Teaching the next generation of cloud professionals during the Hour of Code

The Hour of Code is coming! Amazon Future Engineer, Amazon Web Services, and AWS Educate are supporting Amazonians across the globe as they inspire kids to try computer science through Code.org’s Hour of Code – both powered by AWS. The Hour of Code takes place during Computer Science Education Week, December 9 to 15.

The Hour of Code is a global event where tens of millions of students in more than 180 countries are given a one-hour introduction to computer science and computer programming. You don’t need to be a tech employee or a software engineer to host an event or participate – anyone around the world can organize an Hour of Code event or try any of the one-hour tutorials available in more than 45 languages.

This year, Amazon employees from around the world will be volunteering to host an hour of code in K12 classrooms. Last year, thousands of Amazon employees volunteered during the Hour of Code, with over 140 events educating over 28,000 students from kindergarten to 12th grade.

Also this year, Scratch and AWS Educate together built a new activity for Hour of Code where students can bring animated characters to life in Scratch, using text-to-speech technology through Amazon Polly.

Code.org is a nonprofit dedicated to expanding access to computer science and increasing participation by women and underrepresented minorities. Their vision is that every student in every school has the opportunity to learn computer science, just like English, biology, or algebra. Amazon shares Code.org’s commitment to inspire students to participate in STEM education and prepare them for the jobs of the future through programs such as AWS Educate and Amazon Future Engineer.

Amazon Future Engineer is a comprehensive childhood-to-career program aimed at increasing access to computer science education for children and young adults from underserved and underrepresented communities. AWS Educate is Amazon’s global initiative to provide students comprehensive resources for building skills in cloud technology. With a focus on real-world, applied learning experiences, AWS Educate offers young learners access to self-paced content designed to introduce cloud computing technologies that drive innovation in fields such as artificial intelligence, voice and facial recognition, gaming, medical advancements, and more.

Interested in holding your own Hour of Code event? Visit the Code.org website to learn how to join in.