We caught up with DanTDM - one of the world’s most popular YouTubers with almost 28 million subscribers who watch his videos on Minecraft, Five Nights at Freddie’s, Pokémon and more - as part of the launch of BBC micro:bit – the next gen.
He told us why he wanted to get involved in the campaign and why he thinks coding is such an important skill…
Who is gamer and YouTuber DanTDM?
Since joining YouTube back in 2012, DanTDM has posted more than 3.6k videos that have been avidly viewed by his millions of followers. The gamer turned his passion into his profession and in 2017 he was named YouTube’s highest earner.
During his school visit, he told us: “Playing games for a living is obviously really fun. I have the best job in the world. It can be difficult sometimes turning your hobby into a job but it’s the most fun ever! I’m very lucky to have the job that I have.”
The YouTuber was visiting the school to deliver their free set of 30 BBC micro:bits, which are pocket-sized computers specially designed to teach children how to code. He said he believes that his career may have been different if he’d been able to learn to code when he was at school:
“I think if I had already known how to code I could have made more things in Minecraft or coded my own games to play, making my videos even more unique rather than relying on other people to [create the games]. So I think my career path might have been slightly different and my videos a bit different as well [if I’d been taught how to code].”
Why primary school pupils should learn to code
Dan believes primary school children should be given the opportunity to learn about coding to help them get the jobs they want to when they leave school. He explained, “I think it’s important to give young people the opportunity to code because it opens up a lot of avenues no matter what kind of career you want to get into.
“Right now we use technology every day. Whatever job you do has coding behind it, every electronic device has coding at the core of it. It can be used in traditional computers and computer games but also for almost anything else, whether that’s farming or supermarkets. It can take you anywhere so I think it’s an important skill to learn.”
DanTDM takes a coding lesson
After speaking to the children at a special assembly, Dan took part in a coding lesson at the school that was facilitated by the Micro:bit Educational Foundation and was surprised at how easy it was to code using the micro:bit.
“The coding lesson with the micro:bit was really fun. I think I was actually the slowest out of everyone as the children were really quick when it came to putting in the code.
He added: “I have done little pieces of coding within Minecraft. I would say using the micro:bit is much easier because it’s all visually laid out for you, whereas when you’re coding in Java - which is what Minecraft is coded – it’s literally just a wall of text, so like a really complicated book. What the micro:bit does really well is colour code it. There are less ways to make mistakes, because if you put a space or a dot in Java the whole thing can break. So [coding the micro:bit] is easy to troubleshoot and easy to create as well.”
Advice for getting into coding from DanTDM
After taking part in the coding lesson, Dan also had some words of encouragement for anyone who might feel daunted at the prospect of learning to code. He advised:
“If you want to get into coding but you might be a bit nervous, try the micro:bit. In coding you will make mistakes, that’s part of it. It’s fun to find and troubleshoot your code to get to the end goal. That’s kind of what I do with videos as well. I can always do something wrong, fix it and then I’ve learnt that for next time. It’s a whole learning process, so definitely get things wrong - it’s a good thing actually.”
Primary school teachers can find more information on free training and classroom resources on the BBC micro:bit - the next gen website.
Please be aware that some of the links on this page will take you away from the BBC.
This article was written in September 2023.
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Classroom resources
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FAQs
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About the micro:bit
Find out everything you need to know about the BBC micro:bit.
Our partners
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