I will join you on your journey of learning programming from the basics as you learn how to use coding and data to solve real life problems. Before I joined the university, I was an instructor at a programming bootcamp, which taught me a number of things about learning coding:

When we learn programming, we never start from complete zero. Rather, it's a journey of building on top of previous experiences and your own thinking patterns. It's about leveraging what you already know and what you can do about finding new ways to solve puzzles and communicate your thoughts. 

I also experienced that teaching programming is all about empathy. Me trying to understand you. You're trying to understand me and all of us getting friendly with the computer, you know, that very clumsy friend that we somehow love. 

Indeed, all the computer work I've ever done was about bridging the gap between humans and computers. Over the last 15 years, I've built computer programmes for wellbeing food production, entertainment and even textile industry. It's always been about investigating what the human user needs, how they think, and finally bringing them something that can make them happier. 

Which takes us to the philosophy on which my courses are built:

1. Programming is a storytelling exercise. It's like telling a joke or negotiating bedtime with a child or telling the way to a tourist that doesn't quite speak your language. It's about sharing your thoughts in the language that's understandable to your audience while leveraging their strengths and avoiding their weaknesses.

2. Programming is social. It happens with other people. The best way to really understand something is to try to explain it to someone else. So during the courses, you will work in pairs and take turns explaining the code to each other. This way you will learn how to ask good questions and how to provide meaningful answers.

3. Programming is a craft like knitting. You can't just learn it from the book you need to practise, just like you could read about rules of chess or strategies in basketball or physics of skateboarding. That would not mean that you will automatically be able to do these fun things you'll need to get out there and practise. During the courses the theory will be interwoven with a lot of exercises and work. We will learn from little victories and acquire a number of transferrable skills and thinking patterns.

4. Programming is fun. It's definitely not about pushing yourself or working through the pain. Yikes! Learning programming is about finding your joy in process of creation. It's like baking your own bread or growing your own vegetables. It's definitely does not need to be perfect to be fun. And as you grow your skills, you will feel pride in what you've created, especially when what you're building will make other people's lives better. And it will definitely make your own life better and more creative. Because oh yeah:

5. Programming is creative. Every single one of you in the class will solve the same programming puzzle in your own slightly different way. Your code will show your personality and your mood. It will be like like painting or singing a song. You know, we all will use the same colours or notes, but produce something slightly different and just as beautiful so as you grow and learn. You will see your code change and you will see that there are many ways to arrive at the correct answer.

I will teach you a few subjects in the incoming year. And I'm really excited to join you on this journey of writing. Good code, the type of code that is a tool for you yourself to clarify What is it that you want to achieve and then at all for you and your team to communicate with each other about it. And finally, only once you figured out what this is that you want to build, it becomes a tool to communicate that to the computer. 

That was me, Pawel Orzechowski, see you soon.