Maintaining the momentum
My adventure into the wonderful world of coding and programming started in 2012 with the launch of Raspberry Pi 1 Model B. I knew very little about coding apart from the occasional PIC-AXE electronic projects or Flowol charts. I had also at the time jailbroken my iPhone to reveal the open source core in the operating system, so when I saw the Raspberry Pi launch with Debian as an operating system I knew instantly I wanted one. To say that I was a “n00b” in programming terms is an understatement, but the promise of hooking electronics and peripherals up to the 26 GPIO pins was the ultimate incentive to learn – fast. However, every single board was snapped up in less than a fortnight and so the only chance to get hold of one at the time was to head over to eBay.
For those of us that was part of the ‘first wave’, I think few could have foreseen the incredible growth from informal gatherings of incurable geeks to established monthly local events and jams – all centred around coding and making. Events like Raspberry Jams, Coder Dojo’s and PiWars have spawned extraordinary young talents like Amy Mather, Andrew Mulholland, Joshua Lowe and HackerFemo to name but a few – it’s a long list!
The momentum of this movement is kept alive by an extraordinary effort by many volunteers worldwide. I feel privileged to be a part of this community – not just because I learn something new every day, but also because we’re passing something very valuable on to the next generation.