March 2026

Parents ask me all the time: does coding still matter in the age of AI? As someone who runs a tech learning centre and manages engineering teams, my answer is a clear yes. Problem solving, strong fundamentals, and good design instincts are exactly what AI can’t replace — and exactly what we’re focused on teaching.

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Hi, I’m Matthew, founder of Kidzwhiz. I started Kidzwhiz with a pretty simple idea: technology education should be accessible to more kids. Back in 2003, if you wanted your child to learn to code or build robots, you were mostly on your own — it just wasn’t widely available, in schools or anywhere else. As a Computer Engineering grad from Waterloo, I had a selfish wish: I wanted more kids to experience the joy of building technology — and hopefully find a career they love along the way. Over the years, we’ve seen that happen, with many of our alumni going on to complete graduate degrees and land roles at some of the world’s top tech companies.

Now, let’s talk about the elephant in the room.

AI is the biggest shift in technology I’ve seen in my lifetime — and I say that having been in this industry for 20+ years. Since ChatGPT arrived a few years ago, the conversation around AI has moved fast. Really fast. There’s genuine talk about software engineering — and many other professions — being automated away. Since I sit at the intersection of cutting-edge tech and education, I figured I’d share what I’m actually seeing.

The question I hear most from parents: does my child still need to learn to code?

My answer is yes. Here’s why.

Coding Teaches Problem Solving

When we give our students a project, we describe the goal and let them figure out how to get there. “Build a robot that drives in a square and stops after three laps”. That’s not so different from a manager asking you to “come up with a marketing plan to acquire 100 new customers in two weeks”. The specific tools change over time — the thinking skills don’t. That’s what coding really teaches.

Fundamentals Still Matter

You’ve probably heard the term “hallucination” in the context of AI — where the AI confidently makes something up. The only way to catch that is to actually know the subject yourself. We teach our students the building blocks of coding: variables, loops, conditionals, functions, data structures. Not so they can recite them, but so that when AI gets it wrong, they’ll know.

Think about calculators. We’ve had them for decades. We still teach kids math. The same logic applies here.

Coding is a Craft — and Good Craft Requires Taste

In my experience, AI is excellent at writing code that follows patterns already in front of it. But if the underlying design is poor, AI will happily make it worse, faster. Software architecture is like the foundation of a building: get it wrong, and everything you build on top of it is at risk. Get it right, and your system can scale and last.

Good taste in software design comes from learning the fundamentals, practising, and working alongside more experienced engineers. Once you have that foundation, AI becomes a genuine superpower — you’re not just moving fast, you’re moving fast in the right direction.

What I’m Actually Seeing in the Industry

I want to speak to something directly, because I think parents of older kids especially deserve a straight answer: yes, AI will eliminate certain software jobs. The roles most at risk are ones that involve repetitive, well-defined tasks with little creative problem-solving. But the demand for engineers who can architect systems, think critically about design, and direct AI effectively — that’s not shrinking. If anything, those skills are becoming more valuable because fewer people truly have them.

I see this first-hand as an engineering manager. AI has absolutely changed what we look for when we hire. The engineers who are struggling are the ones who relied on pattern-matching — copying solutions without deeply understanding them. The ones who are thriving are strong problem solvers with solid fundamentals who’ve embraced AI as a tool. They’re extraordinarily productive. That’s the kind of engineer I’d want my own child to become, and it’s what we’re building toward at Kidzwhiz.

How We’re Adapting at Kidzwhiz

We’ve always tried to stay ahead of the curve — that’s been part of our DNA since the beginning. But honestly, this is the most exciting moment in our history. We’re updating our curricula to be AI-accelerated, and introducing AI-native courses and camps this year.

What does that mean in practice? Our students will build games with more depth, write smarter programs, and get there faster than ever before. But we’re keeping our focus on fundamentals — the core concepts aren’t going anywhere. What’s changing is that the projects our students complete will be more polished, more sophisticated, and a lot more fun!

AI-accelerated Courses / Camps	AI-native Courses / Camps
Robotics with Robomaster	AI Starter
Roblox Game Development	AI Chatbots
Coding with Python	AI Video Generation
Coding with Scratch

Let’s discuss – please comment here or email me. I’d love to hear from you!

Our Summer Camp 2026 schedule is available at kidzwhiz.com/summer-camps, with early bird offer until April 28, 2026. If you have questions or want recommendations, please email me or call us at 647-812-1982.