June 25, 2022 7:00 AM PDT

This is “My Life’s Work,” a series about the unique life experiences that influenced the careers of tech founders and executives. Interviews have been edited and condensed for clarity.

For the past decade, Samantha John, 35, and her co-founder, Jocelyn Leavitt, have been helping kids learn to code. Their app, Hopscotch, teaches children programming as they create their own games. In The Information’s Kids and Technology survey, Hopscotch was one of the most popular coding apps for kids among tech industry respondents. Although she is teaching thousands of kids to code, John didn’t grow up coding herself. Here she shares her path from avoiding computer games to helping kids make them.

John grew up in Detroit, reading avidly and feeling like videogames weren’t intended for her enjoyment.
Since I was a kid, I had this sense that I always liked videogames, but I thought, “This is not appropriate for you, Samantha. Videogames are for boys. Don't let anyone see you playing videogames.” It just felt really not for me. Actually, still to this day, I’m not super good with computers. My computer breaks all the time, and I do not know how—nor do I want to learn how—to fix it.

Get access to exclusive coverage
Read deeply reported stories from the largest newsroom in tech.
Latest Articles
 
Deals startups
Breaking Up SVB Is Hard to Do
A Silicon Valley Bank branch in Santa Monica, Calif. Photo by Getty.
With bids for the entity formerly known as Silicon Valley Bank due Friday, potential buyers and regulators are running into an interesting reality: Breaking up—and salvaging—SVB is hard to do. Nearly two weeks after SVB failed, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has yet to find a buyer for the so-called bridge bank that took over SVB’s operations, despite being on the third...
Latest Briefs
 
Slack’s Sales Chief Departing Salesforce Next Month
Apple to Spend $1 Billion Per Year on Movies to Release in Theaters
TikTok CEO Stresses App’s Separation from China
Stay in the know
Receive a summary of the day's top tech news—distilled into one email.
Access on the go
View stories on our mobile app and tune into our weekly podcast.
Join live video Q&A’s
Deep-dive into topics like startups and autonomous vehicles with our top reporters and other executives.
Enjoy a clutter-free experience
Read without any banner ads.
Sarah Nagy gives a demo of her startup, Seek.ai, at an AI event at the San Francisco Wine Society in January. Photography by Laura Morton
First Look startups ai
Boom Times in San Francisco’s AI Underground
Not even a banking crisis could chill the fever sweeping San Francisco. Last Wednesday, as the tech industry recoiled from the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, a party was scheduled at the offices of Maverick Ventures in an old army hospital in the Presidio.
Cover art and portraits by Clark Miller
The Big Read
The Instant Oral History of the Silicon Valley Bank Collapse
On a cosmic level, the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank was a mere blip. The murmurs about trouble began last Wednesday, the panic spread via group texts and Twitter threads on Thursday, the bank went under on Friday, the government got its act together on Saturday, and on Sunday every current and former customer of SVB could breathe a cautious sigh of relief.
Clockwise from top left: Julie Bornstein, Esther Crawford, Mark Hammond, Max Cutler, Kağan Sümer. Photos via Julie Bernstein, Robert Cowherd, Microsoft, Wikimedia and Kağan Sümer.
Free Agents startups
On the Market: The Founders Who Joined Microsoft, Spotify, Coinbase and Twitter
Call them acqui-fires. Several founders who took positions at the bigger tech companies that bought their startups recently lost their jobs when layoffs rolled through Silicon Valley.
Art by Clark Miller.
Opinion startups economy
SVB Is Dead. Long Live SVB.
We all know how it began. It started on March 9, when the run on Silicon Valley Bank made the innovation economy totter and threatened a global financial crisis.
Tonal’s now-shuttered Palo Alto, Calif. retail store. Photo by Getty.
Exclusive startups
Tonal’s Valuation May Fall 90% in ‘Cram-Down’ Financing
Tonal, a fitness startup with a cadre of celebrity backers, is crunched for cash after failing to find a buyer.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk last August. Photo by Bloomberg
Exclusive startups electric vehicles
SpaceX Plans New Funding With Backing From Saudi, UAE Investors
A subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s investment fund and an Abu Dhabi investment firm are planning to invest in a multibillion-dollar funding round for SpaceX, Elon Musk’s rocket company, according to people familiar with the investor discussions.