Hosting a Year 10 Student for Work Experience: A Rewarding Journey

Last week, I had the pleasure of hosting a Year 10 student for work experience as part of a technology program at Kawana Waters State College. The experience was both rewarding and enlightening, reaffirming my belief in the importance of building up young, talented students with real world experience.

The Concept: Turning Potential into Real-World Experience

Billy had taught himself to program by creating games, but the transition to building something valuable for others—and potentially profitable—is a critical leap. This was the essence of our week together.

Setting Clear Goals

To ensure the experience was both educational and inspiring, I set a few clear goals:

• Achievable: I wanted Billy to feel accomplished rather than overwhelmed.

• Real-World Value: We would create something tangible that Billy could proudly show his classmates and teachers. With the potential to earn real money.

A Hackathon-Style Challenge

We adopted a hackathon format for the project. The idea was simple yet ambitious: come up with a business idea and build a proof of concept. This intense, focused effort mirrors real-world tech sprints and offers a taste of startup culture.

The Project: The Story Generator

Billy's initial idea stemmed from his use of ChatGPT to write crossover stories, such as imagining a race between Superman and Sonic the Hedgehog. We decided to create a website that generates these kinds of stories. The key questions were: Would other people enjoy it? Could it be monetised?

Technology Stack

To bring this idea to life, we utilized:

- OpenAI for the core story generation functionality.

- Python, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for building the website.

- Heroku for hosting the platform.

- Stripe for handling potential payments.

The Outcome

The result of our weekend hackathon was a live website: https://the-story-generator.com. The stories it generates are surprisingly good, showcasing the power of AI and Billy's coding skills. Here it's created a poem about batman coding a website with superman.

Beyond the technical achievement, the project had several key outcomes:

- Encouragement: Billy left excited about a potential career in software development. His enthusiasm will likely inspire his classmates as well.

- Practical Experience: Billy gained hands-on experience with real-world technologies and project workflows.

- Future Potential: While immediate profits are uncertain, there's a possibility the site could generate revenue. If it does, half of the profits are going to my young cofounder!

Conclusion

Hosting a student for work experience is an intense but incredibly rewarding experience. It offers young students a glimpse into the professional world and helps them see the practical applications of their skills. For Billy, this experience could be a stepping stone to a promising career in technology. For me, it was a reminder of the importance of mentorship and the excitement of nurturing the next generation of tech innovators.

Thanks to Billy Williams for your great work and Karen Healey of Kawana Waters state school for coordinating the program.