Facebook CEO says video games can help kids become programmers

folarin okunola

May 22, 2015 3:00 PM

At a town hall Q&A at the company’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California, he held a meet where he fielded answers on Oculus Rift, moderating hate speech, and his birthday celebration and how gaming helped him get into programming.

Facebook founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, has credited video games with getting him into programming, and he thinks it could help other kids too.

At a town hall Q&A at the company’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California, he held a meet where he fielded answers on Oculus Rift, moderating hate speech, and his birthday celebration.

When asked about his favourite video game (civilization), Zuckerberg described how being exposed to games at an early age helped encourage him to experiment with technology.

"I made a lot of games for myself, and they were terrible," Zuckerberg said of his childhood experience with gaming. "But this was how I got into programming."

"I hear a lot that parents are concerned about their kids playing games, and there are valid concerns and I think that there's an important debate to be had around that," he continued. "But I do think that if you're a parent and you don't let your children use technology, but also want them... to be open to [a career in programming], then I actually think giving people the opportunity to play around with different stuff is one of the best things you can do... I definitely would not have gotten into programming if I hadn't played games as a kid."

folarin okunola