BBC Computer Literacy Project 1980 – 1989
Here’s something seldom talked about, and maybe it’s only my experience.<p>I was born ‘89 and in the midlands of the UK, so I missed these programmes (although my mother didn’t and even as a non-techy person could write BBC basic on a C64, which is where I got my interest).<p>But growing up there were quite literally no resources to learn anything about computers or programming. All courses in school were “computing” which was Microsoft excel and word courses; if you were really lucky it would be Microsoft access. They were specifically tailored for office work, not understanding computers.<p>As I aged, I found courses on networking (specifically Cisco) in college, however they all closed the year before I could take them.<p>I did manage to take a college course but I had to commute 4.5hrs a day for 2 years to take it, which was quite demanding. And I was in the last group who could ever take that course. (It closed the year after I started, I was literally the last group in). And there the only thing they taught me programming related was Visual Basic. (Although they did teach me to crimp Ethernet cables).<p>Does anyone else have this experience in the UK? Did I just grow up in a bad area for computer science?<p>(I believe shortly after I left school they did start having lessons in programming though- maybe I am part of a weirdly lost generation)