Fun online coding & digital art lessons for kids (7-18) in Scratch, Minecraft, Python, Roblox, Unity, MagicaVoxel or Blender

Learn more about Benedek

• Can you tell us about your first experience using a computer?

  My first experiences using a computer sparked huge curiosity as what I saw at first with the eye of a child was more close to magic then anything else. I remember that all of a sudden everything was interesting that happened on a computer screen. A bit later I became fascinated with Apple products and how neatly they are designed to enhance your experience. We definitely couldn't afford an iPhone or a Mac, but I started to save up some money and eventually bought an iPod Touch second hand, which essentially allowed me to have the iPhone experience, which was back in the day quite further ahead of anything else and made me think I have the coolest magic in my pocket.

• What is the technological evolution that has marked you most and what will be, in your eyes, a turning point in this field?

  The realisation that through programming languages and software frameworks you can create whatever you want that can have a significant impact on other people's lives was a turning point in my fascination with technology. It is a cliche, but really literally anything is possible with technology if you are creative enough. You can build something with which the best doctor can make a surgery on a patient on a different continent real-time or invent and produce life-saving medicine faster than ever. For me the turning point is not a specific event, but the opening up of technology and knowledge sharing that the internet allows, enabling anyone to contribute to progress.

• Explain your expertise, your interest in it and, more broadly, its importance in the computer world.

  I studied Computer Science at university and have been teaching programming for more than 7 years now. After university I worked at a Swiss startup as a software engineer, then founded my own IT company with a close friend of mine. I am interested in how technology can improve our lives and how I can continuously improve myself and how we approach or share technology related knowledge. Technology comes with great potential, it surrounds every aspect of our lives now, using it responsibly is more important than ever.

• Do so-called 'visionaries', such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg inspire you or do you have other role models?

  While the big names in tech definitely had some impact on my younger self, especially Steve Jobs and Elon Musk with their vision, drive and accomplishments the more attainable examples that inspired me were always some smaller recent local startups or ventures that managed to make a big impact in my local environment and evolved in front of my eyes from scratch.

• Provide a valuable anecdote related to your subject or your days at school.

  For me it was hard to get Python at first, the first programming language that I have learned. I was struggling for half a year with it in high school but a year later my teacher told me he thinks I should do a mature exam a year earlier than usual. I was surprised as I did not have the confidence back then, but took the advice, completed the exam with excellent results after a lot of preparation and learning put into it and the following year I was the one helping my peers to prepare for it. Never underestimate the impact of a good teacher or a pinch of inspiration, since then I try to be this person who pushes and helps others to be their greatest self.

• What would you say to an uncomfortable person in front of a screen who says that "IT is too complicated"?

  I taught coding to kids even as young as 6-7 year old and they are surprisingly quick to get important concepts such as variables or loops. If they can do it, why couldn't you? Everything seems super complicated until you don't know much about it, once you become familiar with the basics you will find it easy to continue on your journey to excel at it.

• What are your other passions, related or non-related to computers?

  I love drones! I make videos with my drone during my travels or hikes to capture the beauty of nature and see the world from a different perspective.

• What makes you a Superprof in IT?

  I have helped hundreds of students to learn programming or some other kind of digital creation while my main goal is to get people excited and inspired to do great things and have fun while learning. I am also continusly learning from my students, their creativity and I will continue to have unreasonable enthusiasm for teaching and learning!