there\u2019s another project where you could shoot too! How do you get inspiration for your projects? <\/strong>Sometimes I look at other projects to get some inspiration. One time I was stuck on a problem but I checked out some other projects that helped me out. So I would definitely check out all the projects! Why do you like to code? <\/strong>It\u2019s just fun and I feel good after I make things work! Do you have a favorite code block? <\/strong>One of my favorite blocks are the variables! There are so many parts you can use it like a counter, like a score counter variable, those variables can do almost anything! What do you do with a project when you\u2019re done with it? <\/strong>After my project is done I usually show it to my dad and he gives me what he thinks would improve it and after if I need to debug it, I will. After I think it’s finished, I publish! What are you planning to make next? <\/strong>Right now I\u2019m learning Python, so I want to make something with Python! What\u2019s the best thing about Tynker?<\/strong> One of the best things is that the courses help because without them we wouldn’t learn very much. How do you think learning to code has prepared you for the future?<\/strong> Definitely, because it prepares me for a future because it will help me later and with problem solving and also it’ll help me with jobs and also thinking outside the box! Do you think other kids should try coding? <\/strong>Yeah! I think they should definitely try coding, but some people don’t like coding because it looks complicated but after you get to know a little it gets fun and then you want to learn more!
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