September 12th, the 256th day of the year, is a significant date for programmers because the number 256 represents all the values possible within an eight-bit byte. This day is celebrated as International Programmer’s Day.

Dr. Daiana Beitler, Philanthropies Lead at Microsoft Asia, emphasizes how much we rely on the work of programmers. Our ability to connect with loved ones and shop online is thanks to their efforts.

Microsoft highlights the importance of coding for several key reasons:

Source: Microsoft. A study by Accenture found that over 22% of the world’s economic output is connected to digital skills, infrastructure, products, or services.

Source: Microsoft. The World Economic Forum predicts over five million jobs will be lost by 2020 due to technological advancements. However, technology also creates jobs and boosts economic growth by stimulating other industries.

Source: Microsoft. Coding empowers individuals to transform their ideas into products, contributing to the app economy, which App Annie projects to reach US$101 billion by 2020.

Source: Microsoft. Numerous free resources are accessible for aspiring coders.

Ready to learn more?

Here are four suggestions:

• Watch Code Trip, a documentary by Microsoft and Roadtrip Nation, following computer science students as they meet coding professionals, researchers, and robotics engineers. This film offers inspiration and career guidance from those who have built successful tech careers.

• The Minecraft Hour of Code Tutorial introduces coding basics within the popular Minecraft game environment.

• Small Basic provides a beginner-friendly platform for learning to code.

• Explore software development: Kodu Game Lab allows game creation on PCs and Xbox using visual programming, while Touch Develop is an environment for building apps for touch-enabled mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.

Hashtag: #ProgrammersDay