A Career in

COMPUTER Coding
For the
SCIENCE REAL World TM

Careers in Computers
COM
Careers in Computers: Explore careers
in the field of computer science that
SCI
utilize computational thinking to develop
programs and devices.

ISBN: 9781538352519
Rory McCallum
L 6-pack ISBN: 9781508136958
 Computer Science for the Real World Whole Class Activity
A Career in Coding: Careers in Computers Start a discussion with the students about careers in
computer science. Ask the students if they have ideas
Instructional Guide about the kinds of jobs that might be available in computer
science. Make a list of careers on the board or chart paper.
Vocabulary
Share some resources with the students, including books
brainstorm
and websites. Have each student choose a career to learn
career
more about. They should learn about what people do
challenge
in that career, what education is needed, and any other
industry
important facts about the career. Have each student use
project
their research to create a job advertisement within the field
Background Knowledge they studied. The advertisement should include what the
If students are interested in computer science, then a job title is, the name of the company, a job description, the
career using computers might be a perfect fit. Careers proposed salary, and the level of the education needed for
in computers are on the rise across many industries, so the job.
the need for coding experts is greater than ever before.
Independent Activity
Remind students that they can work toward a career in
Each student should work independently to explore a few
computers even at a young age by learning how to code. In
coding websites, such as:
this book, readers learn about how programmers use their
[Link]
coding skills in their everyday work. Programmers create
[Link]
and fix code and often work as a team to solve problems.
[Link]
Ask students how computer skills have helped them with
Have each student write a review of one of these websites,
school. How might learning to code help them with their
explaining what it is used for and how it helps people learn
future career?
about coding.
Text-Dependent Questions
1. What do computer programmers do?
2. Do computer programmers have to create code
from scratch?
3. What’s a programming language?
4. What can members of a team share with
one another?
5. What are the “bugs” in code?

(Continued on inside back cover.)

A Career in
Coding
Careers in Computers
COM
SCIE
Rory McCallum

COMPUTER
For the
SCIENCE REAL World TM
Published in 2018 by The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc.
29 East 21st Street, New York, NY 10010

Copyright © 2018 by The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be

reproduced in any form without permission in writing
from the publisher, except by a reviewer.

Book Design: Jennifer Ryder-Talbot

Editor: Caitie McAneney

Photo Credits: Cover, 8 sabrisy/[Link]; p. 4 ronstik/

[Link]; p. 6 dotshock/[Link]; p. 10 [Link]/
[Link]; p. 12 ESB Professional/[Link]; p. 14 GaudiLab/
[Link].

ISBN: 9781538352519
6-pack ISBN: 9781508136958

Manufactured in the United States of America

CPSIA Compliance Information: Batch #WS18RC: For Further Information contact Rosen Publishing, New York, New York at 1-800-237-9932
 Table of Contents
What Do Programmers Do? 5

Problem-Solving Masters 7

Code Creators 9

Teamwork 11

Debugging 13

Does It Work? 14

Glossary 15

Index 16
4 COMPUTER
For the
SCIENCE REAL World TM
 What Do
Programmers Do?
Do you want a career in coding?
Computer programmers work with code
as part of their job. They create programs
that make a computer do certain tasks.
They also fix code that has problems in it.
Programmers work for many different
kinds of companies. Some work for
companies that create software, or
computer programs, for many different
industries. Every industry, from
education to medicine, needs software.

5 CO
SC
6 COMPUTER
For the
SCIENCE REAL World TM
 Problem-Solving
Masters
Do you like to solve problems? We
solve problems in our lives every day.
Some problems are so small that we
don’t even realize we’re solving them.
Programmers are masters of solving
problems. First, programmers must figure
out what the problem or challenge is.
Then, they try to fix it one step at a time.
Breaking down a problem makes it easier
to solve.

7 CO
SC
8 COMPUTER
For the
SCIENCE REAL World TM
 Code Creators
Sometimes programmers have to
create new code. They need to know
the right computer language for the job.
Computer languages make it possible
to tell a computer what to do. There are
many different computer languages.
Programmers who create code have
to first look at their project as a whole.
Then, they have to break it down into
smaller steps. They think about different
questions. What does this program have
to do? What will the different parts of the
program be?
9 CO
SC
10 COMPUTER
For the
SCIENCE REAL World TM
 Teamwork
Programmers sometimes work
alone. Some work from home. However,
programmers often work together as
a team. They share ideas and parts of
code to help each other solve problems.
They may brainstorm different ways to
approach building a computer program.
When a team works together, members
can finish a project much faster than if
they worked alone. They can help each
other find bugs, or mistakes, in a program.

11 CO
SC
12 COMPUTER
For the
SCIENCE REAL World TM
 Debugging
Computer code can be made up of
long strings of letters and numbers. There
are many ways code can have bugs in it.
Programmers often have to go back
into a program and find the bugs. These
bugs may mean the computer program
doesn’t work the way it’s supposed to.
This process is called debugging. Once
programmers figure out where a bug
is, they can fix the problem. Then the
computer program will be up and running!

13 CO
SC
 Does It Work?
What happens after a programmer
creates or fixes a program? It’s time to
test the new code. The programmer will
run the program to make sure it works
correctly. Sometimes it doesn’t work on
the first try. Then, the programmer will fix
the problem and try again.
A career in coding is great for someone
who loves to solve problems and puzzles.
Each day has a
new challenge!

14 COMPUTER
For the
SCIENCE REAL World TM
 Glossary
brainstorm: To think of ideas or ways to
solve a problem in a group.
career: A job someone does for a
long time.
challenge: A test of abilities.
industry: A group of related businesses.
project: A task.

15 CO
SC
 Index

B P
brainstorm, 11 problems, 5, 7, 11,
bug, 11, 13 13, 14
program, 5, 9, 11,
C 13, 14
career, 5, 14 programmers, 5, 7,
challenge, 7, 14 9, 11, 13, 14
code, 5, 9, 11, project, 9, 11
13, 14
T
D task, 5
debugging, 13

I
industries, 5

16 COMPUTER
For the
SCIENCE REAL World TM
 Computer Science for the Real World Whole Class Activity
A Career in Coding: Careers in Computers Start a discussion with the students about careers in
computer science. Ask the students if they have ideas
Instructional Guide about the kinds of jobs that might be available in computer
science. Make a list of careers on the board or chart paper.
Vocabulary
Share some resources with the students, including books
brainstorm
and websites. Have each student choose a career to learn
career
more about. They should learn about what people do
challenge
in that career, what education is needed, and any other
industry
important facts about the career. Have each student use
project
their research to create a job advertisement within the field
Background Knowledge they studied. The advertisement should include what the
If students are interested in computer science, then a job title is, the name of the company, a job description, the
career using computers might be a perfect fit. Careers proposed salary, and the level of the education needed for
in computers are on the rise across many industries, so the job.
the need for coding experts is greater than ever before.
Independent Activity
Remind students that they can work toward a career in
Each student should work independently to explore a few
computers even at a young age by learning how to code. In
coding websites, such as:
this book, readers learn about how programmers use their
[Link]
coding skills in their everyday work. Programmers create
[Link]
and fix code and often work as a team to solve problems.
[Link]
Ask students how computer skills have helped them with
Have each student write a review of one of these websites,
school. How might learning to code help them with their
explaining what it is used for and how it helps people learn
future career?
about coding.
Text-Dependent Questions
1. What do computer programmers do?
2. Do computer programmers have to create code
from scratch?
3. What’s a programming language?
4. What can members of a team share with
one another?
5. What are the “bugs” in code?

(Continued on inside back cover.)

 A Career in
COMPUTER Coding
For the
SCIENCE REAL World TM

Careers in Computers
COM
Careers in Computers: Explore careers
in the field of computer science that
SCI
utilize computational thinking to develop
programs and devices.

ISBN: 9781538352519
Rory McCallum
L 6-pack ISBN: 9781508136958