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Column How my school computer club turned into a worldwide movement

Cork teenager James Whelton set up CoderDojo to teach fellow students about computers – then watched it explode. He tells his story.

The idea of setting up an after-school computer club turned into a much bigger venture than 19-year-old James Whelton could have ever imagined.

One year on from setting up CoderDojo – a club where young people learn how to code, develop websites, apps, programs, games and more – this social entrepreneur says the skills that these children are learning are making them into desirable employees in the future. And they’re having fun too.

I WAS A very nerdy kid at school, I wasn’t great at sport or academics particularly, but computers they were my thing. So as I was growing up, I was always playing around with computers and I picked up things as I went along.

There was really nowhere at the time for me to go and learn about this stuff. In secondary school I won a web development award, which got announced over the intercom. One guy came up to me after class, said he was interested in learning, and asked did I know how iPhone apps were made. That was the beginning.

We held a meeting to see how many people were interested in this area of technology. I didn’t think there would be that much interest, but more than 40 people showed up.

The after-school computer club was popular. I was teaching basic HTML and CSS to my classmates. However, as we approached summer, people were wondering if we could carry on the club, and we were also getting some interest from kids in other schools.

I had gotten some notoriety online after hacking the iPod Nano and I was asked to speak at the Dublin Web Summit. So I ditched my Leaving Cert mock exam to go speak at that, and afterwards I met Bill Liao, an entrepreneur and philanthropist with SOSVentures, who was interested in growing the project into something bigger than just an after-school computer club. We talked about the economic standpoint of things and how there is a massive shortage of software developers and people in tech. So together we came up with CoderDojo.

Google building

In June 2011 the first CoderDojo was launched in the National Software Centre in Cork. I really never imagined how popular it would be, or how fast it would grow. The Cork Dojo saw people travelling from Dublin frequently to attend sessions, so we decided to set up a Dublin Dojo in Google’s Montevetro building. The increasing success lead to setting up of more Dojos around Ireland and subsequently around the world. Internationally now we have 102 CoderDojos listed. We have 35 or so in Ireland running on an active basis.

CoderDojo is a very relaxed environment for kids. The volunteers are fantastic and really engaging. The youngest CoderDojo student is about seven or eight years old with the eldest being about 17 or 18.

The club has a couple of roles. From the social and economic standpoint it is filling the void of the education system, but it is educating kids in a new skill also. Socially, it gives young people a place to hang out and meet like-minded people and let them work on projects together.

A lot of kids also use it as a platform to achieve other things they want to do. There is one 13-year-old boy in Cork who wanted to develop a website all about trees in Ireland, so he learnt how to do it through our workshops. It really is interesting to see kids with ideas.
From day one we decided that it would all be free – money can often cause headaches and poison things. Since we opened, we have had kids from a lot of diverse social backgrounds and they really benefit from it.

Worldwide success

I am currently employed by the same social entrepreneur company that Bill Liao runs, so I am a full time social entrepreneur with CoderDojo. I soon realised if I was not taking a wage I would be eating cat food. It is pretty amazing to be able to work with the project full time, and to see it grow throughout Ireland and the world. The one year anniversary of the initiative was the end of June – I can’t believe it has grown so fast.

We decided from day one to try and divorce ourselves from the education system. The education system is a very fickle thing. As we have built up a bit of weight, however, some schools have come to me voicing an interest.

I am so lucky to be able to see this grow from one simple idea to such a great venture. But the real strength behind the success of CoderDojo is the people behind it. The mentors and volunteers are why CoderDojo is what it is today. They have grown and defined it. CoderDojo has an incredible community thanks to everyone involved.

The sky is the limit as far as I’m concerned. If you have an idea, just go with it, you really never know what you can achieve.

James Whelton is the founder of CoderDojo. For more information, visit their website, Facebook or Twitter. James met Enda Kenny in the Dáil recently:

Photo: CoderDojo

Read: Coder Dojo founder, aged 20, honoured at Web Summit>

Read: Social entrepreneurs with big ideas win €775k prizes>

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21 Comments
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    Mute Philip Kelly
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    Jul 28th 2012, 7:41 PM

    Congratulations and a fantastic idea.
    I only wish this was around when I was in school.
    I spent years typing in basic code from computer weekly for simple games, and there was nobody else doing it at the time and I dropped it after school. Would have taken a different path if this had been around.
    Well done, hobby today, career tomorrow.

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    Mute Abi Dennis
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    Jul 29th 2012, 1:15 AM

    perhaps something like this could be done for adults too? i know id be interested

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    Mute Paul
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    Jul 29th 2012, 2:44 AM

    @Abi, I just did a crash course in scratch programming, you can download it free from scratch.mit.edu, check out a few videos on how to do it and you can look at what others have made and how they made it, and you can copy and evolve their code, ideas etc.. works a bit like Lego, the more you play with it the better you get. It’s quite basic at the start but you can do some cool stuff once you get good

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    Mute Kitta Please
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    Jul 28th 2012, 7:40 PM

    Fair f*cks to him. Also, there’s Enda Kenny, as usual embarrassing everyone like your cheesy Dad at Christmas dinner.

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    Mute Barry O'Brien
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    Jul 28th 2012, 8:24 PM

    Well done James. I’ll be bringing my young fella along to the cork dojo in September. he’s only 7 but already made a simple game and a calculator in Python :)

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    Mute Joan Featherstone
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    Jul 28th 2012, 8:14 PM

    Well done, I’m firmly convinced everyone has their ‘speciality’, be that an academic thing, a caring thing, or an arty thing, etc…all should be applauded in equal measure, all are of equal importance, in the greater scheme of things. This is a superb idea, fair fu.ks to you, you’ll go far and so you should’

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    Mute Brian Walsh
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    Jul 28th 2012, 10:09 PM

    A simple solution to a complex problem. Brilliant. Pity this couldn’t be encompassed in the schools curriculum and genuinely teach this stuff to the kids a few times a week, not for an hour a week by someone who’s a few years from retirement and afraid of computers. He’s right, he and others like him are filling a void in our educational system that has been there for years. The trouble is now that he’s doing it, the void will still be left there.

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    Mute Stephen Kearon
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    Jul 28th 2012, 10:19 PM

    Great idea, we’ll done James.

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    Mute LittleSparrowC
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    Jul 28th 2012, 11:48 PM

    Great success story congratulations James . Great to see someone who enjoys teaching and passing on a skill that could be life changing for some of the children .maybe the next bill gates is out there amongst them. Continued success for the future

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    Mute Gary Meehan
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    Jul 29th 2012, 1:07 AM

    That picture was taken at a special sitting of the CoderDojo which took place in the Dail. We are the first country to hold a “class” in their parliament buildings as far as I gather. CoderDojo is amazing and it’s scary how much some the kids know at them. God help the lecturers in third level when the kids eventually meet them.

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    Mute Graham O'Brien
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    Jul 29th 2012, 2:07 AM

    Would love to be able to attend something like this. Shame I’m well out of school :(

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    Mute Kev Dunne
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    Jul 29th 2012, 9:25 AM

    absolutely brilliant idea and badly needed in Ireland. got to say the pic of cash-in-kenny made me sick because this stuff should be part of the everyday curriculum imo. govt are totally dragging their feet on this to the detriment of Ireland.

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    Mute Gary Meehan
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    Jul 29th 2012, 2:27 AM

    I think dojo came from the Japanese meaning of “place to learn” and then coder as in they are training to become “Ninja” Coders. I would imagine it was an interesting process picking that name.

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    Mute Robert O'Connell
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    Jul 29th 2012, 8:14 AM

    I agree this is a great idea. I think it should be kept outside the education system and sponsored/funded like a charity. This will allow the people running it full freedom to let it develop in any direction it wants. I love the idea that google has given it a facility to use. The kick a kid must get out of walking into that building like that. It gives it a real buzz feeling.

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    Mute Brian Walsh
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    Jul 29th 2012, 1:10 PM

    I never thought of it that way, I guess you have a point there Robert, I still think if these folks are giving up their time to fill a void in our education system, the least the state can do is help them, maybe with equipment or premises.

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    Mute Tony Stanley
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    Jul 29th 2012, 1:35 AM

    I have to ask, where did you get the name CoderDojo from?

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    Mute John Moriarty
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    Jul 29th 2012, 7:17 AM

    I cannot understand why you got a single down vote, why would people be against such an overwhelmingly positive idea? Does anybody stand to lose anything?

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    Mute Aengus Moran
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    Aug 2nd 2012, 1:12 PM

    people scrolling down on mobile devices tapping the thumbs up/down by accident, I suspect as much as 50% of the ups and down’s here are unintentional.

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    Mute Sylvia O'Regan
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    Aug 8th 2012, 10:36 PM

    Such an uplifting story. Well done and may you continue to grow.

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    Mute censored
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    Jul 30th 2012, 11:18 PM

    This is a great idea, and it has really taken off. Well done James!

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    Mute Anne Fagan
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    Oct 19th 2012, 12:38 AM

    Well done. A brilliant idea.
    Would work for all ages

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