What to Say During Career Day to Kids - Coding Ideas with Kids

Have you ever struggled to find the right words to say to your kid during career day? Career day for kids exposes them to a wide range of opportunities for careers they can choose from. However, what you say to them, your presentation, and how ‘cool’ you describe your career. Career day also provides the opportunity for valuable interaction between kids and professionals.

Unlike popular careers, a career day for kids in STEM can be daunting, especially for parents. The great part of it all? It is inevitable. Whether your kids are kindergartens, middle schoolers, or high schoolers, they will experience a career day, at least once. Computer science, coding, and software engineering subjects are prejudiced to be difficult, although, in reality, they are not. Computer science and programming skills are necessary skills kids need to learn today. STEM education paves the way for endless opportunities for kids and a career day is a wonderful opportunity for kids to learn more about the perks of choosing a STEM career.

In this article, you will get amazing career day tips for kids in computer science and software engineering.

Overview of Career Day for Computer Science and Engineering

Just as aforementioned, STEM education for kids is relatively new and a career day presentation for software engineers is not the easiest. While it is not a necessity for kids to get clarity on their futures, it is a plus. This is why career day is essential for kids and tweens as it gives them an up-close view of diverse careers, including careers they have never heard about.

In other words, a career day for kids in computer science and engineering should gear kids up about developing their careers around STEM. It should also be an opportunity to enlighten kids about the life of a software engineer. For high school kids, you can also let them understand some of the struggles of being a software engineer. Every career has its perks and disadvantages, so you must educate your high schoolers about everything surrounding the software engineering career.

However, presentation matters, and what you say has the potential to affect their decisions, which is why you need to be prepared and have a detailed outline before D-day.

All About Career Day for Kids

Career day for kids can mean different things. For some, it can be an opportunity to flaunt themselves in their dream careers, for others, it is a day to learn about various new careers and professions, while for many, it presents an opportunity for them to learn both. A career day is a big, auspicious day for kids, parents, and educational instructors, and lots of effort goes into its preparation to ensure that kids garner sustainable knowledge on real-world careers in a fun and interesting way.

Career day for young kids broadens their horizons, especially on careers they never thought impossible. Kids love adventure, so imagine telling a kid that they could make an incredible career out of building games or designing websites. A career day is particularly important because it forms a huge part of their career decision and just one word from you is enough to make or mar their decisions.

Many schools have spiced up their career day celebrations to include careers in technology. This motivates kids to learn about various technology careers and trends. Software engineering, game development, computer programming, mobile app development, robotics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence, among others.

Best Tips for Presenting As Software Engineer

Many software engineers and programmers who have witnessed a career day confess that talking to kids about their career is difficult, because unlike other popular “superhero” careers like doctors, teachers, astronauts, pilots, engineers, etc. This is why parents in these fields must effectively create awareness for kids and present their careers in the most incredible way ever.

Here are the best tips for presenting as a software engineer on career day for kids:

Explain the concept of software engineering to kids using games suitable for their age.

Capture their interest by telling them that a software engineer fits into any profession. As a software engineer, you have the privilege to experience varieties of other professions and gain experience. For instance, you can design and program a war robot for the army in your country, build a website for a culinary company, and build an incredible app that helps sick people, among others.

Rather than giving a long, boring lecture, you can present using a visual representation and involve kids in the entire process. Kids are most likely to learn faster and develop an interest in the subject when you show them, rather than explain it to them.

Keep it short and active. We recommend that your presentation should be no longer than an hour at the most.

Explain to them that software engineering allows you to be your own boss. Your applications and inventions only function in the capacity they are programmed, which is super amazing.

Presentation Outline for Software Engineer Career Day

There is no static method for presenting software engineering on career day for kids, all that matters is that you are able to win them over with your presentation. However, you still need an outline to guide you through the process of effective delivery, and below are a couple of software engineering outlines on kids' career day.

Also, your presentation should be dependent on grades. The essence of an outline is to tailor the presentation to fit the kids’ age and comprehension levels. Here is a general presentation outline for software engineering career day.

Define programming in the most basic ways ever. Programming for kids can be relayed in multiple ways. Endeavor to keep the definition short, relatable, and simple
Discussion- what do you think about the computer: smart, dumb? Or an independent thinker? You’d be shocked at some of their answers.
Explain the job of a software developer with apt visual slides. Use kid-relatable scenarios for this.
The impacts of software engineers in our world today.
Engage them in a short hands-on activity that captures what they can do as kid software engineers. For instance, you can do Jim’s presentation with the sandwiches.

If you are speaking to kids about computer engineering as a career during a career day event, you could say something like:

"Hi everyone! My name is [name] and I'm a computer engineer. Do you know what a computer engineer does? We design and build computers and other tech products. We also write software and make sure that everything works together smoothly. It's a really exciting field because we get to use our creativity and problem-solving skills to make things that help people and make their lives easier. If you're interested in math, science, and technology, you might want to consider becoming a computer engineer one day. It's a great way to use your talents to make a difference in the world."

You could also talk about some specific projects you've worked on, or the types of companies or industries you've worked in, to give kids a better idea of what a computer engineer does on a day-to-day basis. Remember to keep it interactive and engaging, and encourage kids to ask questions.

Topic Ideas for Career Day in Elementary School

Elementary schoolers between the ages of 5-11 learn faster with visual representation and hands-on learning. So, here are incredible topics you can focus on for career day for elementary schoolers.

What can a computer do?

Using a physical computer, you can enlighten kindergartens on the uses of a computer.

Feed the Mouse

This is an amazing STEM game for kids. Parents can use this game to teach kids about debugging, algorithms, and the essence of rules in computer science.

Teach a Robot to Stack Cups

Using this game, you can explore topics on robotics, algorithms, critical thinking as a software engineer, debugging, and many more!

Topic Ideas for Career Day in Middle School

Below are great topic ideas for a career day for middle schoolers.

Using computer science to keep people safe
How to start making money as a software engineer
Robots and their invaluable roles in the world
Superheroes who have saved the world through computer science

Topic Ideas for Career Day in High School

High school kids have an expanded vocabulary, so career day presentations should be packed with comprehensive explanations. You can present using slides and other practical means to make it fun and interactive. Here are topic ideas for high schoolers in software engineering.

Goals and responsibilities of a computer programmer
The simplicity of coding (you can demonstrate this using practical coding in no more than 15 steps)
How to make money as a kid programmer
Basic programming commands using a lego robot
Building a 3D game from scratch

Frequently Asked Questions

What should I talk about as a computer programmer on my child’s career day?

There are so many computer science topics you can explore on your kid’s career day as a computer programmer. Amazing computer programming topics include game development, basic programming commands using a LEGO robot, making money through computer programming, ethical hacking, and many more.

What are some topics to present on computer science for an elementary school career day?

For elementary schoolers, parents should focus on computer science games that cover topics on algorithms, debugging, functions of a computer, statements, etc.

What are some topics to discuss for a data science job for career day?

Data science is broad, and there are so many job options for data scientists. Topic ideas for career day for kids in data science include machine learning, statistical analysis, deep learning, computing, algorithm, data visualization, and data merging.

Final Thoughts On Career Day Presentation in Computer Programming

Just be yourself! Kids are technologically savvy, even more than we can imagine. So, when presenting around computer programming topics on career day ensure that you keep it simple and void of jargon. Computer programming can be very boring for kids who have no idea about the subject, so try to make it as fun and interactive as possible. Remember, the goal is to make them love it, not run away from it!