This article was taken from the July 2013 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by <span class="s1">subscribing online.
When Kathryn Parsons tells people that her startup, Decoded, can teach anyone how to code and build an app in a single day, she says the response is usually incredulity. "I love that reaction," she says. "Before we started, everybody said it was impossible. It took us a year to develop that day's structure."
In August 2011, Decoded launched its first session of Code In A Day with two teachers and ten students. It has now taught more than 2,500 executives from companies such as Unilever, WPP, Microsoft and Google how to code and launch an app, and visualise data.
Parsons, 31, came up with the idea for Decoded when she struggled to hire developers for her previous creative agency, The Scarlett Mark. "I felt like coding was a dark art. I'm a linguist and I wanted to learn the language that underpins our lives right now."
After meeting creative adman Steve Henry, who became her cofounder, she realised she wasn't alone. "Steve told me that most CEOs of digital companies didn't know anything about coding either."
Although self-funded, London-based Decoded is expanding its operation to Singapore and New York, and has launched pop-up workshops in Shanghai and Palo Alto. "We're helping to solve a serious issue because there are millions of programming jobs that go unfilled," says Parsons, who is also planning to launch the Decoded Foundation this year -- an educational programme to teach school-teachers from all subjects about coding. "It's evident this issue exists because nobody is being taught how to code in schools. Hopefully we'll demystify coding and make it less intimidating."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
