Developers Need to Teach Programming in K-12

OP here. I've taught STEAM for about five years now on a completely voluntary basis at a low SES, high ELL school in Brooklyn.

I went looking for a job a few months ago in NYC. When potential bosses asked me what I was looking for in a work place, I say a company that lets me take time off to teach in schools. This caught them all off guard, and not in a good way. I don't care about your beer fridges and ping pong tables. More developers should be demanding this in their perks and benefits.

Kids need teachers real experience to see the power of programming and STEM, and they won't find that in most traditional teachers. It's up to developers to pick up the slack.

Current STEM policy conversations are around future job availability. Great, just what every 10-year-old wants to hear, "one day you'll be able to help Google sell more ads or work 60-hour weeks for a VC." Programming is so much more than that, but kids will never hear it without talking with real developers.